There is nothing better than a nice cold beer on a hot day. If you store your beer properly, you won't be disappointed with a bad tasting soda. Also, if you are interested in the properties of aged beer, storage could be a field to explore to understand how much the flavor of this fantastic drink can improve over time.
Steps
Step 1. Store the beer in the right position
Just like with wine, there is a correct and a wrong way to store beer bottles that you will not consume right away. Store beer upright instead of resting it on its side - even Chimay brewers recommend it instead of storing on the side. This will ensure that the yeast (deposit) will stay at the bottom of the bottle rather than leaving a ring or mark on the side that will never settle or mix with the beer. Also, modern corks do not tend to dry out or absorb air, so they are not a problem when storing beer and there is no reason to store it lying on its side (especially since, since the beer would touch the cap for a long time. time, it might even change the flavor). The best reason why beer should be kept standing is that it oxidizes less, keeping it longer!
Step 2. Store the beer away from light
Choose a dim or dark place to store your beer, as ultraviolet rays and blue light spoil it quickly, making it as unsightly as if it were brewed by a skunk.
-
Green bottles and especially brown ones prevent the beer from being hit by light, otherwise it would risk having an unpleasant taste.
Store Beer Step 2Bullet1
Step 3. Maintain the right storage temperature
The heat changes the taste of the beer over time, so it would be best to keep it cool but not too low. Although some people like to freeze beer before consuming it, frozen beer cells never go back to the same way they were before, so the beer will lose some of its original taste. The appropriate places to store it are a cellar or the refrigerator; however, storage in the refrigerator for long periods is not recommended as its dehydrating environment will cause effects on the cork. The right storage temperature depends on the type of beer, so follow this list as a guide:
- Most beers must be stored at a temperature between 10 ° C and 12.8 ° C. Make sure you keep the temperature constant.
- Strong beers with a high alcohol content (barleywines, triples, dark ales) should be stored at a temperature between 12.8 ° C and 15.5 ° C, i.e. at room temperature.
- Standard beers with a medium alcohol content (bitter, IPAs, lambic, stout, Dobelbocks, etc.) must be stored at a temperature between 10 ° C and 12.8 ° C, which is the temperature of the cellar.
- Beers with less alcohol (lagers, pilsners, wheat beers, light beers, low in calories, etc.) must be stored at a temperature between 7, 2 ° C and 10 ° C, which is the temperature of the refrigerator.
- Unless you have a cellar or a refrigerator for beers, the best compromise for storage is the temperature between 10 ° C and 12.8 ° C. Do you have little space to store beer? Drink it soon!
Step 4. Be aware of how long you have to store the beer, especially if you are trying to age it
Different types of beer provide for different consumption, depending on when they were produced, the type of production process and whether they were made to be consumed in the short term or for a long conservation and aging. While commercial beers sold in large quantities will always have an expiration date, not all brewers know how long their beers can be stored and aged; it could be from 6-8 months to 25 years, it depends on the brand, storage methods and quality of the beer. In other words, unless the brewer gives indications for the aging of a certain beer, you simply have to go by trial and error. If you want to keep it as a collector rather than to consume it, you will surely have to experiment and you will make mistakes, but it is the best way to approach conservation with resourcefulness and fun; Unlike expensive wines, if after storing the beer for too long it tastes terrible, at least you won't have wasted too much money!
- In general, American beer can be stored for four to six months, while those from other countries can be stored for up to a year. Of course it is best to check the expiration date first and then use this rule carefully and skeptically depending on your experiments and possible mistakes.
- Special beers that are specially made for long shelf life carry this information on the bottle as part of marketing; in fact, some don't begin to develop the brewers' desired taste for 2 or 5 years. If you don't find this information on the label, ask your retailer for advice.
- Beers with more than 7% alcohol are more suitable for aging.
- Console yourself after tasting a bad beer due to improper storage by tasting a new one. You will soon recover from the bad experience!
Step 5. Try to make a note of the beers you drank immediately after purchasing them and those that have been stored
Always try to buy at least two bottles of each type of beer you want to keep. Drink one and take notes about taste, flavor variation, texture, thickness and quality. Then, do the same at the end of the storage process and compare the two beers to see what changes have occurred. Has the beer improved or deteriorated with storage? After some time you should be able to figure out which beers keep best and improve during storage.
Step 6. After opening a beer, drink it and don't even try to store it
The carbon dioxide will evaporate and you will have a terrible degassed beer the next day. If you can't drink it, use it for cooking or any other purpose. There are many ways to use open beer, including:
- Prepare the beer bread
- Prepare beer bread with oats
- Prepare the English fish & chips with the beer batter
- Fry the vegetables with the beer batter
- Prepare a hair mask to make them softer.
- Get rid of slugs
Advice
- High alcohol beer should be stored at warmer temperatures, while low alcohol beer should be stored at lower temperatures.
- No matter what you do, some brands of beer age better than others and you can only learn that with experience. However, you can also get advice from others who have stored the beer by asking them about the taste of a certain beer after storage; do some research on the internet.
- If you want to store beer for a long time, get a second refrigerator or basement space to free up the refrigerator you have in the kitchen. You won't be well seen if beers keep coming out of the fridge along with the foods you use on a daily basis.
- Keep long-life beers (more than 6 months) in a cellar and not in the refrigerator.
- Homemade beer should also be stored upright, cool and away from light. Maybe it would be better not to keep it too long, unless you know what you are doing!
Warnings
- It is not uncommon to want to drink the beer you are storing earlier than expected. If you are storing beer to improve its flavor and not just to wait for the right opportunity to drink it, you may want to have some beer available "just in case" to avoid ruining your aging experiments!
- Avoid storage extremes - both excessive heat and freezing will spoil the flavor. They also carry an increased risk of the bottle exploding.
