# Myth Or Fact? Once Beer Is Cold It Should Stay Cold?



## davewaldo (19/9/09)

Hi everyone,

I've been hearing lots of people recently tout this belief that once a beer has been refrigerated it should stay that way until being consumed.

Fair enough it can't be good for beer to be cold then warm over and over but is it really a concern if it only happens once or twice?

I've had mates tell me they can taste when a beer has been allowed to warm after being refrigerated. Its only ever commercial beer drinkers I hear this from not from the homebrew crowd.

So I'm wondering if there is any basis for this belief? The reason I ask is because I want to cold crash a batch of bottles to help the beer settle, but I don't have room to keep them all cold until they are consumed. So I would be cold crashing for a couple of weeks then allowing them to come back up to room temp until they are wanted, then I would chill and drink.

Any problems with this method? I don't see how its much different to cold crashing in the fermenter (which I didn't do for this batch  ).....

Cheers,

Dave


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## glaab (19/9/09)

plenty times I've turned off my beer fridge by mistake , the light switch is right next to the fridge switch, never had anyone say they could tell it was warmed up then rechilled and I never noticed any diff. Its; an old wives tale like the bogeyman and the millenium bug and global warming etc etc
:icon_drunk:


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## Adamt (19/9/09)

I believe the myth stems from leaving beer out in sunlight, where it can skunk.


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## scoundrel (19/9/09)

is it bottle conditioned home brew? it may just give it a bit of a shock, similar to that of bottle shock in wine. but in the long run it should be fine just give it a week before drinking.


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## JonnyAnchovy (19/9/09)

glaab said:


> ... an old wives tale like ... global warming etc etc
> :icon_drunk:




UUUUUGGGHHHRRRR. I wish there was a rage emoticon.


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## davewaldo (19/9/09)

Thanks guys!

The beer in question spent 2 weeks in primary then was bottled and has since had 3 weeks to condition in the bottle. So its finished carbing and I feel it would benefit from a nice long cold crash to help it settle. I usually cold crash for at least a week before bottling which I find helps a lot.

What do you mean by "it might give it a shock". Do you mean the living yeast might be shocked? I figured the yeast would have gone dormant by now as all the sugars are gone.....


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## gregb (19/9/09)

Adamt said:


> I believe the myth stems from leaving beer out in sunlight, where it can skunk.



+1


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## Fourstar (19/9/09)

JonnyAnchovy said:


> UUUUUGGGHHHRRRR. I wish there was a rage emoticon.



I know, how dare he say the boogey man is fake! :angry:


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## jimi (19/9/09)

Cold to warm then cold again = "foxy" or at least thats what I recall the shearers calling it back when I was a young rousie and my old man (whose a non-drinker) and other cockies would serve shearers and the shed crew up old beers for the "cut out" at the end of the shed. These beers had been chilled then let warm (probably a few times). 
'Foxy' is a good descriptor, it's kind of reminds you of the smell down a fox hole. I've only tasted it in commercial beers when the beers were treated quiet dodgily. UV could be the issue I've only tasted it a couple of times and the last time was ages ago. I've never experienced it in home brew and don't think it will be a hassel for you.


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## Thirsty Boy (19/9/09)

I don't think this myth is true - but if you _pretend_ you believe it, I think that would be good.

All beer - and homebrew in particular - should be kept in cold or at least cellar temp cool conditions ALL the time - for its entire existance. The closer to that you can get, the longer your beers will last and the better they will taste. People who are frightened to take their beer out of the fridge - will leave it there! and thats a good thing.


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## Pollux (19/9/09)

Fourstar said:


> I know, how dare he say the boogey man is fake! :angry:





Homer Simpson said:


> "Lisa, vampires are make-believe, like elves, gremlins, and _eskimos_."


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## Screwtop (19/9/09)

If anyone cares to try. Take a sixpack of XXXX bitter from the fridge and leave it at room temp for a few weeks, then refrigerate and taste. Simple test, guaranteed results. During the seventies bottle shops would take em back if you opened one and it was foul, they knew that at times they got moved out of the cold room for a while and would happily replace them with a good one, somehow they knew where to get a good one from to replace it :lol:

Screwy


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## InCider (19/9/09)

I've got a stubby of Carlton Draught in one of my sheds - a small garden shed in direct sunlight most of the day. It's been there at least 2 and a half years. I'll bring it to the swap and we'll see.... :icon_cheers: 

*but it tasted like shit to start with, so can we really tell?*


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## phaedo (19/9/09)

Screwtop said:


> If anyone cares to try. Take a sixpack of XXXX bitter from the fridge and leave it at room temp for a few weeks, then refrigerate and taste. Simple test, guaranteed results. During the seventies bottle shops would take em back if you opened one and it was foul, they knew that at times they got moved out of the cold room for a while and would happily replace them with a good one, somehow they knew where to get a good one from to replace it :lol:
> 
> Screwy




Wouldn't that mean having to drink XXXX?


