Help with Natural Carbonation during Colder Months

Since it's gotten colder, my brews have (as expected) started to take much longer to carbonate. I'm getting very impatient, and I seem to be wasting lots of brews that I open to test the carbonation. This is my first winter brewing. Anyone have any suggestions?

Maybe I'm missing something, but um, store them indoors in a heated space?

Place the cases closer to your water heater or furnace...no use spending extra $$$ on a space heater since the water heater/furnace cycles anyway.

Problem is, I need temps in the 70's. We have a programmable digital thermostat, so, in order to save money (and help the environment), we program it so that the house is colder during the day, when we're at work, and when we're asleep, under the down comforter. So during a given day, most of the hours of the day see our house in the low 60's, which isn't so good for bottle carbonating. I think I just need a space heater.

Just exercies a little more patience...

Seriously, look at everything in your sig that you have bottled; leave them be for four or five weeks after bottling, you have plenty to drink in the meantime. I never crack a brew before 2.5 weeks, and even then it's only if I'm running low. If it takes four weeks before they are ready, does that really hurt?

Like I said...I'm impatient. The first cinnamon-basil is almost gone---one bottle left. The Amber and Red are nearly gone, but they were early attempts at extract brewing, so they're not my favs. Maibock is almost gone too. Still have some Wit, thankfully. Barleywine needs another year at the least before I open another one. Scroate is extremely sprucey, waiting for it to chill out. The second basil batch is great, drinking it these days. Citrus, had a bottle last night, great stuff. Oatie stout tastes like ketchup and olives on account of the dryhopping, so I'm waiting for it to get better. The rest, I'm waiting for carbonation.

My brews have been getting better and better as I go along...especially now that it's not so hot in my basement. So I'm anxious...that's all. Forgive me.

Then go for the space heater...

Since when is opening an uncarbonated bottle of homebrew "wasting". If I open, I drink. Usually there are a few bubbles in there.

How warm is your basement? We have a prog. thermostat too but our basement tends to stay in the upper 60's year round. Another option would be to cover them with a heating pad on low.

As you'll see above, I said that I too drink a bottle, carbonated or not. But it is a bit of a waste to drink a brew that's not as good as it could be.

Basement stays low 60's this time of year. I'm seeing a sea change from the summertime. I was testing bottles at 5 days and seeing substantial carbonation during the summer, when it was low to mid 70's down there. These days, I'm looking at 3+ weeks without any carbonation. I know something is happening, because of the little "pfft" when I open the bottles...but that's it. Heating pad isn't a bad idea...I've thought about it. The heating pad is my friend when I need to bring fermentation temps up on my carboys...

Wave a magic wand and make them carbonate faster.

Really, what answer are you looking for? You simply can't rush yeast. If you can't be patient, then drink flat beer.

Not looking for a specific answer, Cheezy...just wondering what other people do. Of course, I'm forcing myself to be patient. But I'm going to a beer tasting (lots of contraband Fantome!) this weekend, and I'm hoping that, at the least, my imperial stout is carbonated by then.

Evan! said:

Not looking for a specific answer, Cheezy...just wondering what other people do. Of course, I'm forcing myself to be patient. But I'm going to a beer tasting (lots of contraband Fantome!) this weekend, and I'm hoping that, at the least, my imperial stout is carbonated by then.

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But even if it is carbonated, it'll still be green. An imperial is supposed to age for several months, if I recall. I just go out and buy a couple of interesting brews to hold me over when I'm waiting. But seriously, if you have THAT many that you're bored with, you should get into half-batching.

I aged the imperial in secondary/tertiary for a VERY long time. I know it's not quite the same as bottle conditioning, but when I tasted it at bottling, it kicked so much ass.

I don't do half batches. If I'm going to take the time and effort to do a batch, I might as well go as big as I can get, which is 5 gals. No big deal.

I'm not particularly "bored" with anything---I just cracked open one of the Mango-Peach Wits last night, and a surprise growler that I forgot to label that was actually full of my very first beer! Holy crap, were they awesome.

