question and aleRecently, my friend Bobby emailed with a beer question.  He had a clemency event where they had cans of Hopworks chilled in tubs of ice.  He wanted to know if it was ok to bring them upwards to room temperature so they could be stored or if they had to remain chilled.  Will it ruin the beer if it's brought back to room temperature?  This is really a very common question and myth I come across in my daily life as a member of the beer industry or see on beer forums such as Reddit.  Today's Q & Ale is:Can beer that'southward cold exist brought upwardly to room temperature and stored without ruining it?

The short respond is "Yes, y'all tin bring it up to room temperature once again.  No, it won't ruin the beer."

The enemies of beer are time, oxygen, calorie-free, & heat.  Lite causes an consequence separate from this questions, and then we'll ignore information technology until a subsequently post.  The other iii actually work in concert to ruin beer.

No matter how difficult brewers try, at that place is always some oxygen remaining inside the beer container.  Even the best brewery still worries most oxygen ingress.  New canteen cap technology has helped some, but even the best will still let some oxygen become in.  Given time, that oxygen will "oxidize" the beer creating the chemical Trans-two Nonenal, too known as E-2 Nonenal, which is particularly prevalent in beers that have been way to warm besides long.  This chemic creates the classic wet paper or cardboard aromas that signal "this beer is old."  Keeping the beer cool volition irksome this procedure downward.

Beer Freshness % Over Time
In this chart, you run into how beer freshness degrades over fourth dimension at various temperatures, bold that temperature is abiding. (Chart from "Beer Steward Handbook: A Practical Guide to Understanding Beer")

This is why many breweries, from large to small-scale, endeavour to ensure that their beer is kept cold for as much of its fourth dimension every bit possible.  Many breweries ship refrigerated and require their wholesalers to shop their beer common cold.  If breweries can go on the beer as cold equally possible for equally long as possible, that beer's shelf life will be extended so that when information technology hits the retailer'south shelves and ultimately yours, the beer volition taste equally close to "brewery fresh" as possible.

But how does the procedure of taking a beer, spooky it down, so bringing information technology back to room temperature, storing it for a while on a brandish, then putting it back into cold storage affect information technology?

Beer Freshness chart
This chart shows the consequence of storing a beer at different temperatures, including one that shows what happens if the beer's storage temperature varies. (Chart from "Beer Steward Handbook: A Practical Guide to Understanding Beer")

As you can see from the chart the baseline temperature that beer freshness overtime is calculated at is 70°F.  Additionally, breweries, on boilerplate, figure that they want their beer tasting about 70% of "brewery fresh" by the fourth dimension information technology reaches its pull date.  At lxx% of original freshness, near consumers volition taste very petty difference between fresh and pull date beer.  Co-ordinate to the chart, if the beer is kept at room temperature for its entire life, it should reach its pull date approximately 110-120 days later on packaging.  Equally the blood-red line (the line on the left) indicates, information technology will degrade much faster at a higher temperature.

The line with the bends in information technology is the 1 that is of interest to u.s.a..  This one shows the effects of the temperature going through what would be considered a normal life cycle, including cold shipping and storage with some displays and room temperature storage mixed in for good measure.  The end result of taking a cold beer to room temperature?  Y'all simply shave a fleck of overall "fresh" lifespan from the beer.

I'm not certain where this myth comes from, but it'southward a adequately persistent i.  The only thing that might happen is permanent arctic haze if the beer is subjected to repeated temperature shifts from cold to warm.  Arctic haze or protein brume occurs when a beer is chilled quickly and the proteins in solution come out of solution.  If the beer'south temperature is raised, they go dorsum into solution.  If they, even so, don't go dorsum into solution subsequently repeated temperature shifts, information technology only affects the beer visually.  Information technology won't gustation any different.

So, hopefully this will give you lot some understanding how freshness in beer is measured, maintained, and affected by time and temperature.  Go on your beer as cold as you can without freezing information technology for as long as you tin can.  But if you need to store it at room temperature afterward it's been common cold, don't worry, it won't hurt your beer!

Annotation: The numbers used to a higher place are most commonly associated with domestic lagers.  Most medium to larger craft breweries will accept tested their ain beers and determined their own procedures and dates.  These numbers volition also vary based on the style of the beer.

MBAABeerStewardLogoAnnotation: The MBAA is the Chief Brewers Clan of the Americas.   It was founded in 1887 and is ane of the largest brewery trade groups in the globe, ranging from large breweries to pocket-size breweries.  They have members all over the world.  These folks have done a lot of research over the years on every aspect of beer and beer product.  In other words, they know what they're talking virtually.  They are the ones who organized the "Beer Steward" program which tests people on their beer cognition.  I'm a Beer Steward, their second level.  Eventually, they'll innovate a Master Beer Steward level.

You can read more Q & Ale questions and answers here.  If you have a beer questions, please use the Contact Me link hither or higher up and ask me!

References

Beer Steward Handbook: A Practical Guide to Understanding Beer, Edited past Sephen R. Holle, 2012 (The Master Brewer'southward Association of the Americas)

The Oxford Companion to Beer, Edited past Garrett Oliver, 2012 (Oxford University Press)