Ask any Pembrokeshire publican what ruins a summer weekend and a warm cellar is high on the list. Here's why cellar temperature matters and how to keep it right.
The magic number: 11–13°C
Most cask and keg products are designed to be stored and served at 11–13°C. Too warm and the beer pours lively and fobby, goes flat and cloudy, and barrels turn before you've sold them. Too cold and cask ale loses condition and flavour. The narrow band is what good cellar cooling is built to hold.
What a warm cellar actually costs
A cellar drifting to 16–18°C in a heatwave means fobbing lines, wasted gas, dumped pints and short barrel life — money straight into the drip tray on your busiest days. And in a Pembrokeshire summer, when the trade is there, that's exactly when a tired cooler gives up.
Keeping it steady
A correctly sized cellar cooling unit holds 11–13°C on the hottest day without running itself into the ground — sized to the cellar volume, barrel turnover and how much heat the building throws at it. Regular servicing (coil clean, gas and controls) keeps it efficient, and a maintenance contract means you're never caught out on a bank holiday. If your cellar's creeping warm now, don't wait — we prioritise cellar cooling breakdowns.
Frequently Asked Questions
My cellar cooler is icing up — is that bad?
Yes — icing usually points to an airflow, defrost or refrigerant issue and means the unit isn't cooling efficiently. It should be diagnosed before it fails completely.
How quickly can you fix a warm cellar?
A warm cellar means wasted beer, so we prioritise cellar cooling callouts across Pembrokeshire and aim to attend the same day.