Pouring Perfection -- The Newbie's Guide To Storing Home Brew Materials

Posted on: 2 August 2016

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If you've joined the growing trend of brewing your own beer at home, you no doubt have some delicate ingredients and equipment to keep and maintain. What's the best way to do this? Here is a handy storage guide for your home brew supplies from beginning to end.

Organize It!

Most home brewers begin somewhat haphazardly -- buying small equipment and pieces as needed, then moving into larger ones while storing less-needed supplies somewhere nearby. But this can lead to having a work area that's disorganized, inefficient and even dangerous to your fragile hops and malt.

Take the time to create a work station that flows logically from one step to the next. Keep it in a dedicated space that's not shared with other activities (which may preclude the garage or storage sheds). Use peg boards, hanging hooks and wall shelves to store tubing, stirring spoons and racking canes. Bottles can even be organized nicely using filing cabinets.

Care for Your Ingredients

Many ingredients -- including hops, malted grain and yeast -- require different, but reliable, temperatures. You will need storage locations that meet all these needs.

Some ingredients -- including dry yeast packets, for example -- just need a cool, dry environment and can be stored on shelves in such a location. For hops and malted grain, though, you will likely need a cold appliance such as a refrigerator and freezer. Hops generally benefit from being stored in an oxygen barrier container in a freezer, while both whole and crushed grains often do well stored in the refrigerator. 

Store in a Controlled Temperature

Once the ingredients have been combined to form a mixture that needs to ferment, it will need to be stored out of the way. However, being out of the way doesn't mean you won't need to pay attention to it from time to time. Store fermenting beer in a location that doesn't get much traffic but is still easy to get to. So don't bury it behind your active brews or mixed in with the stored supplies. You will need to monitor the temperature to ensure that the yeast is at its optimal temperature to work well. In addition, avoid direct sunlight to prevent skunky end results.

One of the easiest ways to meet all these needs is to rent a temperature-controlled personal storage space dedicated to brewing. While it might take some getting used to, a dedicated interior storage unit can help prevent a lot of variables from altering your product.

By giving some thought to how you will store your supplies, ingredients and fermenting liquid, you can come up with the best way to meet the beer's needs. And then you can spend more time perfecting your brew instead of wondering where you went wrong.

For more information about finding a climate controlled storage unit that might work, contact a company like Econo Storage.