Kegging Temperature

[Nearly]

What temp do you guys keep your keg fridge at? I am trying around 2 degC at the moment.... seems good to me.

 

[Doc]

I keep mine at about 4degC.
I use to have it set lower but every now and again I'd have the beer freeze in the beer line or the keg pickup tube overnight.

It only ever seemed to happen on heavy bodied beers like stouts etc, but was always a bloody nusiance.

Beers,
Doc

 

[Nearly]

Good infomation as ever Doc, thanks.

 

[Jase]

Hi There,

I am raising a old post, but am a couple of days away from finishing my bar and keg fridge (converted freezer) and am wondering what temperature other members keep their kegs at?


Cheers,
Jase

 

[Jino]

I try to keep mine at about 3-4 degrees. I to have had the problem or freezing in the beer line and if i keep it aroung that temp i don't seem to have that problem.

 

[Snow]

3-4 degrees in the middle. Any lower and the beers and yeast at the bottom freeze.

- Snow

 

[user 384]

Brrrrr! I'm getting a chill just thinking about those keg temps. Far to cold for my liking. I drink mostly English ales so my fridge is set to 10C-12C. Any colder than that and you begin to lose the flavour of the beer. If I'm drinking a lager I crank it down to 8C.

Australia we have been indoctrinated into thinking that beer needs to be icy cold, but this is a sure way to kill the flavour of your fine ales or lagers.

Cheers
MAH

 

[Jase]

Brrrrr! I'm getting a chill just thinking about those keg temps. Far to cold for my liking. I drink mostly English ales so my fridge is set to 10C-12C. Any colder than that and you begin to lose the flavour of the beer. If I'm drinking a lager I crank it down to 8C.

Australia we have been indoctrinated into thinking that beer needs to be icy cold, but this is a sure way to kill the flavour of your fine ales or lagers.

Cheers
MAH

MAH,

10-12 degrees is not too warm???? Can't say if I've ever had a beer at that temperature.

Cheers,
Jase

 

[user 384]

MAH,

10-12 degrees is not too warm???? Can't say if I've ever had a beer at that temperature.

Cheers,
Jase

Hi Jase

Beer is a food product that has an optimal serving temperature for the release of aromas and flavour. If the beer is too cold you will inhibit the release of some of these aromas and flavours. Standard wisdom says about 12C is a good temperature for English style ales. 12C is quite a cool temperature for drinking anything, it's 25C less than our normal body temperature, so it can still be refreshing, but it's not icey cold.

The general public is well versed in the knowledge that wine needs to be served at certain temps and that too cold will kill the taste, but with beer we still persist with 2C-4C as the ideal temp (it's often suggested that this is to hide the many shortcomings of Aussie pseudo lager mega swill).

But at the end of the day it comes down to personal preference. I suggest that you play around with your serving temps and pick whatever suits your pallate.

Cheers
MAH

 

[warrenlw63]

I seem to have a particular leaning for drinking English style Ales over winter and serving at about 9-11c.

Summer's a different story. Tend to make more lighter coloured/bodied beers/lagers etc. and drop the serving temps to about 4-5c and put my glasses in the freezer.

My serving fridge (Tuckerbox with a collar) has the taps on a font on the top. In warmer weather the beer in the top of the lines tends to foam, :angry: especially seeing that the beers in question have higher carbonation than my winter beers. Freezing glasses slows this down a bit.

Seriously contemplating putting the taps in the collar and removing the tower to keep the top part of the lines a little cooler.

Just gotta get around to it. :blink:

Warren -

 

[user 384]

Hi Warren

I don't have any problem with beer foaming from the tap. I use a fridge and have the taps mounted in the door. The shank extends into the fridge and keep the tap cool all of the time, so no problem.

Since this photo was taken I now keep the CO2 bottle on the outside, and have 2 secondary regulators each with their own manifold. This allows me to serve beers at differentt cerbonations. Keeping the gas on the outside was a must for me, as I now don't have to open and close the door whenever I want to turn the system on or adjust serving pressure.

Cheers
MAH

 

[warrenlw63]

Hi MAH,

That's one awesome serving fridge! :blink: :blink: :blink:

Warren -

 

[sluggerdog]

I'm still about 4C, however I find sometimes I like to let it sit a little while.

If it is megaswill, the colder the better, homebrew can be a little warmer and still be tasty in my books.

 

[Ross]

Slugger,

I keep my fridge @ 4c for the stout & pour my pommie style ales into a jug, This allows the ale to warm up a bit before pouring into glass for drinking - also less journeys to the fridge... :chug:

 

[Snow]

Brrrrr! I'm getting a chill just thinking about those keg temps. Far to cold for my liking. I drink mostly English ales so my fridge is set to 10C-12C. Any colder than that and you begin to lose the flavour of the beer. If I'm drinking a lager I crank it down to 8C.

Australia we have been indoctrinated into thinking that beer needs to be icy cold, but this is a sure way to kill the flavour of your fine ales or lagers.

Cheers
MAH

I totally agree, MAH, and I prefer my English, Irish and Belgian ales at around 10C. However, as I usually have 3 kegs in the fridge, often one will be a continental or Australian lager of sorts, which require temps of around 5C to be good drinking. I also CC my beers and store yeast and hops in the same fridge, which condition/keep better at 0-3C. So, I keep the fridge at 3C, pour into room-temp glasses and let them sit for a little before I drink. Not ideal, but I have no choice.

Now to get a 5th fridge for my CC/yeast/hops fridge.....

Cheers - Snow