Whats your favourite serving temp ?

[hoppingMad]

I've just started drinking a Best Bitter which has turnd out nice and malty with a lovely grainy character from the London 1028 yeast. I also dry hopped just a little with Fuggle and EKG.
I seem to prefer it at 15 degrees C, as the malt and yeast presence are not so evident under this temp.

What temp do you guys prefer to drink bitter at ? Is this important to you ?

Hopp.

[Northern Brewer]

I drink my bitters at whatever temperature my cellar happens to be at the time. This usually averages 13C although it can go a couple of degrees either way.

[mysterio]

I like my bitters at close to room temperature, 15 or 16 is good for me. The beer really shows any flaws this way so you have to know what you're doing.

Lagers, wheat beers etc, usually around 7 or 8 C.

[Whorst]

11c. for me.

[wetdog]

I've always drunk beer at home at room temperature, even in summer. never been one for anything chilled, food or drink

[Oggy' Bar]

Between 10 and 15C...prefer closer to 10.

[subsub]

15-16c for me

[adm]

10C for me. Although I do prefer around 12-14 for traditional english ale types, I can only set my keg fridge to one temperature, so 10C it is.

[RabMaxwell]

In the summer i tend to make english style beers & serve at 11 to 12 oc.In the winter i tend to make scottish ales stouts & serve at the temperature of my brew shed 8 oc at the moment

[babalu87]

I keep the kegerator at 4 because I store my yeast slurry, milk for the kiddies and extra cream for the wifes coffee in there.
Its a spare fridge that turned into a 4 tap kegerator.
No worries though, next batch of Bitters goes on the beer engine in the basement. Sitting at 13 degrees today.
Basement gets far too warm for beer during the late Spring/early Fall with temps hitting 20 or more.

A blast in the microwave is starting to make life a little better, least for the beers from your side of the pond. Bitter is HORRID at 4 degrees , 13-15 is much better.

Lagers around 7-10 but most ales for me need to be around 13 or more.

[hoppingMad]

Thanks for all the comments. I agree with Mysterio that 15-16 is good and that flaws show up around these temps, particularly fusels. Last night I kept my thermometer handy during the glass of Bitter I was enjoying whilst cooking the dinner, keeping an eye on the temp rising in the glass and what was happenning on my tongue.
The beer is very clean and malty with the fruit coming out above 14 C and by the time it got up to 16-17 was slightly less enjoyable.

Its 14-15 for me.

Yesterday I also decided to release some CO2 from a few of the bottles as an experiment. The carbonation I think may be very slightly more than it should be for a Bitter so just 'cracking' the caps so as to allow the gas to escape, then re-applying the capper, did the trick. I was careful to not dent the top of each cap thus not permitting it to re-seal properly.
It worked well and that night the carb level was just about right. ( just as important as serving temp IMO ).

I have another question for you chaps in England: we see a lot of TV here in NZ featuring English pubs and hotels " Hotel Inspector" and that "Location Location" show and also "Midsomer Murders" etc I see quite a few very quaint little pubs which makes me wonder just how many of these might be serving commercialy filtered ales and/or unfiltered "Real Ale"
Question: Can anyone tell me just out of interest, what percentage of these country pubs serve Real Ale, or do they all offer at least one ?

[Aleman]

Most country pubs will have 1 'real ale' pump, some have a lot more . . . there is one near Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales that had 14 on the time I visited . . . . and 30 hand pumps available.

Times were when those pubs would have 2 or more different beers on handpump, and only the lager would have been on 'tap'

[Frenchie Laurence]

around 14 for me, not keen on the room temperature 20 degrees at all, just cant taste the beer, too warm in the mouth. Same comment applies for fridge (4 degrees) actually. Do the experiment, take three bottles and put one in the fridge for a long time, one in a "cellar" or 1 hour in the fridge (whatever brings it to 14-15, and one in your bed overnite or by the radiator in this cold weather. Open the 3 bottles check the temperature before drinking and you will have the answer. Whatever your answer is,

[Damfoose]

At the moment its what ever temp the garage is I would prefer about 12 C though so I get more of a taste.