Managing Bottle Conditioning Temperature

[stephenbp]

I brewed and bottled a dry Irish stout (extract). It has been a week and I decided to check the temperature where the bottles were stored. The temperature is about 58F. My thought is that it may be too cold for the yeast to carbonate the beer. Should I be concerned? Are there any methods to help raise the temperature of bottled homebrew? Swamp bath? Any suggestions and advice would be appreciated.

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

58 is pretty low. 70 is a much better temp for them. Is there anywhere warmer in your place that you could move the beer to? At 70 expect it to take around 3 weeks to carb up nicely...

 

[stephenbp]

58 is pretty low. 70 is a much better temp for them. Is there anywhere warmer in your place that you could move the beer to? At 70 expect it to take around 3 weeks to carb up nicely...

Not at this time.

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

They'll likely still carb up at 58, I'd just expect it to take a long time. A tub of warm water to submerse them in would work but you'd need an aquarium heater or something to keep the water warm...

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

This thread might be of some help...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=211066

 

[Kampenken]

Not at this time.

Not upstairs in the living area? 58 sounds like the basement, but maybe you run a cold house? In the winter I keep the beer in cases upstairs where it is warmer for about two weeks.

 

[PADave]

I keep my bottles in my basement and this time of the year it's about 60-62. Yes, it takes a few days longer to carbonate, but they do. I'd say you'll be fine if you don't mind waiting. A stout can use the time anyways.

 

[Sadu]

I had the same problem in winter, and wifey doesn't like me storing beer all over the house. I shifted a few bottles behind the fridge where the compressor warms things up and left the rest to carb slowly.

 

[motosapiens]

I had the same problem in winter, and wifey doesn't like me storing beer all over the house.

I bought the house, so I let my wife live in it too, and I store beer where it needs to be. This time of year it is sometimes not warm enough in the upstairs bedroom that I usually use for the first 2 weeks, so i've been setting the full cases next to the heater vent in the gun room with blanket over them to trap the heat. the temp under the blanket oscillates from mid 60-s to mid 70's. after 4-5 days i move them to the normal bottle conditioning bedroom.

they've actually been getting perfectly drinkable in 6-7 days with this accelerated treatment, tho I do try to hold off for 2-3 weeks when possible.

 

[Jtk78]

I made a swamp bath for bottle conditioning and it worked great. Used a large plastic tub with a cover and aquarium heater.