Page 25 - Thirst Magazine Issue No. 3 Coffee & Tea

CHILLING

The correct temperature to serve beer is a surprisingly complex subject. Whilst we are
used to drinking beers as chilled as possible, doing so can seriously impair the flavour
and aromas of the beer. Different beers are best served at different temperatures. Those
almost frozen pilsners and lagers do indeed taste crisp and refreshing when chilled but
generally a little stale when warm. However a rich porter or barley wine ale would have
all the complex flavours subdued if served so cold, but when lightly chilled or at room
temperature, aromas and tastes would explode. However, most beers served in a pub
do require a certain level of chilling.

CELLAR / ROOM TEMP

Before electricity, beer was obviously served at
room temperature, although in northern areas a
cellar or unheated room during winter allowed beer
to be nicely chilled. It helped that many of the beers
and ales traditionally served back then were best KEGERATOR
savoured at warmer temperatures, but spoilage was
always a risk when storing beer unchilled. As you may guess, a kegerator
But even today many pubs still store their casks is simply a fridge that holds a
in cellars, rather than in refrigerated conditions, to keg, but the fridge has a beer
allow the beer to be served at around 8 - 13c. tap installed onto it allowing
chilled beer to be directly drawn
from the keg. Large or small,
these can be commercially
LINE CHILLED produced kegerators or a DIY
kit enabling the public to
convert their own small fridge
In certain cases it may not be possible to chill a beer into a kegerator.
keg directly or perhaps the keg is located so far
away from the bar that the beer will be too warm by
the time it reaches the glass. In these circumstances
the line that connects the keg to the bar can be
chilled just before it reaches the tap using a cooling
system. Instead of connecting the line directly to
the tap, it instead attaches to a unit that contains
a long line of coiled pipe which is super-chilled by
submerging it in a liquid, often water with an anti-
freeze component mixed in to allow extremely cold
temperatures. As the beer passes through this pipe it
is chilled significantly before reaching the beer tap.

REFRIGERATOR

As technological advances allowed bars and
restaurants to create a cool room or use refrigerators,
it soon became practice to store and serve the beer
chilled using lines from the casks or kegs to the bar.
In many cases these are just normal fridges which
have been adapted to allow a line to pass through
from the keg. In other cases walk in fridges (or cold
rooms) are built with holes in the wall with bar
taps affixed to the other side. Some bars will merely
remove the keg from the fridge just before it is tapped
knowing the beer inside the metal keg will remain
chilled long enough to serve.

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