chilling the bottles--timeline

[jpb3]

Ok, I've had a batch sitting in bottles roughly three weeks. I may not have enough room in the fridge for all of them, but I assume it is ok to leave bottles at room temp for a while?

Also, as mentioned in a another thread of mine, I will be using a secondary for the next batch. When I transfer the Primary to the secondary, is there anything I need to know other than what I plan on doing, which is the following:

1) Take the top of the primary
2) Insert the sterilized siphon into primary, and then let it do it's job until the beer is in the secondary
3) Then put an airtighttop on, with an airlock so any gases can escape. My buckets--primary and secondary, by the way, are plastic buckets.

I figured that's how I should do it.

Can you tell I'm a worrier?

Cheers.

 

[CBBaron]

Beer will store in a dark cool room for at least 6 months and usually for years. As long as your room temp is not 80+ there is no problem with only putting a few in the fridge. In fact they may improve over the next few months leaving them at room temp.
Transferring to the secondary is as simple as you describe. Just make sure the top of the secondary is below the bottom of the primary so the beer can fall or your siphon will stop. Also I'm assuming you already know how to work the auto-siphon which you didn't spell out.

Craig

 

[malkore]

you really do not want a plastic bucket for secondary. two reasons:
1. too much headspace
2. oxygen permeable

glass or PET carboys (a.k.a. Better Bottles) are the way to go. 5 gallons for secondary, so you have next to no headspace, and glass/PET plastic doesn't breathe like food grade buckets do (which isn't a problem in primary because fermentation produces enough CO2 to drive off the air).


Also, make sure you sanitize the secondary vessel thoroughly, including the cap/bung and airlock.

 

[jpb3]

So I should get a carboy for the secondary? Alright. Glad you mentioned that because I was going to have to get another food grade six and a half gallon bucket.

 

[jpb3]

Oh, I forgot to ask--what's wrong with having too much headspace?

 

[eddie]

Ok, I've had a batch sitting in bottles roughly three weeks. I may not have enough room in the fridge for all of them, but I assume it is ok to leave bottles at room temp for a while?

It's fine to leave your bottles at room temperature. In fact, I often drink my home brews at room temperature. the warmer temps really let the hops shine through. when you chill the beer the hops sort of mellows and the malt flavors become more prevalent. You'll find that different brews will have a different temperature that you feel is "just right." It's all about personal taste here. Try it. I think you'll be surprised.

Also, as mentioned in a another thread of mine, I will be using a secondary for the next batch. When I transfer the Primary to the secondary, is there anything I need to know other than what I plan on doing, which is the following:

1) Take the top of the primary
2) Insert the sterilized siphon into primary, and then let it do it's job until the beer is in the secondary
3) Then put an airtighttop on, with an airlock so any gases can escape. My buckets--primary and secondary, by the way, are plastic buckets.

Make sure your racking tube is all the way at the bottom of your secondary and that you aren't splashing your beer too much. You want to avoid aerating the beer. This can cause your beer to get really funky and take on some really bad flavors as it ages. A little bit of splashing is unavoidable but you want to minimize it as much as you can. Also, you want to use the smallest sized carboy as you can and fit your entire beer into. This is to minimize the amount of beer actually exposed to air.

 

[malkore]

less headspace = less surface area exposed to normal air, which lowers the possibility for oxidation (which leads to a stale flavor, and less long term storage stability).