Tips on How to Store Your Home Brew and Beer
So you have finished bottling your home brew now you need to store it.
Your home brew has a shelf life and depending on how you store it, that shelf life can be short or long.
Being as you have invested time and effort here are a few tips to keep it better for longer.
Hopefully though it won't last long if you've made it right.
Now when I say shelf life I don't mean like when you buy milk and it start going off.
There are no pathogens or microbes that are harmful that can survive in beer.
What I mean is that the flavour, tastes and aroma that you have in a beer that has been brewed a couple of weeks or a month ago will be much more full and vibrant than one that has been sitting around in a cupboard for years and years.
Chill it Factors such as oxidization that occur during the process of brewing and naturally can contribute off-flavours to your home brew that aren't desirable.
Oxidation defines the chemical reactions that occur in the beer and these reactions are accelerated by temperature and movement.
For this reason you should store the beer cold.
Like most food keeping beer cold will prolong it's freshness.
Even if this is only a few degrees below room temperature it will help.
In most cases you can keep beer in the fridge and with light beers and lagers this is a must, but if room is an issue then storing ales in a cold room of the house or a garage depending on the climate (it's cold here) will be fine.
To test this out go to the shops and buy a couple of the same beers.
Store one in the fridge and the other in a warm place like the airing cupboard.
After a week put the warm beer in the fridge and when it's cold try both beers side by side you will most certainly taste the difference.
Store it Upright This is pretty simple.
Your home brew will have some amount of yeast or sediment that will settle out over time so you want it to settle to the bottom of the bottle not all the way up the side.
When you pour your beer you want the sediment to remain in the bottom not for it all to pour out with the beer.
Keep it in the Dark Exposure to light is another problem of keeping your beer at it's best.
Beer that has been stored in the light has a term to describe it called "skunked" so you know its not pleasant.
When you bottle your beer its best to use brown bottle if you can as these will let the least amount of ultra-violet light in, green and clear bottles are the worst choice and should be avoided like the plague.
Another thing is to keep your home brew covered either in a box or a cupboard so no light can get to it.
Your home brew has a shelf life and depending on how you store it, that shelf life can be short or long.
Being as you have invested time and effort here are a few tips to keep it better for longer.
Hopefully though it won't last long if you've made it right.
Now when I say shelf life I don't mean like when you buy milk and it start going off.
There are no pathogens or microbes that are harmful that can survive in beer.
What I mean is that the flavour, tastes and aroma that you have in a beer that has been brewed a couple of weeks or a month ago will be much more full and vibrant than one that has been sitting around in a cupboard for years and years.
Chill it Factors such as oxidization that occur during the process of brewing and naturally can contribute off-flavours to your home brew that aren't desirable.
Oxidation defines the chemical reactions that occur in the beer and these reactions are accelerated by temperature and movement.
For this reason you should store the beer cold.
Like most food keeping beer cold will prolong it's freshness.
Even if this is only a few degrees below room temperature it will help.
In most cases you can keep beer in the fridge and with light beers and lagers this is a must, but if room is an issue then storing ales in a cold room of the house or a garage depending on the climate (it's cold here) will be fine.
To test this out go to the shops and buy a couple of the same beers.
Store one in the fridge and the other in a warm place like the airing cupboard.
After a week put the warm beer in the fridge and when it's cold try both beers side by side you will most certainly taste the difference.
Store it Upright This is pretty simple.
Your home brew will have some amount of yeast or sediment that will settle out over time so you want it to settle to the bottom of the bottle not all the way up the side.
When you pour your beer you want the sediment to remain in the bottom not for it all to pour out with the beer.
Keep it in the Dark Exposure to light is another problem of keeping your beer at it's best.
Beer that has been stored in the light has a term to describe it called "skunked" so you know its not pleasant.
When you bottle your beer its best to use brown bottle if you can as these will let the least amount of ultra-violet light in, green and clear bottles are the worst choice and should be avoided like the plague.
Another thing is to keep your home brew covered either in a box or a cupboard so no light can get to it.