Storing bottled beer

[Dro]

Hello folks,

As I've mentioned before this is my first attempt at brewing beer after success at brewing wine and my beer has been lying for a week in PET bottles which feel tight now. Its a Four Finger Jack APA kit and the instructions say that after a week store it somewhere cool. Its in my brew cupboard which maintains a steady 20c to 22c but where do I put it next. I have a garage and there is a cool box in there, would that do? Any ideas would be great. Thanks. Andy.

 

[Graz]

Mine just live on a shelf in my garage. As it's dark and unheated out there it stays a fair bit cooler than the rest of the house but can still get a bit warm in summer. Never been a issue though. The just refrigerate the beer before I want to drink it.

 

[Dro]

Mine just live on a shelf in my garage. As it's dark and unheated out there it stays a fair bit cooler than the rest of the house but can still get a bit warm in summer. Never been a issue though. The just refrigerate the beer before I want to drink it.

Brilliant. Thanks.

 

[dwhite60]

I just leave them at room temp. I keep about a weeks worth in the fridge. When one comes out, another one goes in.

I find a week in the fridge seems to improve the flavor.

 

[Sandimas]

If you store your beer anywhere other than the fridge, it's really worth investing in some plastic crates, because sooner or later you will end up with a bottle bomb and flying glass everywhere. I've had a few infections over the years and it's reassuring to find it contained in the crate. Prior to that, one did go off in the house and created a helluva mess.

35L Really Useful plastic storage crates are the best I've found, they'll take 21 bottles and have reinforced bottoms unlike some other brands. Mine go into the garage, but even at this time of year it's getting up to 20C in there, in mid-summer it will get too hot and I'll need to bring them insider.

 

[Cwrw666]

Store your beer? Get it darn yer neck!

 

[Dro]

If you store your beer anywhere other than the fridge, it's really worth investing in some plastic crates, because sooner or later you will end up with a bottle bomb and flying glass everywhere. I've had a few infections over the years and it's reassuring to find it contained in the crate. Prior to that, one did go off in the house and created a helluva mess.

35L Really Useful plastic storage crates are the best I've found, they'll take 21 bottles and have reinforced bottoms unlike some other brands. Mine go into the garage, but even at this time of year it's getting up to 20C in there, in mid-summer it will get too hot and I'll need to bring them insider.

Great advice thanks!

 

[Dro]

Store your beer? Get it darn yer neck!

 

[dad_of_jon]

Mine just live on a shelf in my garage. As it's dark and unheated out there it stays a fair bit cooler than the rest of the house but can still get a bit warm in summer. Never been a issue though. The just refrigerate the beer before I want to drink it.

+1 I do notice though that ageing beers that have been in the shed over summer changes the character of beer more than aging over winter months. Carbonation level for sure. They also become either more complex or less hoppy but this is more an age related rather than temp I believe.

 

[dwhite60]

If you store your beer anywhere other than the fridge, it's really worth investing in some plastic crates, because sooner or later you will end up with a bottle bomb and flying glass everywhere. I've had a few infections over the years and it's reassuring to find it contained in the crate. Prior to that, one did go off in the house and created a helluva mess.

Wow! Thirty plus years at this and I've two BOTTLES blow on me. One of those was a mead. Guess I'm just lucky. I keep my beer in the pantry without reservation.

I really don't do anything special sanitation wise either. Sometimes I think I could do more but don't because I'm lazy.

 

[Hew's Brews]

Mine just live on a shelf in my garage. As it's dark and unheated out there it stays a fair bit cooler than the rest of the house but can still get a bit warm in summer. Never been a issue though. The just refrigerate the beer before I want to drink it.

Same for me. Once the primary and secondary fermentations are complete I don't think you need to worry too much about where you keep the bottles, in my experience. Just keep them out of sunlight, in a box where it doesn't get much above 22C.

 

[Sandimas]

Maybe I'm unlucky, but I do seem to get a few exploding bottles every few years. I brew typically every 2 weeks, so about 24 batches a year.

Some of them have been due to the garage getting too hot mid-summer, but some have been mid-winter due to infections. It's up to you really whether you put them in crates or not, personally I'm not prepared to take the risk. I would have probably said "no need" in my first 3 or 4 years of brewing before the first one went bang.

 

[dwhite60]

Maybe I'm unlucky, but I do seem to get a few exploding bottles every few years. I brew typically every 2 weeks, so about 24 batches a year.

Some of them have been due to the garage getting too hot mid-summer, but some have been mid-winter due to infections. It's up to you really whether you put them in crates or not, personally I'm not prepared to take the risk. I would have probably said "no need" in my first 3 or 4 years of brewing before the first one went bang.

