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Is Cold Storage Really Important???

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  • Is Cold Storage Really Important???

    We are building out a brewery and have realized that there is a significant difference in cost between building out a true cold storage space and building an insulated room that we can keep around 64 degrees. What potential problems could I have if I store my beer around 65 degrees rather than 35-40 degrees?

    Thanks in advance!

    Kevin Jones

  • #2
    In short: Problems. Bad ones.

    Oxidative reactions are temperature dependent. Your beer will, all things being equal, stale and go bad faster stored at room temperatures than it will just hanging out cold. If you've got the gear to sterilize and purge the heck out of it, and pasteurize it for eternity, then it might be ok at room temperatures, but as you're asking this question I'm assuming...not so much.

    Quick and Dirty: see e.g., a graph titled "Temperature Kills Living Beer" based on a paper Charlie Bamforth wrote in 04. At 64F you're looking at three months max before 'pronouced' staling. Versus maybe four times that storing it in the high 30's F.
    Russell Everett
    Co-Founder / Head Brewer
    Bainbridge Island Brewing
    Bainbridge Island, WA

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    • #3
      I'm surprised he gives it as long as he does at even 10 or 20 C. Cask beer (i.e, containing yeast) in the uk is normally given an absolute top shelf life of 6 weeks, though generally is considered better at something less than 4 weeks after packaging - assuming say 15 C in the pub cellar. Considerable time spent running sample rooms, and subsequent time spent as part of taste panels, indicates most filtered and pasteurised beers (with large brewery quality pasteurisation control) are starting to go well and truly stale at 3 months, and often less if the oxygen control is not brilliant.
      dick

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      • #4
        I agree with the 2 above posters but what if he just needs temporary storage lets say a week or so before his distributors come pick it up I would then consider that a viable option. I know I might have made a right turn with that but it has something I have used in the past
        Mike Eme
        Brewmaster

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        • #5
          Thanks everyone. This is great feedback. And I appreciate the quick responses. I would be curious to hear thoughts on Mike's post too. We absolutely have plans to build a cold storage space but didn't know if we could get by in our first year without if we were trying to move the inventory quickly. If that is a viable option what's the longest you would keep it at 64? I assume the distributors keep their warehouse down in the 30's?
          Last edited by kdjones24; 06-02-2015, 08:00 AM.

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          • #6
            When I lived in munich, some breweries and bottle shops would leave kegs and bottles outside in the sun and never had and issue and their shelf life seamed to be at around 6 months.

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            • #7
              At my last job, the rule of thumb was that one day at 70F equaled 10 days at 32F for packaged beer.

              O2 control in the package wasn't great.

              I highly recommend building a cooler.
              Mike Elliott
              Head Brewer
              Philipsburg Brewing Co.
              Montana

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              • #8
                Where do you plan to store your hops? Harvested yeast waiting for re-pitching? These things do not like to be stored warm either...
                Scott LaFollette
                Fifty West Brewing Company
                Cincinnati, Ohio

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by kdjones24 View Post
                  I assume the distributors keep their warehouse down in the 30's?
                  Any distributor should be keeping draft beer cold, but don't ever assume anything with distributors. Ask, get the answer in writing, and check up on them occasionally to make sure they are actually doing what they say they are.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by yap View Post
                    Where do you plan to store your hops? Harvested yeast waiting for re-pitching? These things do not like to be stored warm either...
                    I had thought about that. If it came down to it we would store these in temp regulated chest freezers/fridges. Not ideal but if we had to we would.

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                    • #11
                      This is your first year of operation--your first and only chance to make a great first impression. One stale keg/case can cost you big right now.

                      A finished-product cooler is a start-up cost. There are several walk-in coolers in the used section of the Classifieds here at any given time. A refrigerated shipping container might be another option--these can sometimes be leased.
                      Timm Turrentine

                      Brewerywright,
                      Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                      Enterprise. Oregon.

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                      • #12
                        Used walk in coolers

                        Search ebay and craigslist for Used coolers with or without refrigeration units. You can piece one together for less than the cost of building an insulated room and trying to keep it at 64*. The guy I bought my box from told me I could use residential condensing units and it worked. Had to change out the TXV s on the evaporators but after that been running cold for 8 months.
                        Scott Swygert
                        Founder - Honky Tonk Brewing Co.

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                        • #13
                          Don't open your brewery if you don't have a cooler. It's a need not a want.

                          Now that said, it's easy to build a cooler on a budget. We framed up ours, insulated it with expanded polystyrene from the hardware store, and used two 10,000 BTU air conditioners to cool it. (This is for 14' x 10') air conditioners don't usually go below 60 degrees but if you either buy a coolbot, or rig in your own temp controller to the compressor you can bypass the factory temp control. All said and done we built our cooler for under $2K. It has been chilling our beer to 40 degree serving temps for almost a year now.

                          There are also used coolers on the market that would be an affordable option.

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                          • #14
                            Or install a glycol circulated fan coil. Our 20x12 cold room is cooled by on fan coil plumbed into our glycol loop, so there's no extra (and usually loud) refrigeration unit for our cold room. Think it was about $3k new. http://gdchillers.com/products/glyco...ted-fan-coils/
                            Russell Everett
                            Co-Founder / Head Brewer
                            Bainbridge Island Brewing
                            Bainbridge Island, WA

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                            • #15
                              Thanks for the advice everybody! We'll cough up the extra coin to build the cold storage room from day one but I've got some great ideas now on how to do it for less. I really appreciate it.

                              Kevin

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