Bottle conditioning temperature

So, I've tried to read other threads and as usual, the advice is all over the place. Perhaps someone can give me advice personal to my situation. I added the corn sugar mixture to the bottling bucket before racking, fyi.

I bottled a black IPA on Jan 4 and opened one to taste it on Monday (12 days) even though it was young. It was hardly carbed at all and still quite sweet from the bottling sugars. Perhaps that's normal at 12 days, but I was surprised. My first beer carbed faster. So I started thinking it might be too cold. It's been in the basement at roughly 64-66 degrees. Yesterday I moved them upstairs where it's in the high 70s to high 60s during the day and low 70s to mid 60s at night. I thought this might get things going. But some of the threads mention the higher temp in the first 10 days. So, did I miss the boat?

I have two questions:

1) What would have been the ideal way to do it from the beginning?
2) What should I do now? Leave them upstairs or put them back downstairs?

Thanks!

It's not too cold, it just takes a little longer if its cold. As often stated, 3 weeks is very typical, but higher gravity beers can take even longer. Give it time.

1) Ideal would be ~70, but mid-sixties works just fine, just takes longer.
2) Leave them upstairs where its warmer for another 2 weeks, then try again. If still not carbed, give it more time.

Sometimes a basement can get colder then you think.

Moving them up stairs was a good idea but now you may need to rouse the
yeast by turning the bottles upside down and gently swirling them to wake
up the yeast on the bottom.

After doing this to all your bottles let them sit for another week at around 70
and you should be good.

Cool. Thanks. I know it's supposed to take 3 weeks, but I just expected it to be farther along. And it is a higher gravity beer. I didn't think about that.

I'll try to be patient. We all know how hard that is.

So, what is too warm for bottle conditioning? We use passive solar, so even in the winter the house can occasionally get to almost 80 during the day.

1) In the book "Brew Like A Monk" they talk about several breweries that keep their beers in a warm room that is normally around 75*F for around a 7 to 10 days then they are packaged for distribution.

2) I would leave them upstairs in the higher temperature and just give it some time, it will eventually carb. I had a braggot that I put in the cellar as soon as i bottled it and it took a good amount of time longer than any other beer I've made. Hope this helped

drhookmec said:

Sometimes a basement can get colder then you think.

Moving them up stairs was a good idea but now you may need to rouse the
yeast by turning the bottles upside down and gently swirling them to wake
up the yeast on the bottom.

After doing this to all your bottles let them sit for another week at around 70
and you should be good.

Click to expand...

Good idea. I thought the jiggling of moving them up here would be enough, but I'll give that a shot too.

I had a batch of apfelwein in a carboy down there too. The fermometer said 64 pretty consistently. But I also know those aren't very accurate. I don't think it was much colder than that down there.

Wow. Thanks for all the quick replies. Very helpful indeed.

tytanium said:

it's not too cold, it just takes a little longer if its cold. As often stated, 3 weeks is very typical, but higher gravity beers can take even longer. Give it time.

1) ideal would be ~70, but mid-sixties works just fine, just takes longer.
2) leave them upstairs where its warmer for another 2 weeks, then try again. If still not carbed, give it more time.

Click to expand...

+1

One more time just because it may have gotten lost in the barrage of fast replies.

What is too warm for bottle conditioning? We use passive solar, so even in the winter the house can occasionally get to almost 80 during the day.

unionrdr said:

80 is ok. It just carbes a little faster,in my experience.

Click to expand...

And that explains why his first beer carbed so quick.

unionrdr said:

80 is ok. It just carbes a little faster,in my experience.

Click to expand...

This has been my experience too.

Cool. Thanks all. I'll leave them upstairs and see how they do.