That being said coffee brewed in the fridge at a very low temp will need those 8 hours to release all the caffeine.
Cold brew coffee room temperature or refrigerator.
Can you store cold brew at room temperature.
Room temp sounds like a good way to grow bacteria.
If you store it in a refrigerator your coffee will probably hold for 1 2 weeks at least.
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Coffee of any style can go rancid which means it is going to taste highly bitter and may become moldy with time.
An essential rule of thumb to remember if you will brew your cold coffee at room temperature then a steep time of 8 12 hours is enough.
Even so you ll need more than just 8 hours to cold brew a good cup of coffee.
I have a filtron cold brewer and i let it brew for 16 18 hours at room temperature with an extremely coarse grind.
Cold brew is one of the hardest things to mess up if you ask me so i would just brew it room temperature.
Fridge brewing will take considerably longer to extract but there shouldn t be any difference in flavor.
Consider storing your coffee like your store other perishable food for as short a time as possible in your refrigerator.
At room temp though the 4 hours might be enough.
If you wish to steep your cold coffee brew in the fridge then the steep time increases to 12 24 hours as cold temperatures will slow down the extraction of the coffee from the beans.
If you extend a brew process in time than you generally have a larger interval of time where the coffee will still taste great but since it s already hours long i really wouldn t worry about it.