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## Kai (19/9/09)

Thirsty Boy said:


> I don't think this myth is true - but if you _pretend_ you believe it, I think that would be good.
> 
> All beer - and homebrew in particular - should be kept in cold or at least cellar temp cool conditions ALL the time - for its entire existance. The closer to that you can get, the longer your beers will last and the better they will taste. People who are frightened to take their beer out of the fridge - will leave it there! and thats a good thing.



Sure, keeping packaged (and conditioned) beer cold all the time is definitely best practice, but promoting myths is not. Better that people know beer is best kept cold than perpetuate the notion it can't warm up once cold.

Personally I think the myth is due to people leaving beer in the boot or backseat of the car (or so on...) in the middle of summer. After all, nobody's gonna try to drink an Aussie lager warm, it gets re-chilled...


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## raven19 (19/9/09)

InCider said:


> I've got a stubby of Carlton Draught in one of my sheds - a small garden shed in direct sunlight most of the day. It's been there at least 2 and a half years. I'll bring it to the swap and we'll see.... :icon_cheers:
> 
> *but it tasted like shit to start with, so can we really tell?*



indeed!


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## raven19 (19/9/09)

In regards to Kegs, what is the consensus?

My excuse is I dont have a big enough keg fridge! :unsure:


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## Effect (19/9/09)

well, I have been told that if you overcarb your keg, bring it to room temp and vent all the CO2 and start from scratch.

I don't see what changing the temperature could actually do to the beer...


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## buttersd70 (19/9/09)

raven19 said:


> In regards to Kegs, what is the consensus?
> 
> My excuse is I dont have a big enough keg fridge! :unsure:



Again, cellar temp is best. But in the end, it really comes down to just having a bit of CDF about where you store it. Keep it somewhere that's going to be relatively cool, and preferably relatively stable.


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## Thirsty Boy (20/9/09)

Kai said:


> Sure, keeping packaged (and conditioned) beer cold all the time is definitely best practice, but promoting myths is not. Better that people know beer is best kept cold than perpetuate the notion it can't warm up once cold.
> 
> Personally I think the myth is due to people leaving beer in the boot or backseat of the car (or so on...) in the middle of summer. After all, nobody's gonna try to drink an Aussie lager warm, it gets re-chilled...



Oh I agree 100% - I dont think people should promote this myth... just _act_ as though it were true and keep their beer cold.

and in general rather than in response to Kai...

Varying temperature up and down can cause the beer to age more quickly than even storage at a constant but higher temperature... but you are talking about up and down over a period of days/weeks/months ... not a single instance of getting it cold and letting it warm up.

Temperature is the enemy of freshness... keep em cool and keep em stable is the best advice.


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## WeaselEstateBrewery (20/9/09)

Have been wondering about this myself. I have only one beer fridge which plays the roles of fermenting fridge and keg fridge. I will brew a lager this wek, which means raising the temp of the fridge from 4 to 11 degrees while it ferments for two weeks (during this time I will consume beer from bottles as 11 degrees is too warm for me to drink. Am hoping this won't affect the kegged beer?


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## Kai (20/9/09)

Your kegged beer will be fine.


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## Leigh (21/9/09)

One guy I know that works on the distribution side at CUB says you should not cycle the temperature of CUB's product, he says it has to do with the stability of the preservative added that then impacts the taste profile. (Not saying this is correct or accurate, just passing on what I have been told). 

From my perspective, this makes little to no sense. Reactions tend not to take place "because" of cycling the temperature, but rather they speed up or slow down dependant on temperature.

I'm with others on this thread that I think the myth has been perpetuated by the magebrewers themselves in an attempt to increase shelf life (i.e. once its chilled, it has to stay chilled).

But if true, it will have no impact on our homebrews cause we don't use preservatives LOL


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## RobW (21/9/09)

Treat it like it's milk.


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## Pennywise (21/9/09)

RobW said:


> Treat it like it's milk.




So put it on my corn flakes in the morning? 








:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## RobW (21/9/09)

Homebrewer79 said:


> So put it on my corn flakes in the morning?
> 
> 
> 
> :lol: :lol: :lol:



You don't already?

:icon_cheers:


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## glennb68 (21/9/09)

First post, although lurking for a long time....

When bottled, my beers (60 x stubbies at a time) go into old Balfour's crates for handling and then into a shed. They are covered by thick black plastic (just in case) but then left to the temperature changes that Adelaide offers.

Currently, there are 12 batches cycling through - that means 720+ beers - sitting in the shed, with the oldest ones consumed first. Even if I go (way too) hard and knock off a batch in a weekend, there is still a considerable time spent in the shed.

Until now - 6 years into my brewing "career" - there has only been the occasional funny tasting or smelling beer, and these have been easy to spot. 

There is no protection for this shed, and in the middle of summer it is BLOODY hot.

BTW, all batches are created from the exact same Coopers Draught + Dextrose mixture.

Hmmmmm...


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## manticle (21/9/09)

I'm more intrigued by the idea that you've never once varied your recipe in 6+ years.

Personally my beers stay in the shed too, whatever the weather but I do have a nice variety to choose from unless I've been lazy.


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## Andyd (21/9/09)

Guys,

There are a couple of things at play here, one I understand and one I don't.

The first is that chemical reactions (most if not sll as I understand it) speed up as temperature increases. This is actually an exponential, not linear, relationship, so for every degree C higher the reaction rate doubles (it might even be a factor of 10 - I don't quite recall). So storiing at higher temperatures, even in kegs that have been perfectly purges of oxygen, will result in any staling reactions accelerating, thus reducing the life your beer.

The second is trickier. As has been pointed out, cycling increases the ageing process. This was actually picked up by the wine industry, who were flumoxed when wine vintages started deviating from past experience with respect to the development off characteristic flavor profiles. They tracked it down to the increased use of temperature controlled environments which were inhibiting the aging process.

In this second case I haven't done the research to understand the chemical processes involved, but I'll have to make an effort now that it's come up 

Cheers!

Andy


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## Adamt (21/9/09)

It's a 10 Kelvin rise ~ doubled reaction rate.


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## Andyd (21/9/09)

Thanks! Memory wasn't too bad then - order of magintude and units... (long time since high school  )


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## ScottyDoesntKnow (19/1/17)

Bump.

Wondering if there is any new thoughts/opinions on this? I'm in the unique situation currently where I have alot of beer in the fermentation fridge left from the previous brew and the next brew is ready for cold crashing then bottling. Previous brew has been bottled and conditioned at 18 degrees for the past 3 weeks, new brew has finished and ready to be cold crashed. By the time I reach cold crash stage the fridge is usually well and truly empty. There is also a couple of 6 packs of commercial beers in the ferment fridge as I always figure it's better to store them there than somewhere with a fluctuating temperature or possible UV exposure. 

So is there anything that could affect those bottles that are currently conditioning at 18 degrees, then dropping temp to 1 degree for 3 days before going back to 18 to condition the new batch, then chill back down to drink? Scientific or otherwise?

Cheers.


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## MHB (19/1/17)

What does the most harm (well apart from being really hot) is cycling above and below the temperature where chill haze forms. Every time you form temporary or chill haze, some of it doesn't de-couple and becomes permanent haze. There is even a stability test that uses temp cycling to measure stability.
There are other problems with holding beer hot - main one being that everything happens faster hotter, in this case all the aging and staling processes that will eventually detract from the beer flavour.

Moving the temperature up or down a couple of degrees (as above) around 18oC isn't going to do much if any harm.
Mark


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## ScottyDoesntKnow (19/1/17)

Thanks Mark, from what I understand chill haze has no effect on taste anyway. I generally prefer hazy beers as I've only been making ales for now... I was actually a little dissapointed at how clear my last beer was when I used gelatin for the first time!


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## mr_wibble (22/1/17)

jimi said:


> Cold to warm then cold again = "foxy" or at least thats what I recall the shearers calling it back when I was a young rousie and my old man (whose a non-drinker) and other cockies would serve shearers and the shed crew up old beers for the "cut out" at the end of the shed. These beers had been chilled then let warm (probably a few times).
> 'Foxy' is a good descriptor, it's kind of reminds you of the smell down a fox hole. I've only tasted it in commercial beers when the beers were treated quiet dodgily. UV could be the issue I've only tasted it a couple of times and the last time was ages ago. I've never experienced it in home brew and don't think it will be a hassel for you.


