Conditioning temp is dropping

I brewed a Scottish Wee Heavy with an OG of 1.100. It sat in the primary for 4 weeks. Since it is a Big beer, I put it in a carboy for conditioning. The plan was to go for 2 months. It has been in one month. The temp in my basement is dropping slowly. It started at 65 and now is averaging 59. If the temp remains low or drops lower, the yeast will go to sleep. Is it still worth conditioning for a while, or should it just go in in the keg to start enjoying. thanks

Unless I am understanding you incorrectly, conditioning is usually after fermentation is complete to make the yeast fall out of suspension by lowering the temperature. I guess the answer you are looking for largely depends on the gravity of the beer now. If you are still not to the FG you wanted then you should be keeping it a bit warmer, but if its finished then crash it, clear it, and keg it.

Gravity goals were met in primary. I read a lot of old threads about how high gravity beers need time to mellow out. I'm not sure if this is the yeast cleaning up byproducts or just time for flavors to meld. If conditioning is a function of the yeast, then it makes sense to try to keep it warmer. If just aging then maybe it doesn't matter?

I thought conditioning had to do with yeast cleaning up the beer after fermentation..

I take "Conditioning" as a relative term. Since people use it to mean different things. I look at it as anything that is done to the beer between the end of fermentation and serving is conditioning. It could be a diacytl rest in the primary, transferring to secondary, bottle carbing, carbing in the keg, lagering, cold crashing, aging in the bottle keg or barrel.

If your beer was at FG when you racked it, then it's fine. If you racked it off the yeast before it was done, you're pretty much stuck with what you have no matter what the temps.

If it's done, then the colder, the better (to a point).

Thanks, It reached final gravity, before racking. At the time it tasted pretty good. I guess there is no right answer, as to how long it should "condition." I want to be patient to give it enough time, so as to mature, but also don't want it to sit needlessly when it could be kegged and enjoyed. Now with the cold snap the basement is 55-59F. I guess I'll just let it sit for the 2 months that I had planned to allow, then keg, carbonate and serve.

I'm sure the "yeast conditioning" part of the process is pretty well wound down, but that doesn't mean that bulk aging shouldn't still happen on a big beer. Just letting all the flavors harmonize. That just slowly develops over time, like how spaghetti sauce gets better in the fridge the next day.

That's not really temp dependent, so relax.

The spaghetti analogy is the best I have heard to date. It makes so much sense. thanks. Is there a guide for how long bulk aging should go? Would it be based on OG, or serial tasting, but that would expose a long age beer to oxidation. I am sure this isn't the last Big beer I'll make.