Bottle Conditioning Temp?

I'm planning to bottle today after work. Recipe says to let the bottles sit at 60-70 F during conditioning. How about 75 F? That's what its been fermenting at for the past 2 weeks and I don't have anything built at the moment to keep the bottles between 60 and 70, but I can make it around 75 the same way I did during fermentation. Any thoughts? Isn't bottle conditioning just an extended period of fermentation to allow for carbonation?

BTW, it's a Cherry Wheat Extract/Steeping kit from Midwest.

Thanks!

 

It will still be beer, so yes.
two weeks minimum for bottle carbing. 3 is better.

However, if you have the means, do follow the yeast recommendations in future brews. Find a way to ferment in the low to mid 60s. You will be pleasantly surprised at the quality of your beer. Could be as simple as a large tub from the wally world to set the bucket/carboy in, fill with water, and do a daily ice-pack exchange.

 

Like mentioned above the cheap and easy way to maintain fermentation temp is with a "swamp" cooler, go buy a cheap "icecube" or other big cooler put your fermenter into and add water almost to the wort line (lower if you are using a stick on thermometer), you can then chuck swap out frozen waterbottles to maintain the temp you need.

Getting back to bottle conditioning, you probably want to keep it around 70ish degrees. Although 75 should not hurt it after the first fermentation is done.

 

Right, right. I did have my primary bucket and secondary carboy in a large tub full of water, but I didn't do any ice pack rotations or anything because I was able to keep it right at 75 F (recipe called for 65 - 75 F for fermentation) just from ambient temp. in my house. I don't want to throw a bunch of glass bottles into a bucket of water with ice for conditioning, so I was thinking of a quick SOFC build, this way I could keep the bottles around the 60 - 70 F mark for conditioning as stated in the recipe, and use it to ferment my future batches at a lower, more desired temp. But, if I can't get that done soon, I'll just roll with ~75 for conditioning because it's been in the primary for one week and secondary for one week.

One more question...is the yeast you're using for any given recipe the main driver in determining fermentation temps? Or is low-mid 60s just widely used for Ales?

 

Anything above 70 for carbing/bottle conditioning is fine...and 3 weeks is usually the minimum time it take for most regular grav beers....temp control IS NOT crucial for bottle carbing or conditioning, as long as you are above 70.....Don't sweat anything else....temp control is only crucial in the first few days of FERMENTATION...not carbonation.

Read this. Revvy's Blog, "Of patience and bottle conditioning."

From my bottling tips thread. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/

 

By all means build a SOFC. I built one and being able to maintain a stable fermentation temp makes a world of difference in your beer.

I'm actually getting the parts together to make mine glycol cooled.

 

I agree with Revvy. 75F should be fine for bottling. Yeast will ferment comfortably at that temperature and even higher. The reason for temperature control during primary fermentation, is that too high temperatures can produce off flavors (which can be subtle or nasty, depending on the yeast strain and temperature.) With bottling your only fermenting a little bit of sugar at a very slow speed, so I don't think you'll be able to taste the effects. I just put my bottles in the basement so my conditioning temp is dependent on the season.

 

I'm using my SOFC for the first time right now. I brewed Saturday and it's been in my garage since then at about 65 degrees. I've been changing the ice daily so far and the bucket was reading about 67. I have been changing the ice daily, but I may get daring and try a day and a half now.

It's been maintaining temps well considering that my garage temperature was as high as 87 yesterday.

If you enjoy building things and have a bit of time and space to store it, then by all means do it. :rockin: