Best ways to store cold brew coffee
advanced techniques, bottling, cold brew 101, Learn, Nitro, Tips

The 5 Best Ways To Store Cold Brew Coffee

When you make coffee in bulk, you need the best ways to store cold brew coffee so it does not lose its taste. With this blog, you’ll know what to do and exactly how to do it to store your coffee perfectly. 

Cold brew coffee is a  beverage that's been around for a few years now. It's easy to make, but you need to know how to store it properly so it doesn't go bad.  So let's go into details.

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6 Best Ways To Store Cold Brew Coffee

Here are six ways you can store your cold brew coffee without it going bad. Let’s go. 

1. Keep Cold Brew Coffee Refrigerated

You should not keep brewed coffee at room temperature. If you do so, your coffee will go bad faster. So consider storing your cold brew coffee at room temperature as short as possible.

2. Serve Cold Brew with Additives

It is recommended to mix other ingredients like cream, milk, etc. at the time of serving rather than mixing it while storing it in the refrigerator because these ingredients can be spoiled much faster.

3. Make Cold Brew Ice Cubes

Make cold brew ice cubes by filling an ice cube tray with cold-brewed coffee. Simply put this tray in the refrigerator and wait until it's frozen to enjoy the cold brew iced coffee.

You can later use these cold brew cubes for making different things. These cubes can be used in hot coffee, iced coffee, or cold-brewed coffee to make its flavor more strong.

4. Pour Cold Brew Coffee into Glass Containers

A glass container is the best way to store cold brew coffee. It's simple, it keeps your cold brew coffee fresh and it also looks great! If you are planning to drink it soon, you can leave it in a carafe with a sealed top, but if you plan on dipping into your brew each day, I recommend portioning it out into smaller sealed glass bottles.

Whatever you do, make sure you don't use plastic or metal when you're storing your finished cold brew. 

Plastic leaches chemicals into the beverage which will change its taste over time (and eventually cause health problems). 

Metal can also affect how your drink tastes over time—especially if placed in direct sunlight or next to heat sources like a stove top burner.

5. Seal the Container and Refrigerate for Up to Two Weeks

Once you've made your cold brew, put the container in a sealed container and refrigerate it to consume for up to two weeks. The more you open the container and expose it to air, the more stale it will become.

That is why small sealable glass bottles work best for multiple pours over time.

Are these instruction different if you brewed a concentrate?

6. Create a Nitro Cold Brew

Perhaps you'd prefer to turn your cold brew into a nitro cold brew. In that case, storing it in a keg, under nitrogen pressure in a refrigerated environment will extend the lifespan of your cold brew for up to 3 months. 

You should be able to serve and dispense it from a kegerator without issue during this length of time. Still, it is always best practice to consume your cold coffee beverage within a couple weeks.

How To Store Cold Brew Concentrate

If you've brewed a cold brew concentrate and are considering diluting it before storing it for longer than a few weeks, try heat pasteurization to make it shelf stable. 

I personally have not had the greatest of luck pasteurizing a concentrate, but diluted formulas work great in my opinion. Just remember that once you open the pasteurized bottle, it is no longer shelf-stable and should be refrigerated immediately.

You can read more about all of the nuances of how long cold brew will last here in this comprehensive guide.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Making cold brew coffee is a great way to have a tasty perk up, but it can be challenging to keep it fresh for long periods. We hope our guide on the 6 best ways to store cold brew coffee has helped you understand the best storage methods and tips for keeping your cold brew tasting fresh for as long as possible.

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advanced techniques, bottling

Bottling Cold Brew Coffee: a Pasteurizing How-To Guide

If you aren't familiar with bottling cold brew, this article will take you through the ins and outs you need to know. More importantly, though, we will look at why and how to pasteurize your bottled cold brew.

You may want to do this so you can take it to work or on picnics, or you may want to share it with your friends or sell it. No matter which, we will send you on the right path.

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So, You Want to Bottle Cold Brew Coffee?

It's surprisingly easy to make and bottle cold brew. First, you have to make your cold brew using your favorite ground coffee and one of several brewing methods. Then, you only need simple items like a funnel, some bottles, a strainer or sieve, and some free time.

