Cold crashing bottled beers/retaining aging.

snow145532 said:

when you've reached good carb levels, do you have to refrigerate to stop any more carbonation or is it ok to leave the bottles out of the fridge until you're ready cool and drink? my first batch is carbing and i'm gonna store some until christmas, just don't know if i can store it warm or have to go cold.

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If you've carbed properly or to style, they reach the "good" carb level when all the priming sugar you added is exhausted. That is how you "carb to style" YOU control the amount of food you give them.

In a typical beer that is bottle carbed w 5 ounces of sugar @ 70 degrees provides 2.5 volumes of co2.

Many Styles are carbed higher than the standard 4.5- 5 ounces of sugar/2.-2.5 volumes of co2 that comes with basic kits, and often that is more sugar than that. Think of belgian beers for instance, or some pilsners, or Autralian sparkling ales. They are all carbed higher than most basic beers, and except for beligians are often bottled in normal bottles and they don't gush or explode.

Some are significantly less, like barleywines, or stouts or porters.

You can just look at beersmith and see the different amounts of sugar needed to carb by style.

For example the style volume of co2 range for an Australian Ale is 2-2.8 volumes of Co2, and if the beer is @ 70 degrees at bottling time, then you would need, 6.12 ounces of sugar if you wanted to carb at the highest volume for that style.

That 4.5 - 5 ounces really just tends to be the baseline for most gravity/ styles of beer, (when bottled at 70 degrees) but there are plenty of styles that use less or more sugar to be less or more carbed than that.

Here's the volumes of co2 for most beer styles...you can see how high Belgians and German weizens can be carbed.

Style & Volumes of CO2
American ales 2.2–3.0
British ales 1.5–2.2
German weizens 2.8–5.1
Belgian ales 2.0–4.5
European Lagers 2.4–2.6
American Lagers 2.5–2.8

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So really you put the right amount in, they does the rest and they are carbed to the right level when there is no sugar left.

Then you need to decided, usually by chilling one down and tasting, if it is conditioned enough for you. That may be a week or more beyond when they are carbed.

You don't want to really fridge til that work is done, because you will make the yeast go dormant if you fridge them. And interrupt their work.

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