Imperial Stout - High Temps for Secondary

[jpc8015]

In December 2012 I brewed the Cannonball Stout extract kit from Austin Homebrew. It had an OG of 1.10. I let the beer sit in the primary fermenter until the third week in March when I moved it to a carboy.

I planned on leaving it in the carboy in the garage until June then bottling it when I get home from an extended business trip. Unfortunately we are experiencing some unseasonably warm temparatures and our garage has gotten up to the high 70s.

Would I be better off leaving the beer to age at these higher temperatures or having my wife put the whole carboy in the spare refigerator that I have? Is there any problem with leaving the carboy in the fridge for 5-6 weeks until I get a chance to bottle it? I had planned on cold crashing before bottling anyway.

If it makes any difference I used White Labs Dry English Ale (WLP007) and made a huge healthy starter.

 

[jdauria]

Three months in the primary and three more in the secondary? Better taste good after the long wait! I would definitely not leave in the garage because you will have too much temperature fluctuation even though it's already fully fermented. So either the spare fridge or just even in the house should be fine.

Would definitely add yeast to the bottling bucket when you bottle as after six months, their will not be enough, if any, yeast left in suspension.

 

[jpc8015]

Would definitely add yeast to the bottling bucket when you bottle as after six months, their will not be enough, if any, yeast left in suspension.

Definitely going to add some yeast to the bottling bucket. Do you have a suggestion on which type? I was thinking about Nottingham Ale or US-05.

 

[SpeedYellow]

So your bulk-aging choices are 3 months in a garage swinging into the upper 70s or 3 months in a fridge. I'll take door #3, thank you very much.

 

[fork]

If those are the options i vote fridge, be sure to pitch more yeast if ypu want to bottle condition.

 

[mtnagel]

Definitely going to add some yeast to the bottling bucket. Do you have a suggestion on which type? I was thinking about Nottingham Ale or US-05.

I used champagne yeast for my imperial stout, but my bottles were way overcarbonated. But it could be that I bottled it before I knew you had to measure out the proper amount of sugar and not use the entire container they give you. Oops

 

[jpc8015]

So your bulk-aging choices are 3 months in a garage swinging into the upper 70s or 3 months in a fridge. I'll take door #3, thank you very much.

I've already got 3 months aging at temps around 55-60. Then I moved it to a carboy and got another month and a half in the low 60s. I am just trying to decide what I should do with it for the last month since I won't be home to bottle until then.