Tips for storing your wine and home brew beer

So, you've made your own beer or wines, it's bottled and needs storing in the most suitable conditions. Check out these tips for storing your wine and beer so bottles remain in great condition:

• your wines will last a minimum of two years at home, if stored correctly
• the best way to store wines is horizontally, to prevent corks drying out. Of course, if you used screw caps or corks made from glass or plastic then keeping your wine bottles horizontal is not essential, but you will find it is the most efficient use of space anyway
• wines should ideally be kept at temperatures between 45 degrees Fahrenheit and 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Where temperatures rise to 70 degrees Fahrenheit and above wines age a lot quicker. When wines are kept at temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, corks can dry out, causing air to get into the bottle and ruin the wine. If you keep your wines in an unheated garage or outside store and freezing conditions are likely this can cause the wine to freeze and expand, pushing out the cork
• it's best to keep your wine in darker conditions. Sunlight can cause wines to degrade and age prematurely. This is the reason wine bottles tend to be manufactured from colored glass. Light from household bulbs is unlikely to damage your wines but can cause labels to fade
• storing your wines in ideal humidity levels of 70 percent is recommended to prevent corks drying out, although this is not a necessity for most storage situations as it is unlikely humidity levels will drop to critical. You could put a pan of water in your wine store to assure the best humidity levels, though

You can easily create your own wine store in a closet at home, if it is deep enough. You'll just need to use racking to divide the closet into storage containers suitable for different types of wine. You can insulate the closet with about one inch of foam insulation to keep temperatures inside stable and keep a pan of water inside to assure humidity levels are suitable. Check out the video at the foot of the page for a visual showing how to turn your closet into a home wine store.

• bottles of home brew beer need storing upright in a cool, dark store or room. You'll find basements and cellars are a great choice because temperatures don't fluctuate a great deal
• if you're storing your bottled beers in the home temperature fluctuations during daylight hours and the hours of darkness could be extreme and impact on the quality of your beers
• if you store your home brew beer correctly you can expect a storage life between four months and at least a year.