Best conditions for conditioning

I'm just trying to get a handle on the best strategy (temperatures) for bottle conditioning. I know that they need to be pretty warm to carb up-but then what?

I know that cold conditioning will help the yeast drop out of suspension-but are there any drawbacks to it? Will the cold impede the yeast from doing their 'clean-up' work after bottle fermentation is complete? Will the cold help this process?

From my experience, I let them carbonate in the bottles at room temp (~72F), then i let them sit i the refrigerator for the rest of the time. They seem to need at least 1 week in the refrig. before they start to mellow out. This also goes for corny kegs. It needs to be in a cold temp. for a couple weeks for the beer to really mellow out and the specialty flavors to come out. It also does help the yeast to settle out and 'cake' up in the bottom, which makes it easier to pour without a lot of yeast sediment.

*addition:
I forgot to add that I let them naturally carbonate for 3 weeks before I refrig. them.

Cool-I just want to make sure that the cold will help the process, and not make the yeast drop out before their finished. It's been really warm and my batches lately have been a little estery. I had a recent batch carb at room temp for 2 weeks, so I'm hoping a few more in the fridge and I'll be set.

What is your primary fermentation temperature at roughly? A good method of keeping the temperature more consistant is to put the fermenter in a water bath effectively adding more mass to the fermenter making the temperature more moderated. During the hot days I drop in a large plastic jug I froze the night before, and have 2 to alternate.

The temp. of the sugar priming shouldnt make that big of a deal as the primary ferment. If you have estery flavors it is more likely due to prim.ferm. temp.

To know when they are done, use a plastic bottle (I use an old Mr.Beer bottle) in addition to your whole batch. This allows you to feel the pressure inside the bottle by squeezing it. Once you feel the pressure is right, throw them in the fridge for good and it will stop the process and they can age right.

I let my bottles sit at room temp (65deg) until I am getting ready to drink them. I usually put them in the fridge for at least 24 hours prior to consuming.