What temperature do you serve your beer at?

[HoppyTommy]

I've got my corny kegs in a fridge. My inkbird tells me it's about 4 degrees in there. I've got an IPA and a Mary Jane clone on the go. They both taste ok but my dad commented they were a bit cold on the stomach. A quick Google round tells me cask ale is served at cellar temperature of 10-12 degrees.

I can set my inkbird (combined with 45w heater) to any temperature so I was going to try 10 degrees. I suspect chilling beer too much kills some flavours e.g. the way to drink cheap white wine is to get it close to freezing point.

I'm planning on experimenting with serving temperatures but any advice as to what temperature others serve at to maximise flavour?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Braindead]

+2 degrees over the Gravity

 

[chthon]

+2 degrees over the Gravity

Is that the original gravity or the final gravity? And is that in Fahrenheit or Celsius?

 

[MickDundee]

I use the table in this article as a guide:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/beer...arm-beer-select-the-right-serving-temperature

I have a stout in my minikeg dispenser set to 10C, but IPAs/APAs I set to 8C

 

[Covrich]

Cold conditioning in teh garage but before serving I put them in my beer fridge which is either turned down.. if not Ill take them out ½ hour before to warm up a bit..

Unless its lager or cider straight out the fridge is a little cold for a lot of styles 10ºc or cool is about right.

 

[Cwrw666]

It seems fashionable at the moment to serve beer at way too cold a temperature. Like we all live in California and need to be cooled down in the heat.
Ales should be a few degrees below room temperature, but that's all, otherwise all that effort you put in to making a fine tasting brew has been totally wasted.

 

[Clint]

Agree...last night my choccy porter was bursting with flavour after warming up a bit...I was initially concerned about the brew thinking it was a bit bland but the first few I tried had all been stone cold from the shed.

 

[HoppyTommy]

Cheers folks.

 

[terrym]

Try this
http://cask-marque.co.uk/info-for-pubs/beer-temperature/

 

[Dutto]

I didn't give my brews all those hours of care and attention to then chill them so much that I can't taste them, so I generally drink them at "garage ambient" which normally means anywhere between 8*C and 16*C.

Chilling beer is a relatively new thing and IMO it was introduced to mask the taste and smell of the crap that they served in pubs in the late 1960's and it's still needed for the same reasons today.

Traditionally, beer was brewed to be served at "Cellar Temperature" which was normally a few degrees below "Bar Temperature". A good Cellar-man (they were hard to find apparently) would adjust the cellar's ventilation to keep temperature changes to a minimum, but maintain the few degrees difference as the seasons came and went. (Remember that in the good old days there was no central heating and bar heating was generally an open fire. This often meant that your "fire side" was red hot and your "door side" was freezing; so on average you were "comfortable", especially after a few pints!)

If you take a look at the older pubs in your area you will find that the cellars are underneath the pubs and accessed from the street above. This was for two reasons:

1. Full (and heavy) barrels could be rolled down into the cellars with the minimum of effort and ditto empty ones to take away.
2. Being underground and surrounded by earth meant that the cellars maintained a near constant temperature throughout the year.

A few of the really old pubs (the Rams Head in Eastgate, Louth for instance) actually had no cellar from which the beer was pumped. The barrels were laid on their sides at the back of the bar and the beer was dispensed through wooden taps directly into the glasses.

Happy Days.

 

[marshbrewer]

A few of the really old pubs (the Rams Head in Eastgate, Louth for instance) actually had no cellar from which the beer was pumped. The barrels were laid on their sides at the back of the bar and the beer was dispensed through wooden taps directly into the glasses.

Happy Days.

Where was that Dutto? I've been drinking in Louth since the 1980's, and from memory, on Eastgate there was The Mucky Duck (Ye Olde Whyte Swan) - still there, Pack Horse - still there, The Woodman - now a funeral place, then nothing till The Poacher - now a house. But I know lots have closed down since the heights of the 1960's when, apparently, Louth had the more pubs in a square mile than anywhere else in England.

