How cold is too cold?

[shane72]

Hi all,

I built a keg box and insulated the heck out of it. I have a freezer/frig combo unit cooling it. Here's my situation -- at the "warmest" freezer setting, the box sits at 32 degrees. At the coldest frig setting, it sits at 42 degrees. I'd really like to be at 38, ideally. I don't have any problem with it colder (32 degrees), but I'm wondering if I leave it there, am I damaging the beer? I think I read somewhere that beer generally doesn't freeze until 29 degrees - do I have that correct? Any commentary?

Thanks!
Shane

[THE ICEMAN]

Welcome to the forum...
The temp at which beer freezes depends on the ABV. You are correct in that beer will start to freeze at 28 to 29 degrees for your common pilsner. Some will say that very cold beer will deaden the taste, I have never worried about that. I live in the desert & like my beer cold so I keep my conversion at 33 to 34 degrees.


THE ICEMAN

[djc]

Definitely lose some of the nuances of a beer the colder it gets, although you can't fight with how great an almost frozen beer refreshes. If you don't want it that cold, and can't wait for it to warm up you could use an external temperature controller to run the unit.

[PremiumVADraftTech]

The lighter alcohol beers freeze up easier than the higher ABV ones for sure but ideal temp is 36-38

[pvs6]

Interested in the term keg box? Photos please. Also the coldest setting produces warmer beer than the warmest setting? It begs the question how you determine what the temp. is. There is only one right answers and that is real beer temp in the keg. Do you know how to find that? I'm caused to wonder if you have understanding of balance too. Not to be impolite but what beer are you dealing with.

The Iceman keeps his beer @ the safest coldest setting. The unit holding a below 32F. setting may when compressor is running drop to the freezing point. That won't affect a full keg of beer but a near empty it might. The beer line is the first to freeze thus plugging flow. Thus I ask what beer your serving.

An external Temp. controller may be your answer, $50. to $80 depending on features.

[pvs6]

As for your real question the only thing that damages unpasteurized beer is temp too warm and age of beer. Age if temp. is in range ie 40 or below 2 months maybe more. Red and bold why?

[THE ICEMAN]

Last edited by pvs6; Today, 02:11 AM.Reason: This new server is the worst. It errors after a few minutes then forces me to copy text exit and then re paste. is this only me? Then it does this funky editing with colors and text size and boldness

You are not the only one. Even with my Moderator super powers I have trouble navigating the new forum format.