Packaged beer storage Temperature

[Todd Haire]

Does anyone have documented information that shows beer stored at un refrigerated temperatures leads to flavor degradation/oxidation? I' am looking for temperature scale that correlates to days of aging. any information would be great.

Thanks,

Todd
thaire@independentbrewers.com

[dick murton]

I have never seen anything that plots temperature against shelf life, as there are just too many other variables. But it is generally accepted that storage warm will harm the flavour and clarity faster than stable cold temperatures. Why else would AB use refrgerated distribution if they didn't want to introduce, sorry, prevent the introduction of flavours.

First and foremost is probably the in pack oxygen level, then choose between a list of protein stability, micro contamination levels, package type, hopping level, clarity immediately after filtration, stabilisation regime.............

The standard accelerated shelf life test is to hold in a hot room for a couple of days, then in a cold bath for a day, then read the haze. For more drastic accelerated shelf life testing, repeat the heat / fridge cycles one or two times. I don't know the exact times and temperatures of this test, but this is the gist of it.

[liammckenna]

I seem to remember some reference in the ASBC handbook relating to the forcing test Dick refers to. It offered 'accelerated aging approximations'. Don't own a copy currently but it may be a good place for you to start.

Ditto on the every beer is different thinking. You may need to establish baselines for each of your products using such a forcing procedure. In my years of experience, I am certain that well made darker beers are more naturally resistant to oxidation of all forms than lighter coloured beers (all other variables remaining equal).

Pax.

Liam

[Larry Doyle]

The graphs do exist. I've seen curves from a major beer company that plotted storage temperature, time and shelf life based on taste tests. The info was promulgated to show the criticality of pasteurizer beer out temperatures and warehouse temperatures. I'll see what I can dig up.

[Damase]

Research Project

Okay, I am reviving an old thread here, but I have been assigned a little research project and have dug through papers in both the MBAA database as well as ASCB database. Of course a digging through databases is only as good as the search terms, but I was wondering if anyone had any pointers to other research that has been done. I may have the paper already, but I might not. A group mind is often better than the individual, for something like this.
The goal is to be able to present something to our distributors and retailers to explain why keeping our beer in the cooler is a good thing for both them and for the customers. (As a scientist in a previous life I am a big fan of data.)

Thanks

Damase
Quality Manager
Wormtown Brewery
Worcester, MA