Answers.Body: <p>Beer is meant to be stored in a cool, dark place. Light is indeed bad for it and causes "skunking" which produces literally the same chemical skunks produce.</p>
  
  <p>Lots of times re-refrigerating beer implies the beer was left out. Was it left out in a place exposed to light? Particularly sunlight? It may not be the fact that it was exposed to higher temperatures that was the culprit, but the light. Warmer temperatures certainly seem like the most obvious offenders for a sub-par beer, but light is far more dangerous.</p>
  
  <p>Temperature for the most part should not be an issue. Anything from like 32-75 F should not be an issue, although somewhere between 45-55 F is the ideal cellaring temperature. To break the upper limit of safe temperatures pretty much requires you to leave the beer outdoors during a hot summer where it will likely be joined by the bigger threat of light.</p>
  
  <p>Long story short: cellaring temperatures are for long-term (12 months+) storage and anything between freezing and high-end room temperature shouldn't have any adverse effects if stored someplace dark. The idea that beer needs to remain ice-cold from the moment the yeast is added is a bunch of BMC marketing BS.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-01-02T20:09:25.497Z
Answers.Text: Is it fair to assume this is then a non-issue for a canned beer within reasonable room temperatures?
Answers.UserDisplayName: LowlyDBA - John M
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-01-04T15:02:25.333Z
Answers.Text: +1 for pointing out the correlation between leaving beer out and exposure to light.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Andrew Cheong
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-01-05T15:45:20.937Z
Answers.Text: Cans will be fine, yes. As for bottles brown ones can probably take a couple of days of light and be fine as brown glass blocks some 90% of light. Green only blocks around 40% though and clear nearly 0%, so I would not expose either of them unless I was drinking them. Of course its best to just keep everything someplace cool and dark.
Answers.UserDisplayName: greggle138
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-12-29T22:15:39.423Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-12-29T22:15:39.423Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: greggle138
Answers.Body: <blockquote>
    <ol>
    <li>UV light exposure causes negative effects (only a real problem for bottled beer).</li>
    </ol>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>UV light has a photochemical impact on hops. This causes it to have a flavor and aroma of a skunk. Brown bottles help lower the amount of UV light that can get to the beer, and with cans this is a non-issue.</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <ol start="2">
    <li>Extreme fluctuations in temperature are generally not good for the beer.</li>
    </ol>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Extreme temperature fluctuations could impact the flavor of any drink, but most likely will be too subtle to notice. </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <ol start="3">
    <li>Bottled beers can sometimes re-ferment at higher temperatures, causing over-carbonation.</li>
    </ol>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Yeast needs sugars to ferment, by the time the bottle is on the shelves, the fermentable sugars are completely fermented and the yeast is in a dormant stage. However, this doesn't mean yeast cannot still affect the flavor of the beer. If the beer is <a href="http://blog.beeriety.com/2009/08/03/what-is-bottle-conditioned-beer/" rel="nofollow">bottle conditioned</a>, then it still has live yeast cultures and extra care should be taken to keep it below high temperatures (80+ F.) for long periods of time. You should not be concerned of it exploding (over carbonating), that only happens in homebrews where they added too much sugars or didn't sanitize everything properly.</p>
  
  <p>The majority of commercial beers are filtered to such a high degree that there is little to no live yeast to be concerned about. Some beers are even pasteurized to kill any remaining yeast, removing the possibility of it affecting flavor and extending its shelf life.</p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p><strong>Bottom line is, avoid temperature fluctuations as much as you can, but its not something you should throw away perfectly good beer for.</strong> If you are a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster" rel="nofollow">supertaster</a> that can detect the subtle flavor changes, give it away to one of the 75% of us who are not.</p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>For a full scientific study with facts and figures way over my head you can see: <a href="http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1380728686_Hiralal%20et%20al.pdf" rel="nofollow">Stability profile of flavour-active ester compounds in
  ale and lager beer during storage</a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-12-31T20:20:43.720Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-12-31T21:38:10.567Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2014-12-31T21:38:10.567Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: lightswitch05
Body: <p>Some of my college friends like to tell me that refrigerating beer, then taking it out (allowing it to warm up), and re-refrigerating it causes the beer to lose its taste. I've even known some to throw out beer that has gone through this scenario.</p>
  
  <p>I've looked around on the internet a bit, and there doesn't seem to be any real evidence to the claim. I found an article on <a href="http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/letting-cold-beer-get-warm.14663/">Beer Advocate</a>, where people seem to agree that:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>UV light exposure causes negative effects (only a real problem for bottled beer).</li>
  <li><em>Extreme</em> fluctuations in temperature are generally not good for the beer.</li>
  <li>Bottled beers can sometimes re-ferment at higher temperatures, causing over-carbonation.</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Nothing conclusive.</p>
  
  <p>My question is: <strong>does refrigerating, unrefrigerating, and re-refrigerating beer negatively affect the taste of beer?</strong></p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-12-24T00:17:36.347Z
Comments.Text: This doesn't seem to be a notable claim, can you provide some examples? Or is it simply your friends' idea?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Sklivvz
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-12-29T18:16:42.707Z
Comments.Text: @ChrisCirefice - who *wouldn't* think to look for beer-related questions on the Beer.SE? :)
Comments.UserDisplayName: warren
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-01-04T15:01:39.640Z
Comments.Text: @ChrisCirefice - Welcome to Beer.SE. Good question, but I believe it is a duplicate (which of course you couldn't have known while asking on Skeptics.SE). If the answers at the indicated duplicate don't satisfy you, please comment here to let us know.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Andrew Cheong
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-01-04T20:06:43.223Z
Comments.Text: @AndrewCheong I didn't know Beer.SE even existed when I posted this question to Skeptics.SE, so you're right, I had no idea there was a duplicate (though I would have easily found it if I had even thought to look for Beer.SE). That said, it is appropriately marked as duplicate. I appreciate the answers everyone has given regardless, but I'm waiting on feedback to [my Meta question](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/246366/migration-to-a-site-with-no-account-prevents-quick-account-deletion-feature) before I take any further action (votes/accept) on Beer.SE.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Chris Cirefice
Tags: <taste><temperature>
Title: Does re-refrigerating affect the taste of beer?
UserDisplayName: Chris Cirefice
ThreadText: # Does re-refrigerating affect the taste of beer?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-24)
  
  Some of my college friends like to tell me that refrigerating beer, then taking it out (allowing it to warm up), and re-refrigerating it causes the beer to lose its taste. I've even known some to throw out beer that has gone through this scenario.
  