Great place to go boozing as a teenager, to be honest.

 

[druid]

I for one serve many of my beers at garage temperature. I was told years ago that if you want to find out if the beer is good, serve it at room temp in the summer. If it doesnt taste good at that temp....it was chilled to hide the crappy taste. I now enjoy what others term "warm" beer. I have a bitter that I will put in the fridge for maybe an hour before drinking it but not much more than that....taste starts to dissapear.

 

[ACBEV]

I don't chill any of my beers. I store at at around 15c and may put in fridge for 20 minutes before drinking. You can't taste the full depth of flavour if drinking cold beer.

 

[Covrich]

I didn't give my brews all those hours of care and attention to then chill them so much that I can't taste them, so I generally drink them at "garage ambient" which normally means anywhere between 8*C and 16*C.

Chilling beer is a relatively new thing and IMO it was introduced to mask the taste and smell of the crap that they served in pubs in the late 1960's and it's still needed for the same reasons today.


Happy Days.

Indeed and yet we see the likes of carling and guiness being served EXTRA COLD..

Mind you... I think I may prefer them that way

 

[Covrich]

As an experiment I decided to have two ales the same one at fridge and one warmed up for 40 mins side by side tonight.

This was a single cryo hop ale, that said whilst I agree with the above how cold suppresses flavour I was really amazed how it affected aroma aswell, the one which was warmed up (about 12ºc at a guess) was significantly better

 

[Dutto]

Where was that Dutto? I've been drinking in Louth since the 1980's, and from memory, on Eastgate there was The Mucky Duck (Ye Olde Whyte Swan) - still there, Pack Horse - still there, The Woodman - now a funeral place, then nothing till The Poacher - now a house. But I know lots have closed down since the heights of the 1960's when, apparently, Louth had the more pubs in a square mile than anywhere else in England.

Great place to go boozing as a teenager, to be honest.

It was a bit before your time. The Rams Head was right opposite Ramsgate. If memory serves me right (it happens now and then) it was wedged tight up against a cul-de-sac called Albion Place. I'm not sure what it is nowadays but when I was there as a copper in 1962 it was doing a great trade. Funnily enough it was a pub where we never had any trouble that I recall. Maybe the beer they sold was "sleeping beer" rather than "fighting beer"!

A couple of years back I went to The Gaslight Lounge (so called because they still use gas to light the place) down Thames Street near the old canal. It's the home of the Fulstow Brewery. Their kits got me into AG brewing and the joy was that I could make their brew and then go and drink it in The Gaslight Lounge, to see what it should really taste like. Unfortunately, I had to drive home so I was restricted to 2 halves every time! Incidentally, they do some great brews and I love their Marsh Mild as a winter drink.

 

[marshbrewer]

Yep, their Northwold IPA is a masterpiece. If your ever not driving, having a few in the gaslamp then nipping round the corner to the woolpack for some grub and a few more real ales is worthwhile

 

[foxy]

I drink mine at about 15 degrees C, a specialist told me that most main organs in the body can repair themselves but the kidney's can't having ethanol passing through them is bad enough passing through them at a close to freezing temperature is giving them a double whammy.
A sun warmed strawberry or tomato eaten straight out of the garden has far more flavour than straight out of the fridge, same with white wine and beer.

 

[Nicks90]

All my beer gets stored in my cellar and gets brought up at 8c.
Depending how thirsty I am it gets an hour or two to warm up a bit and by the time I go to bed, my last beer will be about 16c
Scrummy

 

[-Bezza-]

To be slightly controversial on this, flavour is only one element of the beer drinking process. Alongside look, aroma, mouthfeel etc, I think temperature is important. There's a certain feeling that comes with cracking open an ice cold beer on a hot day, even if it does mean I'm missing out on some of the flavours.

I was in Vegas a few years back and there's a bar there that served beer almost at the point of freezing. It was one of the best beer drinking experiences I have had.

So go with what you like, not what you're told to like.