What is cellaring?
What is Cellaring?
Why do we cellar beer?
It makes our beers taste better. Cellaring allows the flavours to evolve as the beer appreciates over time (similar to wine). Our cellared beers are some of our best products and when you combine them with the ritual of choosing the beer, popping the cork, filling the glasses, and telling the story of each beer, we’re bound to make some special moments.
How does cellaring make beer better?
The passage of time affects different beers in different ways. Certain flavours and aromas may become more or less apparent, unique notes may meld together harmoniously, and occasionally, something altogether new may rise to the surface. We cellar our bottles as they allow us to achieve new complex flavours only attainable with patience. Cellaring beers also often smoothes out any standout notes of alcohol (be warned.)
How is beer cellared?
There are three steps to cellaring a beer…
First, you brew a beer designed to last the test of time.
Next, you bottle it in a special way (called bottle conditioning)
Finally, you wait… and wait.
How are beers designed to be cellared?
Beers destined for cellaring are often brewed with an elevated alcohol content. Typically 7-8% ABV (alcohol by volume) and higher is required to age a beer for more than a few months unless it features other defences such as the high acidity of sour beers for example.
Alcohol acts as a preservative by inhibiting the slow growth of undesired microbial bacterias while providing an ideal environment for many of the desired elements in beer (yeast, malt, water, hops).
How is the bottling process different for cellared beers?
A special process called ‘bottle conditioning’ is used to build the perfect environment for the beer. In the last moments before we bottle our beer, we add fresh yeast and fermentable sugars into our batch. Now inside the bottle, the yeast consumes the new sugars and produces carbon dioxide. Beers which are not bottle conditioned are “force carbed” where a tank of carbon dioxide (co2) is fed into the beer and “forced” into the beer. The bubbles from bottle conditioned beers are often smaller and finer producing an unequalled mouthfeel or effervescence.
During the yeast’s initial growth phase, it will consume any oxygen in the bottle. You’ve likely noticed the “empty” section in the neck of a beer bottle where the liquid ends and the gas begins. If you don’t bottle condition, the gas will remain air (which contains oxygen) and it will slowly enter into the beer, cause oxidation, and result in off-flavours.
As the yeast creates more carbon dioxide this will increase the pressure within the bottle which is why we use champagne-grade glass bottles designed for high pressure contents as well as cages (or muselets) around our corks. The corks also act as an air-tight barrier making sure oxygen remains outside the vessel. Standard metal caps will allow for a slow and steady flow of air (which is mostly oxygen) into bottles unless they are coated with wax.
Yeast + Sugar = Carbon Dioxide
Cork + Champagne Bottle = Protectors of Beer
How should beers be cellared?
Most forms of visible light are harmful to a beer’s taste as are high temperatures so once a beer has been bottled, it should be placed in a dark, relatively cool place like a basement or… a cellar ;) Warming up a beer even temporarily may negatively affect the cellaring process so the ideal cellar is somewhere where you can set it and forget it.
can in cellar a beer in my fridge?
The temperature range in refrigerators will drastically slow the aging process and although you will preserve your beer for longer, it won’t age as you might intend.
How long can you age beer for?
This depends on the beer and its slow journey inside the cellar but most beers should last at least 2-3 years. After this window, a beer’s profile may start to suffer… or it may get better. Only time will tell. Mark’s Old Ale X recipe has been known to be cellarable for at least five years.
Where did this idea come from?
They weren’t the first to cellar beers but Belgian brewers have a long tradition of producing bottle conditioned beers, like lambic and gueuze, strong ales, and other beers that will improve with age if cellared properly.