Then, you'll need to think about how long you want to keep your cold brew before someone consumes it.

That process is a little more complex and considered advanced if you commercialize bottling your cold brew.

If you have never brewed cold brew coffee before, I invite you to look at one of our helpful guides, which outlines the process for you. Once you are comfortable making cold brew concentrate, you are ready to bottle.

Let's start by covering some basic ideas you'll need to think about before you bottle cold brew coffee for the first time.

Recycle Store-bought Cold Brew Coffee

If you are anything like me, you like to hold onto your store-bought cold brew and iced coffee bottles that you'll find in the ready-to-drink refrigerator section. So gather a few of these for the next time you wish to bottle cold brew and fill them up with your batch.

You'll save room in the fridge and free up that large carafe or pitcher you used during the brewing process.

Given you plan to store your cold brew in the fridge, it's best to drink or share your coffee within a week to 2 weeks to keep the flavor delicious enough to share.

You may be wondering what the best vessels are to store your coffee in after the French Press or other brewing device.

Let's take a look at the most common choices out there for storing your cold-brewed coffee.

When to Store Cold Brew Coffee in Plastic Bottles:

Suppose your desired outcome is to store your cold brew within a familiar vessel. Once used for previous batches, plastic bottles are great for short-term storage. I'll sometimes use recently-emptied plastic soda bottles when I run out of glass.

When I choose to store in plastic containers, I won't share them with others, especially older bottles, because you never really know how clean they are.

However, using plastic bottles for your personal use is a great way to recycle and prevent wasting plastic unnecessarily. Plus, they are cheaper coffee vessels to acquire.

When to use Glass Bottles for Storing Cold Brew Coffee:

Assuming you buy a lot of cold brews from the ready-to-drink section of your favorite grocery store, you'll notice most of these are glass bottles.

The great thing about bottling with glass is that the glass does not contain BPA or other synthetic chemicals. However, with some plastics, these chemicals may transfer to your coffee through heat, exposure to sunlight, or time.

So, if you plan to share your coffee brew with a friend, sell it at a market, or pasteurize it, always go for a glass bottle.

Pasteurizing Your Cold Brew Coffee with a Sous Vide

Suppose you wish to share it with friends, keep it for longer than the typical 2-weeks shelf life, or potentially sell your cold brew creation. Then, you'll want to consider pasteurizing it as the last part of the bottling process.

Why Pasteurize Cold Brew Coffee?

There is a tendency for unwanted mold growth in anything that sits out for a while. Since nobody wants to get sick from these microbes, we can preserve our cold brew coffee after the brewing process.

By sealing the environment and adding a preservative or heat treatment to kill off anything that could grow inside, none will.

You might also want to add in milk, sugar, spices, or other related coffee additives that make your drink special. Unfortunately, your cold brew's shelf-life decreases substantially as soon as you combine these ingredients.

Why You Shouldn't Pasteurize Your Cold Brew

Suppose you are like me and brew your batches as needed for the week. In this instance, it makes little sense to go through the trouble of pasteurizing.

However, there are downsides to pasteurizing that cold brew groups often talk about.

I've often found that the pasteurized cold brew lacks a depth of flavor that I can taste immediately compared with a fresh cup brewed within hours.

How to Pasteurize Cold Brew Coffee with a Sous Vide

Now that you understand why you may or may not want to take this step, let's cover how to pasteurize your cold brew coffee with heat from a sous-vide wand.

Note: This is a budget option and is not how the industry typically does it.

You'll likely have weird results if you attempt to pasteurize your cold brew with any additives that are sensitive to heat. That said, you should be able to pasteurize your brew black with a minor taste affect. 

Pasteurizing Cold Brew with a Sous Vide

Step 1: Gather your Materials:

  • Your cold brew batch in its brewing container
  • Enough glass bottles to evenly transfer your batch (16 & 32 oz. works great)
  • One glass beer bottle
  • A funnel
  • A fine mesh filter
  • A large mixing bowl
  • Star Sans or Comparable Brand Sanitizer
  • Large pipe cleaner brush
  • Large plastic container (like what you take to a picnic) or a sous vide container
  • Portable sous vide wand (for heating water)
  • Dowel rod or kitchen utensil to hold the sous vide upright
  • A meat thermometer

Step 2: Sanitize Everything

Once you have everything from the material list above, you'll need to make sure you sanitize everything using the sanitizer (following the instructions from the one you choose).

Next, use the large mixing bowl to mix the appropriate sanitizer solution with water. Then, place all the materials in the sanitizing solution.

Note: Keep in mind that every surface you touch will have microbes on it.

Make sure you rinse your hands with this solution periodically. Each item you work with any time that item touches something that is not sanitized. 

This can be a bit of a pain to do, but imagine that everything you are working with has wet paint on it, which will force you to pay closer attention.

Step 3: Using the funnel, slowly pour your cold brew into the glass bottles

Leave some air between the top of the bottle and the bottle's shoulder. Make sure all bottles have an even amount of coffee.

Be careful not to add in any sediment that remains at the bottom of your brewing jar. Leave one taller bottle empty, as we will use this one to hold the thermometer to gauge how hot the interiors of the other bottles are while pasteurizing.

Step 4: Seal Your Glass Bottles

Depending on which type of glass bottle design you are working with, you can either twist a cap on, press a metal cap (with a bottler device), or flip down the cap (Grolsch-style and milk bottles).

Other Bottles for Cold Brew

Step 5: Place Your Bottles standing up in the Container.

Place each bottle standing up within the cooler. If you have too many bottles for the cooler, consider getting a larger one. Alternatively, repeat the process for the remaining bottles after finishing with these.


Fill your beer bottle up with water to the top and place the thermometer inside it. Place that bottle in the center of the cooler, with the smaller sealed bottles surrounding it.

Step 6: Begin Adding Tap Water to the Container 

Fill it up until the water completely covers the top of all the glass cold brew bottles but not so deep that the beer bottle is submerged. Then, fill the beer bottle to the bath's height.

Step 7: Arrange your sous vide to submerge the heating element.

Some sous vide wands will come with stands you can place inside your vessel, while others have a hook that you can attach to a dowel rod or hanger of some kind. The point is you'll want the sous-vide heating elements safely submerged for the next step.

Alternatively, you can use a kettle, but the process takes much longer. You may also find it harder to maintain the temperatures you need to perform pasteurization properly.

Step 8: Set the Sous Vide Temperature to 175 degrees Fahrenheit

Using the built-in controls of the sous vide, set the temperature to 175 degrees Fahrenheit and allow the water to reach this temperature before setting a 25-minute timer. 

The idea is that you want the water to slowly come up to and maintain a temperature higher than 170 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.

Then you'll allow the temperature to settle back to lukewarm before handling.

Note: Increase the temperature too quickly and a bottle might break

Step 9: Wait!

Don't touch anything until the temperature cools down. Once your drinks are at room temperature, you don't have to worry about storing them in the fridge.

However, I still do because I'm not too fond of lukewarm coffee in the morning.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Cold brew has long been popular in Japan. However, it has recently become trendy in Western countries, especially North America. Coffee drinkers with a sensitive stomach can enjoy cold brew coffee as it is much less acidic than standard coffee or iced coffee.

To make your coffee more unique and personalized to your taste, you can add milk substitutes, sugar, coffee creamers, cream, and syrups.

That said, if you do not pasteurize your cold brew, there is a chance that bacteria, yeast, or mold could cause food-borne illnesses. So please do your due diligence related to the pasteurization process to avoid this from happening.

Remember never to use plastic that isn't rated for pasteurization; always filter your concentrate before bottling your cold brew, and share it with your friends and family.

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bottling, cold brew 101, industrial products, Nitro, nitro products

The Best Cold Brew Nitro Coffee Kegs

Are you a nitro coffee keg nerd? Welcome! This post is for you!

Nitrogen is an inert gas that is colorless and odorless. It's infused into a keg of cold brew coffee to get a caffeinated drink called cold nitro brew.

