Ok so PSA thread for my non #BeerTwitter friends that drink beer.

If a brewery tells you beer is a living thing, or that cans must be kept cold to prevent re-fermentation - they are not doing this right. Don’t give them your money. 1/

The yeast in the beer that eats the sugar to create alcohol/CO2 should have done all its work prior to packaging. It’s common for breweries to force carbonate - meaning they add CO2 directly to the beer before packaging. 2/

Sometimes you’ll see beers that are bottle conditioned (or can conditioned). This a way to carbonate the beer inside the packaging using a little bit of live yeast still in the beer (or added before packaging). 3/

But even with this method, it’s very precise and breweries (should) hold onto the beer until it’s “done” before selling to consumers. 4/

So we’ve seen a rise in breweries making these heavily fruited beers where they add fruit purée to the beer RIGHT BEFORE packaging (beers that are force carbed.) We all know fruit has sugar in it, correct? 5/

So if there is a chance that there’s a living yeast cell in that beer, once it gets ahold of this new sugar - it will begin to create more CO2. In already carbonated beer. 6/

Y’all are smart enough to understand what generally happens when more pressure is added inside a container...and that container can’t hold it. 7/

One way to prevent this is to pasteurize the beer to make sure there is no more living yeast before adding fruit. This requires expensive equipment that not all breweries can afford. Or maybe they have it but maybe their QC process isn’t as tight as it should be. 8/

But anyway, they tell you to keep it cold because THEY KNOW there might be living yeast in there, and keeping it cold will keep it dormant. Yes, this is scientifically true, but it’s irresponsible. 9/

I also want to point out, yeast can start to do work again in about 60 degrees. It does not take actual hot temps for cans to explode. 10/

I also often see breweries (probably purposefully) confuse this issue with keeping beer cold generally. 11/

Should beer, in general, be kept cold? Yes* (BIG ASTERISK) 12/

Most styles will degrade over time, and keeping your beer refrigerated will preserve that freshness longer. Hoppy beers fade quicker so I tend to prioritize those for my fridge space when I have them. 13/

But beer retail considers the 3/30/300 rule. A beer will keep 3 days at 90°, 30 days at 72°, and 300 days at 38°. So generally keeping your beer in the refrigerated to reasonable room temp range for about a month should be perfectly fine. 14/

Oh and I should mention: beer does not go “bad” or spoil like perishable foods. After a while it just won’t taste as good, or have it’s optimal flavor. 15/

My general rule is only purchase what I can drink in a reasonable amount of time - like a month. I have beer in my fridge and beer on a shelf that I know won’t have an issue hanging out there for a couple weeks before I get to it. 16/

But anyway, refrigerate your beer so that it has it’s best character when you drink it - not because there’s a chance it will explode in your face if you don’t. 17/

Now that you are empowered with this knowledge, you can spend your beer money wisely! 18/