Bottling question-Beginner

I have a question that might be deemed rather obvious. I am in the process of fermenting my first batch of ale and I am wondering how to store my bottles once I bottle the beer? Should I store them at room temperature (which is about 80 deg in my house) or should I store them at a lower temp? What temp is optimal to store the bottles at until they are ready?

 

Room temperature is what you want to facilitate carbing. If that means 80 for you I wouldn't think that is too warm. Cooler temps equal slower carbing higher temps faster carbing.

 

70 deg and out of sunlight

 

Plus I put'em in sturdy boxes that have flaps I can close to keep the light off them. 70F or there abouts is ideal. But 80 won't hurt it at this point.

 

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.


Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

If a beer isn't carbed by "x number of weeks" you just have to give them more time. If you added your sugar, then the beer will carb up eventually, it's really a foolroof process. All beers will carb up eventually. A lot of new brewers think they have to "troubleshoot" a bottling issue, when there really is none, the beer knows how to carb itself. In fact if you run beersmiths carbing calculator, some lower grav beers don't even require additional sugar to reach their minimum level of carbonation. Just time.

 

Thanks for the quick replies. I think I am going to store the bottles in a big homemade cooler. I am going to fill it with water and do the evaporating towel trick to cool it down some. It should cool the bottles to around 75 deg.