  I've looked around on the internet a bit, and there doesn't seem to be any real evidence to the claim. I found an article on [Beer Advocate](http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/letting-cold-beer-get-warm.14663/), where people seem to agree that:
  
  1. UV light exposure causes negative effects (only a real problem for bottled beer).
  2. *Extreme* fluctuations in temperature are generally not good for the beer.
  3. Bottled beers can sometimes re-ferment at higher temperatures, causing over-carbonation.
  
  Nothing conclusive.
  
  My question is: **does refrigerating, unrefrigerating, and re-refrigerating beer negatively affect the taste of beer?**
  
  **Tags:** taste, temperature
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: This doesn't seem to be a notable claim, can you provide some examples? Or is it simply your friends' idea?  
  > **username_2**: @ChrisCirefice - who *wouldn't* think to look for beer-related questions on the Beer.SE? :)  
  > **username_3**: @ChrisCirefice - Welcome to Beer.SE. Good question, but I believe it is a duplicate (which of course you couldn't have known while asking on Skeptics.SE). If the answers at the indicated duplicate don't satisfy you, please comment here to let us know.  
  > **username_0**: @AndrewCheong I didn't know Beer.SE even existed when I posted this question to Skeptics.SE, so you're right, I had no idea there was a duplicate (though I would have easily found it if I had even thought to look for Beer.SE). That said, it is appropriately marked as duplicate. I appreciate the answers everyone has given regardless, but I'm waiting on feedback to [my Meta question](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/246366/migration-to-a-site-with-no-account-prevents-quick-account-deletion-feature) before I take any further action (votes/accept) on Beer.SE.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2014-12-29. Score: 3
  
  Beer is meant to be stored in a cool, dark place. Light is indeed bad for it and causes "skunking" which produces literally the same chemical skunks produce.
  
  Lots of times re-refrigerating beer implies the beer was left out. Was it left out in a place exposed to light? Particularly sunlight? It may not be the fact that it was exposed to higher temperatures that was the culprit, but the light. Warmer temperatures certainly seem like the most obvious offenders for a sub-par beer, but light is far more dangerous.
  
  Temperature for the most part should not be an issue. Anything from like 32-75 F should not be an issue, although somewhere between 45-55 F is the ideal cellaring temperature. To break the upper limit of safe temperatures pretty much requires you to leave the beer outdoors during a hot summer where it will likely be joined by the bigger threat of light.
  
  Long story short: cellaring temperatures are for long-term (12 months+) storage and anything between freezing and high-end room temperature shouldn't have any adverse effects if stored someplace dark. The idea that beer needs to remain ice-cold from the moment the yeast is added is a bunch of BMC marketing BS.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_5**: Is it fair to assume this is then a non-issue for a canned beer within reasonable room temperatures?  
  > **username_3**: +1 for pointing out the correlation between leaving beer out and exposure to light.  
  > **username_4**: Cans will be fine, yes. As for bottles brown ones can probably take a couple of days of light and be fine as brown glass blocks some 90% of light. Green only blocks around 40% though and clear nearly 0%, so I would not expose either of them unless I was drinking them. Of course its best to just keep everything someplace cool and dark.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2014-12-31. Score: 1
  
  > 1. UV light exposure causes negative effects (only a real problem for bottled beer).
  
  UV light has a photochemical impact on hops. This causes it to have a flavor and aroma of a skunk. Brown bottles help lower the amount of UV light that can get to the beer, and with cans this is a non-issue.
  
  > 2. Extreme fluctuations in temperature are generally not good for the beer.
  
  Extreme temperature fluctuations could impact the flavor of any drink, but most likely will be too subtle to notice.
  
  > 3. Bottled beers can sometimes re-ferment at higher temperatures, causing over-carbonation.
  
  Yeast needs sugars to ferment, by the time the bottle is on the shelves, the fermentable sugars are completely fermented and the yeast is in a dormant stage. However, this doesn't mean yeast cannot still affect the flavor of the beer. If the beer is [bottle conditioned](http://blog.beeriety.com/2009/08/03/what-is-bottle-conditioned-beer/), then it still has live yeast cultures and extra care should be taken to keep it below high temperatures (80+ F.) for long periods of time. You should not be concerned of it exploding (over carbonating), that only happens in homebrews where they added too much sugars or didn't sanitize everything properly.
  
  The majority of commercial beers are filtered to such a high degree that there is little to no live yeast to be concerned about. Some beers are even pasteurized to kill any remaining yeast, removing the possibility of it affecting flavor and extending its shelf life.
  
  ---
  
  **Bottom line is, avoid temperature fluctuations as much as you can, but its not something you should throw away perfectly good beer for.** If you are a [supertaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster) that can detect the subtle flavor changes, give it away to one of the 75% of us who are not.
  
  ---
  
  For a full scientific study with facts and figures way over my head you can see: [Stability profile of flavour-active ester compounds in
  ale and lager beer during storage](http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1380728686_Hiralal%20et%20al.pdf)
  
  
  ---
  
  