How important is temperature control after fermentation slows?

I use my kegerator for both serving and fermenting. Obviously I can't do both at once. I have a 6 day old ale @65 deg which has slowed or probably finished, and am wondering if there would be ill effects in moving it out to garage temps so I can cool down my finished kegs for drinking. Is temp control only important for the first few days of fermentation?

I learned my lesson about fermentation temps last year when my batches turned nasty over the summer months.......

Temps aren't as critical, but I still try not to let post fermenting temps go much over 70.

My general rule of thumb is that after the krausen has fallen, the temperature should probably be a bit warmer than the initial fermentation. Yeast seem to clean up faster and stay in solution longer. When you're ready to clear the beer, then cool it down some, but otherwise it's good to go. You can also go by the hydrometer measurement, as long as it's below 1.020, there doesn't seem to be significant flavor difference. Just don't make big jumps because it'll make everything take longer.

I've aged beer as high as 80F with no ill effect (100F was bad. ) I use a chest freezer to ferment and it has made my beers better and any other piece of equipment. My beers ferment from the low temp of the yeast and ramp up slowly during fermentation. Generally after a week I don't worry much about temps for ales.

I've aged beer as high as 80F with no ill effect (100F was bad. ) I use a chest freezer to ferment and it has made my beers better and any other piece of equipment. My beers ferment from the low temp of the yeast and ramp up slowly during fermentation. Generally after a week I don't worry much about temps for ales.

Click to expand...

1+

I use my chest freezer until fermentation is complete or nearly so and usually rack to secondary and leave at room temp until I am ready to keg. Keeps my chest which will only hold two primaries free.

I am just finishing the 3 week primary fermentation of my first batch (Blonde ale), which never dipped below 73F. At it's peak, it even got to 79F and stayed there a couple of days (that's when I put it in the bathtub with water). Tonight I took my first taste with the hydro sample, and it was amazing. With ales, to me at least, it's safe to presume that the 70s are a safe temperature.

For future brews, though, I already have 1L water bottles (6 of them) that I'll be dropping in the tub for the first week on a daily basis, just to keep it more within range of optimal fermentation.

Awesome thanks for all the replys.

searched and found this thread.

i'm having a similar problem. i have a swamp cooler system setup but i just can't rotate the bottles fast enough to keep the temp down. it's at around 78F right now (after about 14 days of 62-65F) and the initial fermentation is done.

i was going to try and leave it in primary for another 7 days and rack to keg, but do you guys think i should just rack it now? i don't want this heat to ruin it.