best serving temp

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bakersbrew

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what is the best serving temp for kegged beer? i have my kegerator at 38 but sometime it drops a little lower. what should it be at? i never really looked into this. i am also having trouble hitting just the right amount of carbonation. i always have way too much head. any help?
 
38. How long are your liquid lines? Try to increase them so that it takes more pressure to serve the beer. That should cut down on the head. Also (of course) lowering the pressure on your regulator, but I'm assuming you've tried that.
 
38 seems to get regurgitated automatically whenever this question comes up. Especially over on the Micro Matic forums. This temperature may be fine and recommended for commercial American lagers and such accepted as gospel. But IMHO, I enjoy the flavor of my home brewed ales too much to try to kill it with cooling it to 38 degrees.

Anyway, google for carbonation chart and keg balancing. Determine the temperature you prefer, set the psi accordingly. Some people like to add more beer line to add more resistance to help with foam. I can dial mine in to work well with 5 feet of line instead of adding a big coil of hose inside the kegerator.
 
I set mine at 40F, but it also has a 5 degree differential so it probably ends up close to 42-43F.
 
I like my home brewed beer served in the mid 40's to low 50's. I keep my kegerator a little warmer than I keep my refrigerator (below 40 to stay out of the food "danger zone").
 
I agree witht he others. I keep it in the low-mid 40's. I think anything cooler will distract from the flavor. I set my regulator to 14psi and use 10ft beer lines. perfect head <almost> every time.
 
Does anyone know where the post is with the recommended serving temps for specific styles of beers is at? I looked a while back but couldn't track it down.

Like a stout may be served at 50*, light lager at 35* etc...
 
Does anyone know where the post is with the recommended serving temps for specific styles of beers is at? I looked a while back but couldn't track it down.

Carb level

for temp, the list i found is in C, but you can convert
1° - 3°: Any filthy, disgusting beer. The main reason you'd drink a beer this cold is because whatever flavour it has, you'd rather avoid it. You wouldn't drink a beer this cold just because it wasn't that interesting.
Examples: Boags Classic Bitter, Geelong Bitter, (American) Budweiser, imitation Pilsner Urquell, too many others.


4° - 7°: Mainstream Lagers and, um... that's about it. Sake is technically a beer and is usually served at this temperature but I'm told that good sake is better consumed warm. Also, any beer that you are going to drink in the shower.
Examples: Castle, Lion, Swan, Victoria Bitter, Carlton Draught, Harp, Carling, Miller, Molson.


8° - 12°: pilsner, helles and dunkel bock, Dort, Munich Helles and Dunkel, Schwarzbier, Märzen and most other types of premium lager. Also Cream Ale, enkel, Altbier, Kölsch, Weizen, Mild Ale, lower gravity India Pale Ale and Bitter.
Examples: Paulaner Oktoberfest, Löwenbräu, DAB, Heineken, Grolsch, Becks, Stella Artois, Carlsberg, Hahn Premium, Crown Lager, Cascade, James Boag, Dominion, Küppers, Weihenstephaner Kristal Export.


13° - 16°: Lambic, saison, dubbel, pale ale, bitter, scotch ale, cream ale, irish ale, dark ale, red Ale, brown Ale, most other types of ale.
Examples: Guinness, Belle-Vue kriek, Straffe Hendrik Delerium Tremens, Saison Dupont, Caffrey's Irish Ale, Pete's Wicked Ale, Boddingtons.


17° - 19°: All high gravity beers. Lagers include doppelbock, eisbock, Samichlaus and ice beer. Also served at this temperature are trippel, quadrupel, strong ale, barley wine, imperial stout and baltic porter. Any beer drunk while waiting for the refrigerator repair man to arrive.
Examples: EKU28, Thomas Hardy's Ale, Salvator, Chimay Blue Cap.
 
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