It's an entirely new and unique experience for coffee lovers, and it's gaining immense popularity in the specialty coffee industry, leading to new business opportunities for coffee makers.

Some companies are even making unique machines to serve this exceptional type of cold brew coffee. You must be wondering why is nitro cold brew coffee so cool and fashionable among coffee lovers?

It is made by steeping coffee beans for 12-24 hours at room temperature to produce a cold brew coffee batch. Some even create coffee concentrates by increasing the amount of coffee they use. Learn more about that process here.

As the steeping process is so long, it gives a strong and sweet taste to concentrate.

When infused with nitro, it has a creamy and velvety taste. If you compare it to iced coffee, it is much smoother and less acidic.

However, before serving the coffee concentrate, it has to be diluted with water, cream, or milk. The dilution process increases the production of coffee two-fold. Many café owners have added cold brew to their menus to capitalize on this new market.

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But how long can nitro brew last? Does it ever go bad? Well, it does! But it can live past around two weeks before going bad, provided that the environment is clean. If you don't use it within two weeks, it not only loses its taste but also becomes a home for bacteria and mold.

However, you can increase the shelf life of nitro brew coffee if it's canned. How? Because of high-pressure pasteurization!

There are many advantages of kegging cold brew:

  • As a result of using nitro coffee keg, the cold brew coffee stays fresh for a longer time, perhaps weeks. We did a little experiment and tasted kegged coffee after two weeks. To our surprise, we barely found any difference in taste.
  • It is quick. If you have a tap and a nitro coffee keg system installed, it will take mere seconds to serve tasty cold brew.
  • With the increasing competition in the coffee market, this is a great way to keep up with the current trends and meet customer's needs.

What are the Types of Kegs Available?

  • Mini kegerators: These are self-pressurized, with a counter-top dispenser connected to a mini keg.

  • Full-size home kegerators: It is a residential draft dispenser that contains up to a full-size keg. It comes with a pressurized CO2 tank and coupler. It is typically in a free-standing style.

  • Commercial kegerators: They are similar to full-size home ones but designed for commercial purposes. They are either build for free-standing or under-counter installation.

  • Outdoor kegerators: As the name suggests, outdoor kegerators use heavy-duty materials meant to weather the elements. They can tolerate a wide range of temperatures from 45° to 100° Fahrenheit.

The majority of kegerator compact systems come with a tap kit and some other parts needed to dispense nitrogen.

They include a tower with faucet, handles and hoses and a tank, coupler, and regulator.

What Attachments do I Need for Kegging Nitro Cold Brew?

From a relatively small investment, you can get a decent cold brew nitro keg setup. Here are the necessary equipment options and accessories that you will need.

Cold-brew system (Cost: $100)

It is inexpensive, simple, and effortless to use setup. It will allow you to produce 5 gallons of cold brew at a time.

Kegerator (Cost: $600-$1600)

Do you love having Nitro brew coffee? Then you must invest in a kegerator. It is a refrigerator, but for coffee kegs, including a tap on the top. It keeps Nitro cold brew coffee concentrate fresh for about six weeks, which is way higher than typical homemade nitro brew.

It doesn't use preservatives or additives; therefore, it always gives a real taste of the Nitro brew. There are many different brands available in store, offering a variety of qualities of the same product.

If you are going to purchase it in a restaurant, make sure to check NSF certifications.

You should be aware of the venting and cooling system. If you are planning to place it under the counter, then shop for the one that vents out the front of the unit.

Even though it is going to be more expensive, but it's worth the investment in a commercial setting. Also, pay attention to the interior height of the kegerator so you know if it can fit all of your nitro coffee kegs.

Stainless draft tower (Cost: $175)

A stainless draft tower will hold up to the acidity in coffee. Hence it's recommended to upgrade to a stainless steel tower for your kegerator.

Kegs (Cost:$100)

The most common and popular nitro coffee keg for cold brew is a ball lock 5 gallon Cornelius keg. It's a tap system that can be unlocked to fill with a cold brew.

The soda industry has used kegs for years, so they're readily available reconditioned. On top of that, maintenance for a nitro coffee keg is minimal.

