bottle conditioning temperature for stout

[misterkc]

I am brewing my second kit ever which is the Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout. I must say the directions with the kit seem generalized to all beer styles as opposed to being specific to the stout. My question is what temperature should the bottles be stored at for conditioning?

 

[unionrdr]

I bottle carb & condition at 70F or a little more for any style. Some just take longer to carb or condition than others. Depending on how much roasted malts & the like are used, it can take longer to condition to the flavors you'd like.

 

[McKnuckle]

Bottle conditioning has two goals; 1) Enabling natural carbonation to occur; and 2) Aging in order to develop and smooth out flavors. For the first of these, it's pretty much a standard protocol: Three weeks at 70-75F. You can do 65, but it will take longer. They could be ready at two weeks, but three is more reliable. Occasionally four.

So there are rules, but the rules aren't too strict. Isn't this fun?

For the second goal, conditioning over time for flavor purposes, it's considered best at so-called "cellaring" temperature, which is around 45-55, just like wine. Colder is desirable for some styles; obvoiusly lagers require it. But too cold actually slows the organic processes that conditioning relies on. Keep the bottles out of light at all times.

 

[mrgrimm101]

My most recent batch is a milk stout and I have it bottle conditioning at about 65F-68F. At the 3 week mark it was really good..but I could tell it was slightly undercarbed still. I'm thinking another week or 2 (4-5 total) will be just right. Last year I brewed an American stout and that took about 4 weeks at about 68F to be just right.

I've had IPAs carb up perfectly at 3 weeks. But that was in the summer where it was upwards of 70F in my house. Style and temp seem to be the biggest determinants in bottle conditioning time.

 

[GreenTerror]

My basement is 65 and I just did a java stout, it took almost 8 weeks to get the carbonation all the way up.