Honestly, I'm being patient, and I'm not bored by any stretch (I work at a fine wine/beer shop (discount=beer at wholesale!), so getting bored is never an option, especially this time of year, when all the Noel/winter beers start pouring in...ahem...Snowcap...) All I was wondering was if anyone has a way to possibly get stuff carbonated in less time than the seemingly several months it's currently taking. No big deal.

I could never get bored with my homebrews, Cheezy...even the irish red, my least favorite, is fun to drink.

You have to think about this positively. It might be taking the brews a bit longer to carbonate, but conditioning them at slightly lower temps (even if not really "cold conditioning") should only improve them.

Now that fall/winter is here, my house is cold, too. I'm going to be starting a maibock soon, since my basement is at 50 degrees or so. Not too much warmer by the furnace or water heater. Even my laundry room (on the main floor) right now is at 57 degrees. I have two primary buckets in the home office with me, along with two cases of beer to carbonate. Even with the space heater on, it's only 67 degrees in here at most. During the night it's more like 62-63. I'm noticing that it's much longer to carbonate and even to ferment. Probably will make better beer, but it's not easy to wait!

Lorena

birdman---you read my mind. I'm not complaining...I'd rather have my basement at 63 than 78. I'm excited about these beers, as some of my "summer" brews tended to have a bit more esters, which I attribute to the heat. So, yeah, it's a tradeoff that, if I have to make a choice, I'll take the cold. All I'm trying to do is speed up carbonation on a few bottles, not the whole lot...gotta impress all my boys on Sunday, after all

Lorenae---same here. I know I'll get better beers, it's just hard to wait. Especially since I already waited while they aged in secondary for several months.

Evan! said:

All I'm trying to do is speed up carbonation on a few bottles, not the whole lot...gotta impress all my boys on Sunday, after all

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Am I totally missing something here or what? Obviously the only way to get quicker carbonation is to warm it up a bit... If all you are looking to do is what I quoted above, then why not just move a "few bottles" to a warmer room?

I'm assuming you are doing all your fermenting/carbonating in your basement from the sounds of it, however I'm assuming this isn't your only room in the house. It can't hurt to move a case-worth of bottles into a bedroom closet or something for the week, can it?

Seems like this thread has gotten a lot of action for something so simple. Move some bottles or wait it out...

Silkky:

Read back. I stated earlier in this thread that I have a programmable thermostat in my house, so the heat goes way down (58f) during the day and when we're sleeping, so as to save money and help the environment (mostly to save money ). And even when we're there, the program only gets up to like 65 or 68. I'm not a big heat person, and given how much natural gas costs...

Right now I have several bottles, the ones I want to carbonate for this weekend, sitting next to the hot water heater. Hopefully that'll help.

Yeah, maybe if we kept our house warmer than we do...but wifey and I like sleeping in a cold house and curling up under the down comforter.

I am in the same boat Evan, right down to the basement temp, auto thermostat, and down comforter.

Last night I put my beers in a big rubbermaid tub with my old iguanas heating pad and a thermometer. As of this morning the tub was at about 64 degrees. I'm going to mess around with placement and insulation to see what happens. I don't want the pad to be placed in a way that heats some bottles more than others. It will be kept in the basement, which is easiest to control as the temperature is fairly constant.

I'm interested in any other ideas, though.

That sounds like a better idea than a space heater. Maybe make up a well-insulated box and use that kind of heater, would seem to be a lot more efficient that trying to keep an entire room (or the basement) heated with a space heater.

Evan! said:

As you'll see above, I said that I too drink a bottle, carbonated or not. But it is a bit of a waste to drink a brew that's not as good as it could be.

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This is true, to a certain extent, but at least you're satisfying your curiosity, and getting a feel for how things are coming along. Of my two bottled batches, I've used ten bottles of the Ascension Ale, between tasting it myself and letting some other home brew friends try it to give an opinion of how things were progressing.

I've done better at controlling myself with the Black Helicopter Porter, just because I've gotten the experience of tangibly knowing that two weeks isn't long enough to properly condition the beer. I sympathize with the impatience, since I don't even have a single batch that has aged enough! That's why I'm brewing as often as possible; soon I'll be able to let the newer batches condition at their leisure, cuz I'll be enjoying the older ones.

Maybe the answer is to just brew another batch.