Storage temps that promote further conditioning as well as chilled enough to drink?

I try to bottle condition my beer at 65-70 degrees for three weeks after being in the fermenter for three weeks. After three weeks, six weeks total since brewing, I need to put the beer elsewhere and have been putting it in a chest freezer set at 58 degrees. I think my beer is tasting better after about 8 weeks in a bottle.

My question is is the beer still conditioning at 58 degrees or should I set the chest freezer warmer...like to 65-70? Its nice at 58 degrees because, if in a rush, I find the beer cold enough to drink at that temp...plus it doesn't take as long to chill further when placed in the refrig. but I want to ensure further conditioning as well.

What would the ideal temp be in the chest freezer?

IMHO, 3 weeks in the bottle is perhaps a bit young. Yes, you will continue to get conditioning at 58, you will likely continue to get additional carbonation until the yeast consumes all the fermentable sugars -- it just goes a bit slower.

You will also find that at even cooler temperatures, your beer will continue to improve over time, especially in more intensely flavored, higher alcohol beers.

I used to be the brewer in a brewpub in NJ. While we didn't bottle, I used to condition my beer by slowly reducing the temperature by 10 degrees every two days down to serving temperature (typically upper 30's, low 40's). Thus, from 68 to 38 would take 6 days prior to filtering. Then, I would filter it into a serving tank, and hold the beer at serving temperature for a few days before releasing it (the owners' blood pressure permitting).

hercher said:

IMHO, 3 weeks in the bottle is perhaps a bit young. Yes, you will continue to get conditioning at 58, you will likely continue to get additional carbonation until the yeast consumes all the fermentable sugars -- it just goes a bit slower.

You will also find that at even cooler temperatures, your beer will continue to improve over time, especially in more intensely flavored, higher alcohol beers.

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Thanks for the reply. this process just seems to get longer and longer. My first kit recipe said, one week in fermenter and one week in the bottle and you're ready! I thought two weeks was a long time to wait. Now I am three weeks in a fermenter and it seems about 8 weeks in a bottle so I am not drinking "okay beer" but at least good beer. That is now a total of almost 3 months from brew to drink. Whatever it takes though.

If you want to get at your beer a little quicker, try kegging it. If I'm in a hurry, I can be drinking my in 3 weeks. I typically start drinking it after 4 weeks.

Your biggest expense will be the kegs, the fridge, and the regulator. The kegs and fridge can be bought used. You can create your own "kegerator" from a half-size refrigerator.

If you are married, or otherwise permanently involved with some one, she will love the fact that you don't have beer bottles all over the place, and that you don't go nuts every time she puts an empty bottle in the recycling bin, or accidentally breaks one.

I just love how you can't have a serious discussion about BOTTLING without some kegger feeling the need to bring up kegs, like the OP maybe hasn't heard of them or something.

Back to the topic at hand,

The colder you store/condition your beer, the LONGER it will take for them to carb and/or condition. For typical mid gravity range beers, the 3 weeks at 70 degrees is the average minimum it takes to carb and condition simple ales....the higher the gravity and/or the cooler the conditioning temp, the longer it's going to take.

There is really no need to "cold condition" ales.....it really doesn't serve much purpose, because the closer you get to the lower temp range of the yeast, the more sluggish or even dormant and flocculant they become, so they aren't really doing anything....this is different from lager yeasts which work in colder temps, but even that is a slow process.

Really you should just leave your beers at 70 degrees for about 3 weeks, then chill one down and taste it..if you like the level of carbonation and it doesn't taste green, then chill down as many as you want to drink...if the bottle isn't carbed or taste green still, then check another in a week....or two....

Now the longer you chill for the clearer the beer will be, and the tighter the yeast cake will be, and the less chill haze will be prevalent.

But don't put them cold until you KNOW carbonation has happened, or else you retard the process.

I write a lot about the carbing/conditioning process here; Revvy's Blog, Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

Revvy said:

I just love how you can't have a serious discussion about BOTTLING without some kegger feeling the need to bring up kegs, like the OP maybe hasn't heard of them or something.

Back to the topic at hand,

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And I just love how some posters always insist on putting down other people who make legitimate comments. Go back and read the entire thread. Prior to my suggestion about kegging, the GalenSevinne complained about having to wait too long before he can put his beer where it belongs: in a glass. I suggested kegging as a way to speed the process up. And no, I did not assume he had never hear of them.

Revvy said:

There is really no need to "cold condition" ales.....it really doesn't serve much purpose, because the closer you get to the lower temp range of the yeast, the more sluggish or even dormant and flocculant they become, so they aren't really doing anything....this is different from lager yeasts which work in colder temps, but even that is a slow process.

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This is an inaccurate statement. According to Fix, Principles of Brewing Science, cold storage is a process "whereby protein-tannin complexes come out of solution and partially preciptate." Furthermore, cold conditioning does, as you say, make the yeast flocculant. No one here suggest cold storage before the carbonation process is completed.

Cold storage accomplishes slowly what cold filtration does quickly. Commercial breweries filter chilled beer partially for presentation purposes, but primarily because it is forced aging; filtration removes particles such as protein, and yeast remaining in suspension to produce a bright and clean tasting beer.

Your fundamental premise is correct: the bottles should not be chilled until carbonation is complete. You simply failed to recognize that the purpose of cold conditioning is not for carbonation so much as to allow the beer to mature.

I never have had a problem with carbonation as I always leave my beer in a bottle for three weeks before drinking one. I am just starting to think that 8 weeks of conditioning might be be better. Why drink most of the beer between 3 and 8 weeks if it isn't as good as it can be? I want the beer to be close to optimal before drinking it.

I have a chest freezer and have been putting it there from weeks 3 and onward. It is set at 58 degrees. I was wondering of this cooler temp. will retard the conditioning significantly?

What about higher temps.? What will that do to bottle conditioning, I live in an apartment and just leave my bottles boxed up in a dark corner at room tem. (around 72-75). Will it go bad?

vsanchez949 said:

What about higher temps.? What will that do to bottle conditioning, I live in an apartment and just leave my bottles boxed up in a dark corner at room tem. (around 72-75). Will it go bad?

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Nope. Mine stay just below 80 for most of the year here in Tucson, AZ. I have bottles that are just over a year old now, they are fantastic.

GalenSevinne said:

I never have had a problem with carbonation as I always leave my beer in a bottle for three weeks before drinking one. I am just starting to think that 8 weeks of conditioning might be be better. Why drink most of the beer between 3 and 8 weeks if it isn't as good as it can be? I want the beer to be close to optimal before drinking it.

I have a chest freezer and have been putting it there from weeks 3 and onward. It is set at 58 degrees. I was wondering of this cooler temp. will retard the conditioning significantly?

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I think that sounds perfect. It won't really be "cold conditioning" but it will be more at cellar temperatures. At 58 degrees, the aging will be slower than at 70 degrees of course, but that's a good thing. The flavors can meld and smooth out. Now, some beers are just better drank young, so for a beer like a hefeweizen, or a mild, a brief time at cellar temps might be good before chilling.

But for a bigger beer like a winter warmer, a long time at cellar temperatures would probably go a long way to smoothing it out. An American amber or pale ale might be "medium" length conditioning. It'll be fun to see how the beer ages at cellar temperatures, and when it peaks.