moving primary to 55 degree basement after first week , see any problem

[monty67]

I thought i was a mega homebrewer until i added up that i've done only 3 extract kits and put together 3 of my own extract recipies. what a looser. But i have been making a lot of wine over the last year...

anyway, needed to get back to the beer and wanted to step up to a minimash, unfortunately don't have time so i'm gonna be picking up a seasonal IPA kit that my local guy has. Making wine has taught me the lesson that procrastination isn't necessarily a bad thing and i wanted to extend my time periods with beer past that 6 day period to bottle that the kits usually give you.

After the initial week or two of the fermentation i was going to just take the primary and move it down to the basement, the basement is 55 degrees F, wanted to leave it for another week or two, i know my primary has a very tight seal so not worried about oxidation. This would basically extend my primary time to about and no longer than a month with two weeks being around the 55 degree mark before bottling. does anyone see any problems with this?

 

[dpittard]

Just make sure fermentation is done. I think you'd be fine.

 

[Clonefarmer]

I thought i was a mega homebrewer until i added up that i've done only 3 extract kits and put together 3 of my own extract recipies. what a looser. But i have been making a lot of wine over the last year...

anyway, needed to get back to the beer and wanted to step up to a minimash, unfortunately don't have time so i'm gonna be picking up a seasonal IPA kit that my local guy has. Making wine has taught me the lesson that procrastination isn't necessarily a bad thing and i wanted to extend my time periods with beer past that 6 day period to bottle that the kits usually give you.

After the initial week or two of the fermentation i was going to just take the primary and move it down to the basement, the basement is 55 degrees F, wanted to leave it for another week or two, i know my primary has a very tight seal so not worried about oxidation. This would basically extend my primary time to about and no longer than a month with two weeks being around the 55 degree mark before bottling. does anyone see any problems with this?

As long as fermentation is complete there is no problem with moving to a cooler area. If you move them to a 55 degree area before fermentation is over it may cause the yeast to drop out too soon.

 

[monty67]

yeah, i didn't want to move it down too soon cause i was afraid of the yeast stalling out or something, cool, so sounds like check the fg and make sure she's done and let it finish doing it's primary thing in the cold. Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[barleynhops]

No, there's no problem with this. What you're describing here is cold conditioning. A lot of brewers will let fermentation complete in primary the drop the temperature in secondary in order to have a lot of the suspended yeast settle out and allow more time for flavors to mellow out. It sounds like you won't be racking your beer over to another vessel, but I think the effects will still be similar. You should have more clarity and a really packed yeast cake when done.

 

[monty67]

I figured i'd transfer it over to the secondary right before i bottle and prime it..... hmmmm, if i'm doing that should i be planning on bringing it back up to 65 or 70 F for carbonation or can i leave it in the basement at 55 and just plan on leaving it for an extended period of time after priming and bottling?

Oh, and it looks like it's gonna be the 2009 HopNog by BB.

 

[Effington]

Oh, and it looks like it's gonna be the 2009 HopNog by BB.

I just recently sampled my 2009 HopNog... I'm impressed, it's fine extract beer.

If I had to do it again, I'd like to dry hop it for more hops aroma. Give that a go if you can... maybe toss some hops in or rack to secondary when you move it to the cooler basement?

 

[Mike35673]

Interesting. I have a Russian Imp Stout in the primary and it is entering week 2. It might be a good idea to take it to my cooler basement for a final week before bottling? FG right now is about 1.032, so it might be close. I will check again before I move it. Are you guys saying this is a good thing?

 

[dpittard]

I figured i'd transfer it over to the secondary right before i bottle and prime it..... hmmmm, if i'm doing that should i be planning on bringing it back up to 65 or 70 F for carbonation or can i leave it in the basement at 55 and just plan on leaving it for an extended period of time after priming and bottling?

Oh, and it looks like it's gonna be the 2009 HopNog by BB.

The yeast need to be active to carb. 70*F is kinda the rule of thumb for bottle carbing.

 

[rico567]

You should be fine. In Winter, my basement runs 57-61F, depending. I commonly chill to <70F, pitch, and just put the fermenter down there. Fermentation kicks in before the wort can cool down much and helps hold the temperature up, and the rest of the process seems to go normally. I can almost always get FG in a week to 10 days, although I'm moving to the "leave it in primary for 3 weeks" school. There are instances (e.g. Belgians) where it's seen as desirable to raise temperatures >70F after fermentation has gone a while, but I haven't done many of those.

 

[Talloak]

I don't think you need to wake those yeasties up by bringing them from 55*F to 70*F while bottling - the important thing is that where you store the bottled beer while bottle conditioning is close to 70*F. You are talking about the 3 weeks it takes to bottle condition, vs the 12 hours at most it takes the bottle to warm up that beer from 55 to 70. No big deal I think.

 

[monty67]

so would you suggest raising the temp back up right before bottling and allowing it to carb for a week or two, or just bottle and leave it in the basement for a more extended period of time? Not sure if the yeast need the higher temperature to reactivate or if they will just be real slow about it.



sorry, see you just answered

 

[Talloak]

I suggest bottling, and then raising the temp by moving them to a location that is not your basement. Do not attempt to carb in the bottle while storing in your cold basement. That won't work. I use my utility room - with the door closed usually sits at 68*. If it isn't inconvenient, bring the carboy or pail up from the basement a day before bottling - but remember, everytime you move that around you are kicking up sediment - so give it time to settle before attempting to rack to your bottling bucket.

 

[barleynhops]

Yes, you'll be fine with bottling the beer while still at the lower temperature, THEN raise it for conditioning. Even though a lot of yeast has flocculated at this point, there is still plenty of yeast left in suspension that will carbonate the beer once your raise the temp for bottle conditioning.

 

[monty67]

awesome, thanks everyone for the quick responses, now to get my game face on for the brew session this weekend. Thanks again

 

[ChshreCat]

You might give it a little time after it reaches FG. The yeast will clean up after themselves and remove some off flavors and they'll do that better at fermentation temps than they will at the cooler temps. Maybe a few days or a week after reaching FG.

 

[monty67]

that's a good idea, thanks