I'm guessing that's what the American's would call "skunked". Isn't that UV light on the hops?

ref: http://www.professorbeer.com/articles/skunked_beer.html

_"The hop compounds that are responsible for making beer bitter are called isomerized alpha-acids. These chemicals, along with sulfur compounds found in beer, are also culpable in beer skunking. When light hits beer, it provides the energy necessary to drive a reaction that transforms the iso-alpha-acids into 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol. The “thiol” part of that somewhat cumbersome name indicates that there is sulfur present. Sulfur compounds often have strong, offensive aromas. Some musteline animals, like skunks, have evolved the ability to produce this chemical, and use it for self-defense."_


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## Bribie G (22/1/17)

One of my best beers ever, not that I would be repeating it any time soon:

Dusseldorf Alt, made in a September a few years ago for Xmas drinking. Lagered for a few weeks as per the method for Alts, it had a distinct twang of something you'd expect to find in a Huggies Nappy, or perhaps a mouthful of Orc flesh.

I omitted to chuck it out... I used to have 13 kegs back then and it just sort of got missed out in the queue. Next February after being in the corner of the garage I found it and hooked it up again just out of curiosity.

Glorious.


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## nosco (2/2/17)

I have a theory, and Im sticking to it. If you buy a 6 pack warm off the shelf and after chilling for a day or 3 they taste a bit ordinary, leave them in the fridge for 3 or 4 or however more and they will taste better. In some cases a hell of a lot better.


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## pirateagenda (24/3/17)

I subscribe to the theory.

Once had a case that was bought cold, half case consumed on the night it was bought and was fine. Was then left on the porch of a holiday place in the country that gets cold at night (near 0) and warmish during the day up in the 15-20 range. Returned to the beer a week later and it tasted like crap.


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## DUANNE (25/3/17)

JonnyAnchovy said:


> UUUUUGGGHHHRRRR. I wish there was a rage emoticon.


yeah cause the antarctic has record levels of sea ice? ohhh thats right global warming has long been debunked thats why they resort to a much easier to fool the sheep climate change moniker


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## manticle (25/3/17)

Without wanting to delve too much into your climate scepticism, you are responding to a post from 8 years ago.


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## DUANNE (25/3/17)

yeah i did notice that after posting. and replying to a member that hasn't been online in a couple of years at that. i really should start taking more notice of what i do after a few beers.


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## goatchop41 (25/3/17)

BEERHOG said:


> yeah cause the antarctic has record levels of sea ice? ohhh thats right global warming has long been debunked thats why they resort to a much easier to fool the sheep climate change moniker





manticle said:


> Without wanting to delve too much into your climate scepticism, you are responding to a post from 8 years ago.


He sounds like one of the people responsible for a lunatic like Malcolm Roberts being in the Australian Senate


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## mondestrunken (25/3/17)

In relation to the actual original question: my experience is that, unless you're leaving your beer in a parked car in summer, there are much easier ways to wreck your beer.


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## Danscraftbeer (25/3/17)

If you can keep it cold. Even for years then that would be better but that's even hard to do in our modern times.
I have done a small amount of experimenting with aged bottle ferment conditioned and draught bottled from the keg.
Then aged, chilled versus non chilled.
The refrigerated versions are nicer but only by a small degree. Bottles I have kept in dark cupboards at whatever ambient temperature and then chilled for at least a week still keep well as for the captured brew etc. It does have more of that commercial character. That character that is from full conditioning then packaged, transported, time spent etc.


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## DUANNE (25/3/17)

goatchop41 said:


> He sounds like one of the people responsible for a lunatic like Malcolm Roberts being in the Australian Senate


and you my friend sound like a typical green voting communist that starts throwing abuse at anyone that doesn't share your opinion. and would you please explain how as a Victorian i am or could be responsible for a Queensland member of parliament being elected?


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## manticle (25/3/17)

Hey I'm a green voting, non communist ex-victorian moderator who kindly requests that off topic banter about climate change remain not only civil but off topic (ie. Off topic section please).

Take it elsewhere, leave this topic about hot/cold beer.

Please.

Everyone.

Thanks


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## mtb (26/3/17)

I get what you're saying manticle, but Clive Palmer.
..and back on topic, I find a serious deprivation in hop aroma when cycling kegs between room/chill temp. This is in comparison to a keg of the same batch which was lucky enough to not be subjected to such treatment.


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