Do you "force" warm Stouts/Porters?

...as a general rule, I prefer all my beers relatively warm...that said, many beers I'll open soon after leaving the refrigerator (or store coolers), so the temps may vary from really cold to over 60 °F...that 50 - 60 °F temp is my preferred temperature for big, dark beers especially...

...but, no, I don't force warm beers...however, I do do my beer geek thing and use a variety of ThermoWorks instant read thermometers...even have a key chain one that I use at bars and tap houses...

 

...I believe you are correct, sir!...it was seeing @DoctorZombies with his ThermoWork digital read thermometers that I decided to start using mine for beer purposes (I already used them for grilling and smoking)...

 

I'd have to read it, because that doesn't hold up to basic heat transfer principles (as @woodchipper mentioned). Conduction is much more effective at transferring heat than radiation (not that kind of radiation), and the temperature delta from your body heat to the beer is much bigger than that from the ambient environment to the beer.

There are only so many factors that affect the rate of heat transfer: thermal conductivity of the medium (same glass either way, so no difference), heat differential (greater from your hand than the air), and method of transfer (convection, conduction, or radiation - again, greater from your hand than from the air).

(I am also assuming, sight unseen, that the article tested this on red wine, which was more likely to be closer to room temperature than white wine - therefore, the rate of heat transfer would be less than if one went with a colder beverage, due to a smaller differential temperature. I obviously don't know if that's the case.)

Now, whether or not the difference matters is another story. It's entirely possible that the rate at which the glass warms is insignificant when compared to the rate at which you consume your beverage. That's almost certainly the case with such a wine experiment, especially if you're going with 4-6 ounce pours (instead of dumping half a bottle into an oversized glass). The first several sips will have no difference in temperature, and before you know it, the wine's gone, so ... it doesn't matter.

Now, apply that to a 12 - or even 16! - ounce beer? Something you almost have to sip more slowly than wine? Maybe it makes a difference, maybe not.

But either way, the science is sound. It's not a question as to whether or not your hand will warm the beverage faster (it does). It's a question as to whether or not it does so fast enough to make a discernible difference while drinking it. It's like measuring the force of earth's gravity, which we often state is equal for all objects (in a vacuum) ... but that's not entirely accurate. It's just that the mass of the earth is so incredibly large by comparison that if you take two different objects of different mass, and drop them from different heights, then the height differential and mass differential are essentially irrelevant. The force is mathematically different, but you're not going to notice it.

 

I do not ... but that's because I store all stouts and barleywines in the cellar or at room temperature (which is typically low 60s at the most). So if anything, I might toss it in the fridge or even freezer for a bit to cool it down, but I never have a need to warm them up.

I'm not overly concerned about preservation, as that's mostly a time game. I still have more than half a case of 2018 Narwhal in my cellar; that beer would be old whether it had been stored in the cellar or the fridge (or room temperature). It certainly matters more with volatile compounds, but I'm just not worried about it with a stout or porter.

As to damaging the beer? No, I think you're fine there. There shouldn't be anything wrong with warming it up in water. That same method is used for tons of other food you need to bring up to temperature. Boiling water would be another story, likely.