bottle conditioning temp

I'm bottling this weekend and then we're heading to Tunisia for a one week break on Wednesday. So, won't be around for that week to watch the bottles.

My options for conditioning while we're gone are to leave them in the basement which is around 72-73 (weather looks to not get too hot while we're gone either, looks like the basement should stay pretty steady), or to put them into the fermentation chamber. I'm brewing on Sunday and the temp will probably get down to 64 or 65 in there as it tries to keep the primary ferment at 69. But then as the primary slows, it'll climb to 69.

I was thinking it's better to keep the bottles steady, so figured I should probably just leave them out in the basement for the first two weeks or so. What do you guys think? When I was last brewing some years back I was kegging. Any of the bottling I did was counterpressure filling for competitions. I probably last bottled using conventional methods ten years ago, so this is why I'm asking. Been a while.

Any input appreciated.

We say here, 3 weeks at 70, 3 weeks at 70 three weeks at 70....so if your basement is above 70 then you are golden!

I don't know if you ever read it, but I have a pretty detailed explanation of the carbing/conditioning process, with a video, here. Revvy's Blog; Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

Hey, so have you heard anything about Disney's taking over of Marvel, and how it will affect anything?

Perfect. Thanks Revvy. Read that thread last week but forgot the temp thing. Taking a second look now...

No word on how the Disney thing affects us over at Marvel yet. For now at least, haven't seen any changes. I do the majority of my work for Marvel (worked for them since 1991 too) and like things the way they are. So I'm hoping there are no changes unless it involves a pay increase!