Temperature Control after bottling and during long term storage.

[the.cassowary]

Greetings,
Now that winter is starting to back away slowly, and spring is near, I'm getting ready to make some highish ABV Belgian styles that I can bottle and hide away until Christmas/New Years. I'm pretty happy with my fermenter setup/temperature control, but when it comes to storing the bottles long term, we're talking just on shelves in the shed (no heating/cooling). I've even got a crate of badly brewed stout under the house, mainly just to keep it out of sight in the hopes it'll get better if I forget about it for 6 months.
Coming into the warmer months, are day/night fluctuations going to ruin any beers I'm trying to improve in the bottle for 3 + months? I haven't got any options for storage in the house, only the shed and under the house. Are long term storage temperatures less important than primary fermentation temperatures?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Greetings,
Now that winter is starting to back away slowly, and spring is near, I'm getting ready to make some highish ABV Belgian styles that I can bottle and hide away until Christmas/New Years. I'm pretty happy with my fermenter setup/temperature control, but when it comes to storing the bottles long term, we're talking just on shelves in the shed (no heating/cooling). I've even got a crate of badly brewed stout under the house, mainly just to keep it out of sight in the hopes it'll get better if I forget about it for 6 months.
Coming into the warmer months, are day/night fluctuations going to ruin any beers I'm trying to improve in the bottle for 3 + months? I haven't got any options for storage in the house, only the shed and under the house. Are long term storage temperatures less important than primary fermentation temperatures?

Just as important, the warmer the beer gets the shorter the life span.

 

[yankinoz]

How much storage under the house reduces daily and seasonal temperature variation depends on several factors, especially how open the space is to the outside and whether the house is on a slab (I do miss my northern US basement). In any event, you can further reduce day/night temperature variation by enclosing in an insulated space as much liquid as possible. Fill the space as much as possible. A large box lined with insulation from Bunnings will do.

But where are you located? If like most cassowaries you endure a long, hot summer, your beer will warm unless you use some cooling method.

 

[Narapoia]

Greetings,
Now that winter is starting to back away slowly, and spring is near, I'm getting ready to make some highish ABV Belgian styles that I can bottle and hide away until Christmas/New Years. I'm pretty happy with my fermenter setup/temperature control, but when it comes to storing the bottles long term, we're talking just on shelves in the shed (no heating/cooling). I've even got a crate of badly brewed stout under the house, mainly just to keep it out of sight in the hopes it'll get better if I forget about it for 6 months.
Coming into the warmer months, are day/night fluctuations going to ruin any beers I'm trying to improve in the bottle for 3 + months? I haven't got any options for storage in the house, only the shed and under the house. Are long term storage temperatures less important than primary fermentation temperatures?

If you have power in the shed then I'd recommend a bar fridge or just a regular sized fridge only off FB marketplace or Gumtree - I picked up a fridge for $150 of marketplace, allows me to store over 100L cold. Just got to keep an eye out and be quick, fridge only, rather than fridge + freezer seem to sell out super quick there.

 

[the.cassowary]

How much storage under the house reduces daily and seasonal temperature variation depends on several factors, especially how open the space is to the outside and whether the house is on a slab (I do miss my northern US basement). In any event, you can further reduce day/night temperature variation by enclosing in an insulated space as much liquid as possible. Fill the space as much as possible. A large box lined with insulation from Bunnings will do.

But where are you located? If like most cassowaries you endure a long, hot summer, your beer will warm unless you use some cooling method.

Contrary to my name, I'm actually located in Canberra, home to overnight minuses in Winter and 40+ degree scorchers in Summer. Historically, it seems that I don't have to worry too much about 20+ degree median days until the end of October. Looks like my best option for conditioning a Tripel or Quad is to brew soon, and then I've got a couple of months up my sleeve to build an insulated container of some description that I can keep under the house (Not on slab) . A wireless temperature sensor has been added to my shopping list.
In relation to filling space, I just had an idea (or aneurysm, hard to tell). Has anyone tried drilling bottle sized holes in a block of styrofoam for long term storage? Is it viable? Is it over engineering gone mad?

 

[the.cassowary]

Wait, wait, wait, hear me out..... just gone down a foam insulation rabbit hole.
New Bottle storage idea:

1. Get a second hand esky or make a simple box.
2. Place empty bottles in box, leave space between each one (might need to find a way to stop them moving around)
3. Get expanding spray foam, and fill all the gaps between the bottles.
4. Remove bottles and voila! Perfect bottle shaped holes to store bottles at a somewhat steadier temperature.
5. Drink beer all year!

EDIT: I think I just re-invented the wine bottle storage box.....stand down.

 

[Hangover68]

You should be pretty safe under the house especially if its partially dug out.

 

[Vini2ton]

Years ago there used to be these things called newspapers. Amazing things they were. You could read what was printed on them and then use them for all sorts of stuff. Stuff being the operative word. Wrap your bottles up, put them in what ever box you store them in and stuff more newspaper around them. Plus it's recyclable. I used to store beer in the shed and when I'd check it on the hottest of summer days, it was cool. It's the radical temperature changes that does the damage. Shed floor was concrete and also I put an old sleeping bag over the crates.

 

[Narapoia]

Interestingly I just finished a few batches that seem to be impacted by temperature. I let them bottle condition in my ferment fridge, using a heater belt to increase the temp, it gets a lot hotter than the old plastic plate heater I used previously. Most of the bottles are fine so far, but some are really dry with increased relative bitterness and decreased hop flavour - I assume the ones that were closest to the heater, I've never had variability like this in a bottled batch before.

The Irish Red Ale is the worst affected, the nottingham obviously liked the heat and it's turned the ale bone dry, no caramels or residual sweetness at all like the good bottles. Is v disappointing when you get one of the dud ones.

 

[Half Pint]

After bottling I have 3 different approaches I use routinely, depending on time of year and/or type of beer/yeast.
For most ales, late October to Mid-March, I just put the bottles in the room I call my cellar. They can be a bit slow to carbonate but they’ll get there.
With beers that used lager yeast I might just put them on the shelf anytime of year. Seems to work ok. I don’t make many ‘lagers’ but I’ve started using lager yeast in some ale recipes to see how it goes. I’ve done this about 5 times now, with W34/70, Diamond, and Nova. The Diamond left a little sulphur in the beer, which dissipated fairly quickly. Nova worked a treat.
I also have a large box, a ‘moving’ carton, which I fitted with a 30 watt heat wrap. I plug it into an inkbird set for 22° and cover it up with a big woollen blanket. The box is on its side and I can fit a couple dozen bottles in there. Even left on full with no inkbird it only gets to 23°.
Sometimes I have used my chest freezer as an incubator. Same deal with a heat wrap and inkbird. Can get a couple batches in there and works well except it’s prone to grow mould and I don’t like that. Also, sometimes I want to use the freezer for a fermentation chamber. I also use it as a keezer but only in Summer and the bottles don’t need help in Summer.

Longer term, I store bottles on a shelf in a windowless dirt floor room that moves between 8°and 16° over the course of the year, ie no daily fluctuations. My storage room is under the south east corner and the house is double brick. I’ve got a couple of high abv beers in there which are approaching their 2nd anniversary and doing ok.

For beers I want to really slow down the ageing process, I put them in the fridge. Mostly competition entries. I’ve got a few in Nationals this year and most probably don’t need more ageing at this point. I’d like to put more in the fridge but space is limited.