Nitro coffee kegs come in different styles and sizes for everyone's needs, whether you are a customer sitting at home or a coffee store owner selling multiple coffee kegs a day. In most cases, a keg will either have a metal strap handle or rubber top handles. 

Regulator (Cost: $70)

The regulator links the airline to the Nitro coffee keg. Usually, a kegerator comes with a CO2 regulator, but that's not what you need for your nitrous setup.

You'll want a nitrogen regulator, preferably with a double gauge, so one gauge reads the nitrogen levels while others provide pressure.

Nitrogen (Cost:$40)

Find a local supplier of nitrogen in your area. You can buy a tank and refill it, or you can swap tanks with the supplier by paying a deposit each time.

Accessories (Cost: $20)

A hose is required to bring air to the Nitro coffee kegs and liquid to the taps. In addition to the tube, you will need to buy some quick disconnect fittings that link to the keg.

Estimate your Floor Space

OK, so we know you are interested in buying a Nitro coffee kegerator. But the question is, do you have space for keeping it and where are you going to put it? A Nitro coffee kegerator is as big as a keg, so it will require a floor space of a minimum of 3 square feet (If you have multiple kegs system, then it will need even larger area).

Let's talk about height now. Most kegerators have a draft tower on the top that increases their height up to about 4 feet. To save you time and money, make sure that the setup fits in your designated space.

Space should be accessible too, because no one would be willing to carry a half-barrel keg up or down the stairs. Think about space before you shop for your kegerator.

As we are talking about the nitro coffee kegerator, it makes sense to talk about the keg. Before buying a keg, start considering these things.

  • Size and space! Think about how will you move the keg to your location? Is it too heavy? Will it fit in your kegerator or not?

  • Are you going to buy or DIY? Decide what kind of keg couplers to order and install. To tap from the goodness inside, you'll need different attachments based on the keg.

  • Maintenance and cleaning. If you don't keep your keg clean, it wouldn't taste the way it's supposed to be. You will waste your time and effort if you serve the coffee made out of a dirty setup. No one likes to swim in a dirty pool, so what makes you think that people will drink coffee made up of an unclean system.

What about maintenance?

Like all the other appliances, kegerators require maintenance and cleaning. If you want to maintain the quality of your draft, then clean draft lines and equipment regularly. If you're using it at home, then it's best to clean your hoses and equipment after every brew.

You not only need to clean the line leading from the keg to the valve but also the faucet itself. You will need to get a special line cleaner to ensure that tubing remains free of all the elements.

Make sure that you are not using hot water for cleaning because it will alter the shape of the lines. No cleaning solution should remain in the lines.

However, if you are using it for commercial purposes, then you need to follow state regulations. Are you thinking of shopping for kegerator cleaning materials? Click here to see all of the cleaning supplies and tools available to keep your kegerator clean.

How do you serve Nitro coffee?

Once you keg your cold brew coffee, now you have to think ways of serving it. There are mainly two ways of serving cold brew coffee.

Serving cold brew (Still)

Serving cold brew from a keg is very easy, requiring two things only. You'll need a tap setup and coffee kegs. All you have to do is pour and go! Simply adjust the pouring pressure to 5-10 psi to minimize the nitrogen infusion.

The nitrogen will keep the cold brew fresh in the keg while helping to push the cold brew out of the tap.

Like traditional iced coffee, you'll want to serve it over ice.

Serving Nitro cold brew (Infused)

This method is a little more technical, but the end product provides a unique experience to consumers. In addition to the above equipment, you will need two more pieces.

  • A stainless steel, stout faucet that helps pour the coffee in cascade style with the creamy texture.
  • A device for infusing the nitrogen into the coffee.

Nitro Coffee Keg Lid (Price $50):

The Nitro coffee keg lid is the cheapest, but also the least effective way of infusing nitrogen into cold brew. While the nitro coffee keg lid does replace a standard ball lock lid, the results are pretty inconsistent. 

It sends down nitrogen to the bottom of the keg to blend with the cold brew coffee. All you need to do is keg your cold brew coffee, adjust the regulator to 40 PSI, and fill it with nitrogen using the nitro infuser in the lid. Sounds easy, right? 

