Beer News By E&C The Best Beer Glasses: How to Keep Your Beer Fresh

These are some of the factors you should consider to make sure you enjoy your beer fresh.

Beer Oxidation and the Influence of high temperature

Aging and oxidation of beer are natural processes that generate changes in aroma, flavor and color rapidly.

The speed of oxidation depends critically on two key factors: the amount of oxygen dissolved in the beer and room temperature.

As with most chemical reactions, the speed in which beer oxidates increases exponentially when an increase in temperature occurs.

For this reason we should keep beer in a fresh environment, otherwise a drastic drop in the quality and life of the product will take place.

Even at low temperatures and controlled conditions, the exposure of beer to air will result in a quick loss of properties. That’s why you should never leave your beer open for a long period of time, even under refrigeration.

Best Beer Mugs

Effect of light on beer

Both sunlight and artificial fluorescent light affect the quality of beer irreversibly.

It is for this reason that most beers are stored in amber bottles. These bottles have the ability to filter out up to 85% of ultraviolet rays.

Never leave beer in the sun and always store it away from direct light.

It is necessary to take these simple steps, otherwise in a short time, ultraviolet rays will damage the fine and elegant aroma from the hops, creating an unpleasant smell that comes from a photochemical reaction that produces sulfur compounds.

The fluorescent artificial light also affects the beer.

The extent of the damage caused by illumination depends on the distance and the power of the light source.

When beer is refrigerated, it should be stored as far as possible from the light source.

Freezing beer

Beer should be consumed cold enough, but not too much, because we may not appreciate all the distinctive features of each beer.

Sometimes business owners during warm seasons, lower the temperature of their computers for a faster cooling of the beer, which often leads to freezing.

Beer should never be frozen. The freezing temperature depends mainly on the alcohol content of the beer. Most beers will freeze at a temperature of about -3 ° C (26F).

The first thing that happens during the freezing process is that the fraction of water is the first one to go into a solid state. Then the concentration of alcohol in the liquid portion increases.

If too much ice is formed, the high concentration of alcohol in the liquid and other soluble components will lead to a precipitation of the compound (called dextrins), forming an insoluble pellet, which will not dissolve even if beer is defrosted.

This irreversible and natural physical phenomenon makes the beer cloudy. Although a beer like this will not look good, the aroma and flavor may remain unchanged. However, the body will be unbalanced and with little foam stability.

Aging

Once beer has been placed in the container (bottle, can or barrel), a process of inevitable aging will start, therefore the sooner it is consumed, the higher the quality and freshness.

Transport

During transport, beer will face the challenge of two of the previously named factors (light and high temperatures) with the additional element of physical agitation due to movement of the truck.

To ensure the product quality does not deteriorate during transport, certain basic rules should be followed: trucks should be in perfect mechanical condition; ideally the truck should be refrigerated and parked away from direct sunlight.

Do not transport beer along with strong-smelling products: onions, fish, paintings, wet wood, etc. Strong odors can affect the taste of beer.