Bottle conditioning question

[OHIOSTEVE]

Ok I know 3 weeks at 70 degrees MINIMUM time frame.. that said I have a ton of beer setting around in differet stages of carbonation. I have a lot of room upstairs but it is unheated. NOW will the beer still carbonate and just take longer or will it just not carbonate? Also once carbonated is there any detriment to moving it to a cooler place?

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

Beer will still carbonate as long as the temperature stays within the active range for the yeast you used. (usally 60-100 or so) The farther you are from the optimum range (70-80) the longer it's gonna take.

There are also some secondary reactions that take place that will help clean up the flavor, and those reactions take place faster at higher temperatures.

After it's all carbonated, I sure as heck hope there's nothing wrong with cooling it down. Cause if there is, the beer in my fridge right now must be suffering. (Speaking of that, I should go put some more of it out of its misery.) Once a beer has "peaked" (a completely arbitrary amount of time where the right number of secondary reactions have taken place for the beer to taste perfect) then cooling it down will help keep it there longer. Until then cooling it down will just delay the peak (assuming you don't get it cold enough to drop the yeast out of suspension.)

 

[ChshreCat]

Ok I know 3 weeks at 70 degrees MINIMUM time frame.. that said I have a ton of beer setting around in differet stages of carbonation. I have a lot of room upstairs but it is unheated. NOW will the beer still carbonate and just take longer or will it just not carbonate?

Depends on the temp. Cooler temps will make it take longer to carbonate, but if it gets cold enough, it'll stop altogether.

Also once carbonated is there any detriment to moving it to a cooler place?

Not at all. Once it's carbed, you can throw it all in the fridge if you really want. It won't condition as fast so it'll stay green a bit longer though, but if you're talking about in the 50's and 60's... no problems.

 

[earwig]

Kinda off topic but I have had lots of home brew at 2 weeks and it has always been really good. Every kit I have seen reccomends 2 weeks. I know most people on this forum say 3 weeks minimum but in my opinion 2 is enough... I'd like to give some people taste tests and see if they can really tell the difference

 

[joey11bball]

I usually keep my brews for a week at room temperature, like 70 degrees. Then I put them in the basement, which is like 52 degrees, and bring them up by the six pack to put in the fridge. They have been fine in 3 weeks total.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

The reason I asked is that we are having the family easter here at my house, and the beer is stacked along the wall.....I want to move it all upstairs so the kids leave it alone and don't knock it over.

 

[Homercidal]

If it were going to be permanent, then move the oldest first. If it's just for the visit, no worries, just move it back when they are gone. It really all depends on how soon you will be drinking it. Cooler might still be ok for the yeast, but just take longer to get aged. Once you have the sugars ate up and the beer carbed, it's just improving flavor.