Bottle conditioning

My basment is around 60F during the winter, am I going to get effective bottle carbination down there? I currently use 1 cup corn sugar and 3/4 cup water to carbonate the beer. Im also thinking about trying dme, seeing as how most of you guys use that. How much dme would you use at this temp?

I typically condition my beer at 70-ish degrees. I use either 0.75 cup of corn sugar, or 1.25 cup of DME.

If you like the carb level of 1 cup corn sugar at 60F (33% more than I use at 70F), then you can extrapolate and use about 1.65 cups of DME (also 33% more than I use at 70F).

-walker

Seems like a lot of sugar to me, too. It's going to take a while at 60F for the yeast to chew through it. I would consider rotating a sixer or two to somewhere warmer in your house for a couple of weeks and then back to the basement. The top of your refrigerator might work. I got a starter going a few weeks ago when it was cooler here and about 65F in my house by leaving it on top of a satellite receiver that I left on.

What about leaving it in a room with a fireplace for a couple of weeks that would be around 80 when its roaring.

I think that would be too much of a range. Meaning the fireplace won't always be putting out 80F, sometimes it won't be burning at all.

You should try to regulate a steady temp as when you steep your grains.

Have you tried placing a thermometer in a glass of water somewhere near your water heater in the basement to test a temp range?

If you can get a steady temp (69-73) at about 3-4 feet then you have something you can work with. You could always rotate your cases every day if you need to.

If not, then how about one of those small ceramic heaters or a shop light?

Yeah I thought about making some sort of cabinent that i can heat up. Maybe ill just look more into that.

And yeah my fireplace is going to be burning alot, im going to heat most of the house with it, with rising gas prices and everything.

A wardrobe type packing box makes a good cheap cabinet. They are double thick cardboard and run $15.

I thought the amount of priming sugar to use was determined by the fermentation temperture of the beer while fermenting and the resultant level of CO2 left in the beer at botling, not the temp during conditioning.

Of course adjusted for beer style.

Am I wrong?

Denny's Brew said:

I thought the amount of priming sugar to use was determined by the fermentation temperture of the beer while fermenting and the resultant level of CO2 left in the beer at botling, not the temp during conditioning.

Of course adjusted for beer style.

Am I wrong?

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You are correct. These guys are just trying to adjust the amount of sugar to give them the carbonation they want in the time they want at the temp they have.

They are not considering that they will continue to carbonate after that time period. What they are doing is O.K. as long as they consume the beer quickly. I sure wouldn't let it go for months though. You'll end up with some foam fountains for sure.

Yeah exacly what scott said. I have a honey ale right now thats been bottled for 3 weeks and has little fizz when you open the cap and no head what so ever.