Conditioning Temps

I made first batch around Thanksgiving and it has been bottled for nearly two months and I am questioning my method of storage. For reference, I used Palmer's Porter recipe:

6 lbs. of Pale Malt Extract (syrup)
1/2 lb. of Chocolate Malt
1/2 lb. of Crystal 60L Malt
1/4 lb. of Black Patent Malt

1 oz of Nugget (10%) at 60 minutes
3/4 oz of Willamette (5%) at 40 minutes
1/2 oz of Willamette (5%) at 20 minutes

Now, I've realized that this is kind of on the "meh" side of a porter but my 2 month old beer is still rather bland and not porter-esque. It fermented for 7 days and then went into bottles which are being stored in the basement with my brewing equiptment at about 70 degrees. To sample the beer, I've let bottles sit in the fridge from a few hours to a few days with varying results, but they all seem to come out rather bland.

As far as conditioning goes, should they be stored at cooler temperatures for a longer period of time before sampling or is it ok to let them sit at room temp. and then stick them in the fridge before opening?

I've got a wheat beer that I bottled a few days ago and it is coming along nicely using the same storage method as the porter but I am kind of in a bind... I have yet to put a batch in a secondary for conditioning and I think skipping that step may have caused some off flavors.

Any ideas on how I "should" be storing my bottled beer? And how much does a secondary fermentation really impact the end product?

If you can, store your beer in a cooler location once it is carbonated. I don't think that has much to do with your flavor concerns though. I've actually got the same issue with my AG porter so I may not be the one to help here.
Can you describe your brewing procedures? Especially what you did with the grains.

I followed Palmers secction on brewing with specialty grains. Steeped grains @ 150 degrees for 30 minutes, removed them, brought wort to a boil, removed form heat and added the malt extract and hops as scheduled. Cooled to 70 degrees in about 45 minutes, pitched yeast and fermented at 67-69 degrees for 7 days. Bottled when gravity readings were consistent for two days using 3/4 corn sugar...

Subsiquently, my wheat batch was formulated using promash and scaled acordingly to a 3 gallon batch.

Grains were steeped in a grain bag in 150 degree water for 30 mintes as Palmer sugguests in his guide. I agitated them slightly only to ensure they were as wetted as possible, they were'nt spalshed or swirled significantly, but rather stirred gently.

hoplobster said:

Grains were steeped in a grain bag in 150 degree water for 30 mintes as Palmer sugguests in his guide. I agitated them slightly only to ensure they were as wetted as possible, they were'nt spalshed or swirled significantly, but rather stirred gently.

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Did you rinse the grains or just let them drain?

The grains were just drained.