Another downside, especially if you are burning through your nitro coffee keg quickly, is that sometimes the keg takes an entire day to infuse. 

To help promote the infusion, you can manually shake the keg, but they can be hefty, so only try this step if you have a lot of upper body strength. 

If you are new to nitro cold brew coffee phenomena and don't want to invest in high-end equipment, this is a great place to start with a smaller investment. 

Nitro Infusers (Price: $585 and up) - In recent months, there has been a lot of development in cold brew nitro technology. The main goal is to take the inconsistency out and deliver a creamy textured cold brew coffee.

Joe Tap was one of the pioneers in the market, and they offer several different products, including coffee kegs. Their dual infusion tower allows you to pour both infused and still nitro from a single keg.

Their website is not updated, so you will have to call or email them for more information about kegs and pricing ($850 and up). You can also check out The Nitro Infuser from Enhanced Beverage Solutions. They have also produced excellent results.

Customers seem pretty satisfied with their nitro coffee keg as well. You can select nitro coffee kegs of different sizes from any of these known brands. You can check the attached links in this blog for more information about nitro coffee keg.

The infused cold brew is generally served without ice and in a smaller portion, but this is totally up to a particular cafe. Cup sizes also play a factor when it comes to pricing.

Can I use a beer stout kegging system for nitro cold brew?

Yes, you can! But coffee lovers ask us all the time about what gases they should use for serving nitro coffee on draft with. Pure nitrogen, or "beer gas?"

Beer gas is a mixture of nitrogen and CO2, designed to serve nitrogenated beers out of a stout faucet. The nitrogen will infuse with liquid, while the CO2 provides the pressure through a stout faucet.

It seems like beer is an obvious choice to serve nitro cold brew coffee, right? But we prefer nitrogen for two reasons:

To simplify things, we will use the following terminology. Nitro coffee (served out a stout faucet at high pressure) and Flat or iced coffee on draft ( served out of a beer faucet)

  1. Unexpected Flavor and Texture: Introducing CO2 changes the flavor and mouthfeel of the coffee. It tastes slightly bitter and gives a sticky mouthful. It doesn't live up to expectations.
  2. Ease of Use: Some customers prefer to have both nitro coffee and flat or iced coffee on draft. So with the help of a dual body keg regulator, you can use one attachment for both coffees. The regulator can control the pressure to multiple kegs; hence there is no need for two separate tanks. So if you are serving both nitro coffee and iced coffee on draft, your only option is to use nitrogen. With iced coffee, you will barely notice any hint of carbonation as it should remain flat. However, with beer gas, carbonation will be prominent even after a day or two. 

If you decide to use nitrogen, you won't have to worry about any carbonation or flavor changes.

Overall, it's better to use 100% nitrogen when serving cold brew coffee. You will be able to enjoy creamy, flavorful cold brew coffee without compromising the mouthfeel. 

Keep your nitro coffee keg nice and cold. Ideally set the kegerator temperature between 38-40 degrees. It is suggested by Keg Outlet to keep your nitro coffee under pressure for a more extended period.

They leave their nitro coffee kegs in refrigerated temperatures at 33-35 psi for 1-2 days before serving.

What is the smallest nitro kegging option available?

Nitrogen infused cold brew is getting very popular in the coffee industry. But you either need to get it on the tap or purchase a can at the grocery store.

Although it seems very convenient, it comes at a high price. So what is the easy solution? Buy uKeg Nitro! It is the first fully-integrated, at-home nitro cold brew coffee maker and dispenser. It will reduce your cost from $4 to $6 per pint to $1.50 per pint.

Nitro cold brew is made by uKeg nitro in 12-24 hours. It uses biodegradable bags, which makes preparation and clean up super easy. You can get the same cascading pour from uKeg nitro that you get from costly draft systems in coffee shops.

It has specialized nitro style tap and nitro cartridges that help create cascading pour. The cold brew will remain fresh for two weeks because of the vessel's pressurization system. You can enjoy nitro cold brew anywhere anytime.

The Best Cold Brew Nitro Coffee Kegs Available

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