Do You Pay Attention to Your Beer Cellar’s Humidity? (Part 2)
By jason on Feb 25, 2008 in Cellaring Science, Featured
Be sure to check out the first part of this article which discussed the effects of low humidity on beer cellaring.
When I ended the first part of this article, I mentioned how running your beer cellar at 60% to 70% relative humidity is great for keeping the corks on your corked beers in prime shape. However, that much humidity in your cellar does come with two big drawbacks - namely mold and rust.
Mold anywhere becomes a potential problem anytime the relative humidity of a room is at a constant level of 60% or higher. In fact, the United States EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) recommends keeping relative humidity under 55% to avoid mold growth. The EPA’s web page about mold growth and indoor air quality is a fantastic source for tips on controlling indoor humidity levels, and definitely something anyone serious about beer cellaring should check out.
Wine cellar manufactures also have a couple of recommendations when it comes to controlling mold growth. First is to recognize the fact that moving air tends to inhibit mold growth. If you are locating your cellaring beers in an area where you have some air circulation, you’ll be able to run at a higher humidity level then you normally would. Secondly, there are a number of chemical products, some made specifically for wine cellars, that do a very good job at inhibiting molds.
When building wine cellars from scratch, manufactures will often spray in a foam vapor barrier in between the walls of the cellar room in order to optimally control the humidity levels within. Pretty cool, if you ask me!
The final problem you may encounter from the humidity levels in your cellar is that of rust. Rusting is possible at any point the relative humidity climbs over 50%. Anything over 80% can start to corrode even bare steel. The Corrosion Doctors have a great explanation of the rusting process of humidity up on their website, and explain it in far more detail then I ever could.
So what to do? Corked beers demand high levels of relative humidity, while the effects of mold and rust suggest lower levels of humidity. I’ll fill you in on some of my recommendations and solutions in the final part of this series.
Thanks for reading!
Jason
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