yes the pH of the tris buffers when kept at room temperature variations occurs, i have observed this personally, so its better to store at 4 degreeC if you want to store it for longer durations.
Hi Dear, I observed fungal like growth at the bottom of Tris solution when kept at room temperature for long time but did not find this problem when kept at 40C. So better refrigerate it .
Mohammod Hossain is correct. Storage at 4C slows fungal growth, it has nothing to do with preventing pH variation at room temperature.
Tris has a temperature dependance to pH, so one needs to be aware that a buffer made up to (say) pH 8.0 at room temperature will be at a different pH if used in the cold room.
In a previous lab I never refridgerated my Tris buffers and never had any issues with pH or growth (even after months). In a second lab we had to refridgerate as within a week there would be growth.
It all boils down to what you have to do to make it work in your lab enviroment. Just make sure that when you make up your gels that you bring the buffers to room temperature (if you make the buffers at room temperature the pH of the solution should be fine when you take it out of the fridge).
pH dependency with temperature is enormous for Tris, which might discourage people from using it as a common buffer.
If you measure the pH of the solution at one temperature (say 20°C) and a few days later the solution is slightly colder, you will have a change in pH... totally reversible if you go back to the temperature you measured it initially. For a solution with pH 7.5 at 20°C expect as much as pH 8.1 when cooled at 4°C. This is why it is imperative that pH be measured at exact the temperature you intend to use it.
In the case of SDS-PAGE gel preparation, all solutions with the exception of SDS which solidifies in cold and ammonium persulfate (to be made fresh or aliquoted and frozen), all solutions should be kept cold. This decreases the initial polymerization rate and ensures the gels do not start pre-forming before pouring the solution (even more stringent if you are casting gradient gels).