Bottled Beer Serving Temperature

[3 Dawg Night]

I couldn't find any other posts addressing this exactly, but my Google-Fu is not as good as some others'.

I want to be able to serve my beer at ~45-50 degF, as I feel my taste buds work best in that range. Unfortunately, my garage fridge has to be dual use (i.e., beer, and overflow from the kitchen fridge), so keeping my bottles at that temperature is out of the cards for now. Are there any tricks or rules-of-thumb for allowing the beer to warm slightly before serving? I would assume it's OK to leave it on the counter unopened for 10-15 minutes?

My long term plan is kegging and a standalone beer kegerator/keezer. Baby steps. Baby steps.

 

[VikeMan]

I would assume it's OK to leave it on the counter unopened for 10-15 minutes?

It's definitely OK.

My long term plan is kegging and a standalone beer kegerator/keezer.

Does this mean you want to store the beer at 45-50F? If so, that's not really good for freshness.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Does this mean you want to store the beer at 45-50F? If so, that's not really good for freshness.

I guess so. At what temperature do you keep kegs?

 

[VikeMan]

I guess so. At what temperature do you keep kegs?

My keezer averages 38F.

 

[myelo]

If you bottle, it's easy. Just leave the bottles at room temperature a bit before opening. If I don't want to wait, I'll sometimes run some warm water from the tap over the bottle a minute or two (usually for stouts, porters and dubbels in the winter).

 

[3 Dawg Night]

My keezer averages 38F.

So, same as my fridge. Do you let a pour warm a bit first, or do you drink it cold?

 

[Derp]

My keezer is set at 42, but I brew mostly English-style beers that should be consumed a little warmer, so I tend to let them sit for 15 minutes or so.

 

[VikeMan]

So, same as my fridge. Do you let a pour warm a bit first, or do you drink it cold?

I don't usually let it warm up first. But I don't chug it either, so it tends to warm up and evolve as I'm drinking it.

But if you want to warm it up faster, you can wrap both hands around the glass to speed it up.

 

[Beermeister32]

My bottled beer fridge is set to 38F. That is my preferred serving temperature. Also, I serve into a pre-chilled glass.

 

[Wintry Mix]

Does this mean you want to store the beer at 45-50F? If so, that's not really good for freshness.

Curious. If I had a 50°F basement I would think it a good place to store bottled beer. Does kegged beer require colder storage or should bottles also be kept colder. Certainly beers like NEIPAs need to be cold but refrigerating stouts just seems wrong.

 

[VikeMan]

Curious. If I had a 50°F basement I would think it a good place to store bottled beer. Does kegged beer require colder storage or should bottles also be kept colder. Certainly beers like NEIPAs need to be cold but refrigerating stouts just seems wrong.

If you want to intentionally age beers, then 50F is fine. If you want to keep them fresh, it's not great. Staling and aging/maturing happen at the same time. Figure that your beer will stale/age/mature at roughly double the rate for each 10C of temperature increase.

The phenomenon applies to both kegged and bottled beers.

 

[Vale71]

My bottled beer fridge is set to 38F. That is my preferred serving temperature. Also, I serve into a pre-chilled glass.

Why, don't you like how your beer tastes?

 

[Beermeister32]

Beer is delicious at many temperatures, it brings out different flavors at different temps. Just like foods, that nice hot and juicy chicken dinner will taste entirely different when you are shoveling it in cold the next morning.

Some pub ales you might like warmer. For me, 38 is the temp for most beers. Cheers!