Maybe it's just my house or where I live. Seems some areas are just more prone to infections. Could be whatever microflora happen to live in an area and how abundant they are.

 

[Dro]

Same for me. Once the primary and secondary fermentations are complete I don't think you need to worry too much about where you keep the bottles, in my experience. Just keep them out of sunlight, in a box where it doesn't get much above 22C.

That's good to know. Will put them in the garage.

 

[bigshineybike]

I had one bottle bomb in the house.
I always keep all my bottles out in the shed, in crates.
I had some pals round and lined some bottles up on a shelf in the room where we were all sat.
I had a few 330ml bottles of Rhubarb sparkling wine, had intended tham as a bit of a late treat. One of these blew up, sent shards of glass flying.
ended up with a small flesh wound to one person, actual chunch of bottle stuck in the plaster in the ceiling and one person almost total loss of hearing for a week.
I do know there was too big an air gap in that bottle. Always fill right to the top now. I treat home brew with a bit more caution.

 

[terrym]

The only time I have ever had a bottle fail was years ago. Some on here will remember Bulmers thick walled 2 pint returnable bottles which I used at the time. One of those failed but it had split into two diagonally as if someone had cut through cut it with a knife. And when I discovered it the lower section was as full of beer as it could be. Weird.

 

[Spratt]

Hello folks,

As I've mentioned before this is my first attempt at brewing beer after success at brewing wine and my beer has been lying for a week in PET bottles which feel tight now. Its a Four Finger Jack APA kit and the instructions say that after a week store it somewhere cool. Its in my brew cupboard which maintains a steady 20c to 22c but where do I put it next. I have a garage and there is a cool box in there, would that do? Any ideas would be great. Thanks. Andy.

When I started I got 3 second hand 4 drawer filing cabinets. They cost thirty five quid for the three of them if I remember correctly. You can get 24 bottles per drawer and all but the very tallest (750 or 1 litre swing tops) in them. Might be difficult to source at the moment with lockdown but I can recommend it for the future as you get a lot of storage for quite a small footprint. And of course they keep the light out if you're using clear bottles and any bottle bombs are well contained. Though I have to say that I've not had any burst in the 3 to 4 thousand bottles I've brewed.

 

[Sandimas]

Must admit that I'm quite intrigued that many of you brewers, even longer-term ones, have had no bottles bombs. I'm pretty meticulous with my cleaning and sanitation so am wondering what I'm doing wrong?

I live out in the countryside so airborne things including lots of little fruit flies are a bit of a problem, which is why I tend to stop brewing May-Sept as most of my previous infections happened in that period. And most of the infections would happen after 3-4 months in the bottle, so if you drink your beer quickly you probably won't see any slow-developing ones. I did have a foaming bottle the other day from my most recent batch, but it seemed to be a rogue bottle (maybe I double-primed it?) as all the others were OK.

 

[Spratt]

Must admit that I'm quite intrigued that many of you brewers, even longer-term ones, have had no bottles bombs. I'm pretty meticulous with my cleaning and sanitation so am wondering what I'm doing wrong?

I live out in the countryside so airborne things including lots of little fruit flies are a bit of a problem, which is why I tend to stop brewing May-Sept as most of my previous infections happened in that period. And most of the infections would happen after 3-4 months in the bottle, so if you drink your beer quickly you probably won't see any slow-developing ones. I did have a foaming bottle the other day from my most recent batch, but it seemed to be a rogue bottle (maybe I double-primed it?) as all the others were OK.

I think it may just be luck. I used to get some very foamy beers when I batch primed, but after I changed to individual bottle priming, they have been pretty consistent. My filing cabinets are kept in my "shed" (which actually is an old tin tabernacle, but that's another story) and it can get pretty hot in there in very hot years, though probably never above 25 or so.

I am always pretty conservative in my "end of fermentation" assessment - I don't think I've ever bottled earlier than 12 days, and tend to stick to the 2,2,2 rule of 2 weeks in the FV, 2 weeks in my den at room temperature, and 2 weeks in the filing cabinet before the first sampling. But they may then stay there for a year or longer - I have a nice Russian Imperial Stout brewed September 2015 which is coming along nicely,but have not yet had a blow out.

David

 

[Hew's Brews]

Must admit that I'm quite intrigued that many of you brewers, even longer-term ones, have had no bottles bombs. I'm pretty meticulous with my cleaning and sanitation so am wondering what I'm doing wrong?

Is it just the yeast you are using and the amount of priming sugar?