how warm for secondary temp it too warm?

i fermented in the primary in a swamp cooler mid 60's and now i have transfered into a secondary and stuck it in a closet. it may get into the high 70's to low 80's, is that too warm?

I presume you're talking about an ale, which in that case you should be OK with fermentation (not ambient temp, but the actual fermentation temp in the bucket) going to 76F roughly. I haven't done a secondary yet (will be doing one in 1.5 weeks), but from what I read 70F - 78F even is OK. Any higher than that and you're bordering on creating off tastes, etc.

I would get a Gott cooler (or just a big plastic bucket), fill it with water maybe 1/3 - 1/5 way up the pail / carboy and rotate some frozen 1Q water bottles daily. I currently do that in the bathtub for my 2 primary's that are fermenting, with water to the 2gal mark and 5 1Q frozen bottles in the morning and at night, and temps are at 68F - 70F in San Diego. Just two weeks ago on my last batch, without the tub, temps were up to 79F.

The first week is the most important - after that it shouldn't make much difference if they get warmer. Once I transfer to secondary they come out of the swamp cooler and often get up into the 70s, doesn't seem to affect the flavor.

ya to clarify its done fermenting. 2 weeks in the primary in a swamp cooler. now in a secondary in a cab in warm temps.

sounds like it should be ok

My ales come out of the ferm chamber when a new brew is ready to come in, but usually not sooner than one week, and are allowed to warm to 80.

I think the main thing that overly warm temperatures do to a beer post primary fermentation is to simply age it faster (i.e., hop bitterness will drop, etc.). Two weeks shouldn't be a big deal so long as you expect to consume the beer relatively soon. If you were doing long term storage, you'd want to control the temps better to make sure the beer didn't prematurely age.

I am by no means an expert, but I would think that once the beer is done w/ primary fermentation the temp doesn't matter all that much. Obviously, you don't want it getting too hot (try to keep it below 75F), but if it does get hot just move it to a cooler place if you can. I dont think it's that big of a deal after primary.