Correct temperature for conditioning

[Mike1213]

Hi all, I'm just doing my first ever home brew and this is therefore my first post. I'm using a beer kit and all seems to have gone well so far. It's been in the barrel for nearly two weeks at a fairly constant temperature of 20deg C. The kit instructions say to move the barrel somewhere cool after two weeks for conditioning. My question is how cool? The only two spots I have in the house that are cooler than a room are the cupboard under the stairs (roughly 15deg C constantly) or the back porch where the temp dropped to around 3deg C last night. I'm concerned that the cupboard would be too warm and the porch too cold! Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Oceantendency]

1. What kind of beer did you brew?
2. What yeast strain did you use?
3. Which place has a more "Stable" temp?
4. Are we talking about 5 gallon carboy or bucket as your fermentor?
5> just out of curiousity what was your OG and have you taken a FG reading. Don't move the beer unless you have hit your target gravity. Just like any recipe for anything..it's not set in stone, it's only a guideline. Are you just trying to age at a cooler temp? A simple way is to check your gravity reading so you know where you stand, leave it alone til it's done. If you secondary it, you can always transfer the beer off the yeast, place back in the same place, and cover with a wet T-shirt to drop a few degrees off. Be patient. Or if you have room in a fridge cold crash or cold condition it for a few more days to a week before bottling/kegging.. sorry I'd give more accurate replies if we knew more about the beer and specifics.

 

[iijakii]

To me it sounds like he's using a Mr Beer kit or something. Fermented in that barrel and then maybe he added sugar and needs to let it carbonate. I'd leave it at 20C/68F. That's a good temp.

 

[bajaedition]

I would like to see the answers to the above questions before getting specific myself

however a few guidelines
where you store it you want the temp to be stable, not going up and down like outdoors on the porch
Below 70 degrees, the lower the better, I like to keep mine below 40 if it has to sit a while, you can call that lagering it, I do not care
keep it out of the light

I like to finish my beer before storage, I keg so I will use any finings,cold crash, filter and put in a corny before storing. Ido wait till it is at serving temp before force carbonating it however, this may not be an option if you bottle or cask condition.

 

[Jayhem]

Depends on the beer. If it's a Lager it might be instructing you to crash cool and "lager" it to help clear it up.

 

[Mike1213]

1. What kind of beer did you brew?
2. What yeast strain did you use?
3. Which place has a more "Stable" temp?
4. Are we talking about 5 gallon carboy or bucket as your fermentor?
5> just out of curiousity what was your OG and have you taken a FG reading. Don't move the beer unless you have hit your target gravity. Just like any recipe for anything..it's not set in stone, it's only a guideline. Are you just trying to age at a cooler temp? A simple way is to check your gravity reading so you know where you stand, leave it alone til it's done. If you secondary it, you can always transfer the beer off the yeast, place back in the same place, and cover with a wet T-shirt to drop a few degrees off. Be patient. Or if you have room in a fridge cold crash or cold condition it for a few more days to a week before bottling/kegging.. sorry I'd give more accurate replies if we knew more about the beer and specifics.

It's a Festival Ales beer kit. The beer is Landlord's finest bitter. I fermented it for 12 days in the FV. OG was 1035 and it stopped at 1008. I then siphoned it into the barrel/keg where it's been for the last 12 days (I added some priming sugar to the keg as instructed). Instructions now say to move to a cooler spot to clear.

 

[bajaedition]

It's a Festival Ales beer kit. The beer is Landlord's finest bitter. I fermented it for 12 days in the FV. OG was 1035 and it stopped at 1008. I then siphoned it into the barrel/keg where it's been for the last 12 days (I added some priming sugar to the keg as instructed). Instructions now say to move to a cooler spot to clear.

I would keep it at 65 for a few days to allow it to carbonate then put it in a cooler area for storage
the carbonating needs the yeast to work on the priming sugars for 3 to 7 days, after that open 1 up to see how it is doing and then put them in the fridge if they are carbnated or a cool room
remember, keeping beer cool is a good thing it helps it clear up

 

[iijakii]

You'll want to keep it at the 20C until it's done carbonating, then go ahead and throw it in the fridge for a bit. Bitters aren't really going to improve with extended aging, so feel fine to drink it after a day or two in the fridge.

Just to be cleer:
Carbonating is best done at ~20C.
Lagering is close to freezing, without freezing.
General long-term aging for giant stouts and other beers you age for a year etc is best done at cellar temps.

 

[Mike1213]

Thanks all for the advice, much appreciated.