Bottling temp

[Caryt]

I put my bottled pale ale then put it out in the potato cellar on my porch because it's dark and cool. Now four days into it I'm thinking maybe too cool 34° to 55°. I haven't had one to check the progress but thought this would be a good place for some input.

Thanks in advance!

 

[kh54s10]

From what I have read (and what I do) you want to bottle condition near 70 degrees for at least 2 or 3 weeks then chill them for a couple of days. That is for an average beer, other styles take much longer. If your temperature is that cool I would expect the bottle conditioning to take much longer.

 

[BrewThruYou]

Too cool for the yeast to bottle condition. At 34, you might get nothing. At 55, you might get there very slowly. Better to have it 60 to 70 for bottle conditioning.

 

[Wobbegong]

That cellar sounds like a great place for the bottles AFTER the yeast does its work. Room temp for a few weeks is what you need now.

 

[Revvy]

Your beer won't carb at those temps, the yeast will go to sleep instead.

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.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out. You have green beer.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer.

 

[jsv1204]

I have a bottle-conditioned Cali Common that I primed with gyle and have had sitting at 60-62* for about three weeks. The change in carbonation and flavor has been pretty remarkable. First checks were pretty much to see if my first attempt at a corn-sugarless prime was successful (which is was) but there was a pronounced esthery tone (banana-ish) early on. Last check, the ester character was far more subdued.

 

[Caryt]

Thanks everybody! You have all been very helpful. I brought the beer inside to 65 degrees yesterday (4th day in bottle). My final question is did I ruin the carbonation process? Or will it still carbonate fine?

 

[kh54s10]

When it was cold your yeast were "sleeping". By warming them up you have awakened them and they will go to "work". You may need to wait a little longer but your bottles will carb up.

No worries!

 

[DonutMuncher]

Sorry if I'm thread hi-jacking, but I was wondering what happens if you carb/condition at HIGHER temps, like around 80F. Can this produce off-flavors in the beer at this point, or hurt the carb process?

With summer approaching, I'm just wondering, since the inside of my house will often be between 75-80F.

 

[jsv1204]

Sorry if I'm thread hi-jacking, but I was wondering what happens if you carb/condition at HIGHER temps, like around 80F. Can this produce off-flavors in the beer at this point, or hurt the carb process?

With summer approaching, I'm just wondering, since the inside of my house will often be between 75-80F.

Hurt carb process = no
Produce off-flavor = possibly. Lots of variables there...

 

[JuanMoore]

Thanks everybody! You have all been very helpful. I brought the beer inside to 65 degrees yesterday (4th day in bottle). My final question is did I ruin the carbonation process? Or will it still carbonate fine?

If the yeast all settled and got compacted at the bottom of the bottles, you may want to gently swirl to get it back in suspension. All you did was delay the carbonation process, it will be fine.

Sorry if I'm thread hi-jacking, but I was wondering what happens if you carb/condition at HIGHER temps, like around 80F. Can this produce off-flavors in the beer at this point, or hurt the carb process?

With summer approaching, I'm just wondering, since the inside of my house will often be between 75-80F.

There's so little fermentation going on that any off flavors produced from higher temps will be minimal. The only effect it will have on carbonation is possibly speeding it up a little. At 75-80F you should be fine.