Too Cold?

Depends on the beer and how long you plan on keeping it. Generally the fridge keeps in fresher, but if its being stored for a long time then the firdge is not the place to do it. Cool or cold are generally better than room temperature as the warmth speeds up the chemical reactions involved with aging/staling of the beer.

 

Again there's no real simple answer since beers differ. But that said, I have few personal guidelines. For example, here in PA, where for years we had to buy beers a case at a time (except from a bar) a lot of the places that sell beer are not cooled and so the beer may sit around in the case at room temp for a while. As a general rule of thumb if a beer has, say, an expected shelf life of 3 mos. I lop at least month off the expected shelf life and don't buy it if its more than 1-2 mos old. There are tables out there in the world estimating how much the shelf life is shortened at warmer temperatures but I don't really know where to find them. A fellow by the BA name of @JackHorzempa can give you more specific information than I can. So maybe he'll be able to help out here.

For myself if I had to store beers at room temperature I'd not buy beers for long term storage at all and would only buy enough that I could go through my entire stock in a month or less before running out. If I could keep those same beers in the fridge at normal fridge temps I still wouldn't go much beyond expected self life.

 

“So how long can I keep a beer in my regular refrigerator for?” For quite some time if you choose. Cold storage mitigates the staling process.

“What can happen if it stays for a while in this very cold environment?” The beer stays fresher longer.

“Is it better than storing something room temperature?” Yes, from a freshness perspective.

I should caveat that there are some beers that can benefit from cellaring (i.e., storage at 50-55 °F) but the majority of beer styles are best stored cold.

The scientific basis for storing beer cold is from the Arrhenius equation. Below is something I posted not to long ago on this topic.

Beer aging effects (oxidation processes) increase by a factor of 2-3 times for every increase of 10 °C. This is based upon the Arrhenius equation.

Below is a handy curve which quantifies this.

It really does benefit to store beers that your aren't cellaring cold (refrigerator temperatures).

 

I just noticed that this was posted in the Cellaring/Aging beer forum. I want to emphasize again that storing beers in your refrigerator is a good idea for beer styles that don't benefit from cellaring.

If the intention is to cellar your beer (e.g., a Quad, Barleywine, etc.) then the ideal temperature is something like 50-55 degrees F. You actually want to 'encourage' some oxidation processes but have those processes proceed at a moderate pace which happens at cool temperatures.

Cheers!

 

Seriously, when did we become afraid of storing beer cold? Would you rather it be stored under a heat lamp?

 

I purchased a fridge just for a storage option in my garage (it gets too hot there in the summer to store beer otherwise I'd just build a shelf) and the fridge is one of these fancy digital guys (got in on CL for cheap though) and the COLDEST temperature it will reach is 46 degrees. Would that make a big difference in terms of the oxidation process over time? It's filled with sours, stouts, and barleywines. Some I'm drinking right away, others I plan on aging for 2-3 years probably not much more (I'd have to literally hide beer from myself to keep from drinking it if I wanted to store it any longer lol).