Beer and Lager.
I store my finished beer and lager in pressure barrels and bottles.
I have 4 King Keg top tap barrels, I have changed the standard taps for creamflow taps fitted with sparklers. I
have 20 crates for storing my bottled brews, each crate holds 12 bottles. It is better to use dark brown bottles
as they prevent brews from becoming spoilt if they are exposed to sunlight or fluorescent light tubes.
At first glance this will appear to be a large amount of brews,
but these are shared, my wife prefers lager while I prefer bitter. The advantage of a large stock of homebrew is always
having a matured beer or lager to enjoy; there is no temptation to drink a brew which is not fully matured. Also, I
do not brew during the summer months as I would not be able to ferment a brew at the recommended temperature so I have to
make sure that I have enough bottled brews to see us through these months.
Two of these King Kegs are used to store beer; the other two are
used to store lager. I use a widget gas system with these barrels, this can pressurise more than one barrel at a time
as shown in the above photo. Other types of barrels, such as budget barrels and Cornelius stainless steel kegs
are available. There are other types of gas cylinders available, such as the Hambleton Bard S30 cylinder and CO2 bulbs.
The advantage of pressure barrels is that they are fairly simple
to use, clean after use and sterilise before use. The disadvantage of these is finding a way to keep them cool in the
summer months: this is why I choose to bottle my brews as well.
These bottles are filled with lager, the recipe can be
found on the all grain recipe page.
These are the crates I use for storing my bitters; they contain
my house bitter, the lighter version of my house bitter and the all grain brew which has been made on this website. All the recipes
are on the all grain recipe page.
The advantage of bottling is that they can be drunk all year round; when the warm weather arrives
you simply put your bottles in the fridge to cool them down. The disadvantage of bottling is that it is a laborious
task to bottle a brew. Sterilising, rinsing and capping 40 pint bottles is a time consuming, but rewarding task.
Wine.
I store my finished wines in 750 ml, dark green bottles; my wine racks hold 128 bottles.
As with the beer and lager, this large amount removes the temptation to drink a wine which is not fully matured.
These are also shared, my wife prefers rose and white wines, I prefer red wine.
The above racks hold 98 bottles.
This smaller rack holds 30 bottles, the small fridge next to it
is ideal for cooling the beer, lager, also the rose and white wine.
The ideal conditions for storing any brew, regardless whether it
is beer, lager or wine, are somewhere cool and dark.
