Cellar ageing temps?

[SillverOrchid]

Hi all, well our first mead's have turned out really well! We have 2 JAOM's then we made a Blueberry Melomel, Apple cyser is still clearing and we also did some hard cider.

My question is this, we have bottled but is it better to let it age in the basement and if so what temp is too low?

Thanks for the help

Kristy

 

[Chevette Girl]

You don't want it to freeze because that will crack bottles and pop corks. Short of that, I believe the cooler the better, but the benefits from aging might take longer to show up if it's really close to freezing. I think typically I've seen 50-55F talked about for cellar temps? Hopefully someone who knows for sure will correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Whites generally benefit from 45-50 degrees. Mead? something of a different ballgame, but the ideal is between 45 (cold end) and 59-60(warm end, usually for reds). I've heard many people profess the "perfect temperature" but you're not exactly aging it for 60+ years.

 

[SillverOrchid]

Thanks for getting back to me! I believe our cellar is probably 40- 45 in the winter, this is an oldddd house and not well insulated. Hubby wants to just let them age upstairs because he thinks it may freeze down there I am not so sure, so I guess until temps really drop here in PA and I can get a thermometer down there I won't really know.

 

[akueck]

40 is a bit chilly, but remember alcohol won't freeze at 32 F anyway. Most of your meads will be liquid down into the mid 20s.

50-60 is generally the range to shoot for. And temperature consistency is just as important as the absolute temperature.

 

[mrperq]

he thinks it may freeze down there

Assuming you live in a moderate climate, your house is built on top of
your cellar and 'bad' isolation includes at minimum a door, I dont think
your cellar will freeze over that fast.

Think about it, most old houses have pipes running through the cellar.
Does yours? Did the pipes burst last winter? No? Then it didn't freeze
there.

I wouldn't worry too much about temperature stability either. A cellar is
surrounded by massive ammounts of soil, which act as a huge temperature
buffer. It keeps the cellar cooler during hot summer days, and warmer during
cold winter nights.

Remember the hobbit houses from lord of the rings? In Scandinavia, some houses
are built exactly this way for temperature stability reasons.

If you still worry, buy a min-max thermomether. The cellar under my own old,
currently under-isolated house never dipped below 10c (50f) last winter.