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**msa8967** · 03-12-2011, 01:50 AM

Had a problem a few months back when my keezer (stored in our attached garage) had the beer lines freeze due to the very cold exterior temps. I got a very simple solution where I used a 40 Watt lightbulb inside the freezer to keep the inside of the keezer from falling below 30 F. This worked pretty well provided I remembered to turn the light on/off at various times. Last weekend ago we had the same type of cold weather so I unplugged the Johnson temp control and plugged in the lamp with the intention of unplugging it after 12 hours like I had in the past.

The problem was that I was hit with the martian death flu

for the next several days and totally forgot to unplugg the bulb. (I know now I should just get a cheap timer switch). After 3 days with this flu and losing 8 pounds I remembered about my beer and open the keezer to find that the inside temp was near 70 F for several days. I have been cooling the beer now since Wednesday but it just does not taste right and I think I may have ruinned parts of 6 kegs of beer.

How long should I wait to see if the taste improves before dumping these? I have this next week off of work and if I need to dump these I want to get some serious brewing in so I can replace these soon. Any ideas or recommendations?

Thanks,

beninan · 03-12-2011, 02:00 AM

I would say too hot would be in the 212 F range....

I have a hard time believing that it's ruined, especially at only 70 degrees. Imagine having a bottled beer in the refrigerator for a week, then take it back out into room temp for a week, then back into the refrigerator. Would the beer be ruined? I would not think so, as I have done this multiple times. Would it taste different? I've never noticed anything different. I would say to just let it sit and taste it regularly. Maybe your taste buds are still screwed up from the flu?

iparks81 · 03-12-2011, 02:05 AM

Ok First question, are these all finished beers or still fermenting?...Ales or Lager?

If they are finished beers, your just fine, no worries at all.
If they are still fermenting...your still fine, you just might have produced some esters at a warmer temp.

I guess we just need to know if they were finished fermenting when exposed to the warmer temps.

**msa8967** · 03-12-2011, 02:08 AM

I think my taste buds are still off from being ill and I hope you are correct. I just didn't know if there was difference between letting unpasturized home brew return to room temp compared to doing the same for commercial beers.

**msa8967** · 03-12-2011, 02:12 AM

The beers had finished fermenting and had been under CO2 for about 4 weeks at 45 F when this occured. Prior to this "mishap" all of the beers tasted just fine. They are also all ales.

beninan · 03-12-2011, 02:21 AM

I would wait it out and see. I also caught the same flu as well last week, and my beers tasted different too, almost not as flavorful. And none of my kegging setup changed. My nose is still clogged, but I'm just now able to taste things normally.

**msa8967** · 03-12-2011, 02:24 AM

Would waiting one week be enough time to see if the original taste returns?

beninan · 03-12-2011, 02:31 AM

Depends on your immune system

I really don't think the taste has anything to do with the beer. Even though the beer is unpasteurized, there's still nothing that would go wrong with it. Most commercial beers are unpasteurized, and in the length of time between bottling day and customer ingestion, I'm sure they would go through a lot of temperature fluctuations.

Just wait until you are back to 100% health, then judge the taste.

malkore · 03-13-2011, 02:43 PM

next time, leave the temp controller plugged in so it can chill the kegs if you forget about the light bulb.

70f is fine. its not a temperature extreme for a finished beer.