Refrigeration Question

[Aguirre]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently enjoying my first batch, a brown ale, that has been bottled for about five weeks.

After three weeks, I put about half the bottles into the fridge and left them there for a week or so. I would have put them all in but there was no room.

So, the other bottles have been in the same dark, room temp (about 70*F) place since that time. Yesterday I put a few more in the fridge. I tried one last night and one today when I got home from work. I was very surprised at how different the level of carbonation was in the brews that haven't been chilled very long.

From my understanding of how the carbonation works, it seems like most of it is done while it's sitting at room temp, not chilled, so why are these bottles not foaming up? The glasses seems clean, so I don't think that's the issue. Can I expect the nice head and lacing I was getting on the other beers if I leave them alone for another week or two?

Thanks for any input

 

[boo boo]

Cold tempertures will cause the beer to absorb the co2 faster and give it off slower.
As the beer warms up it releases the co2 again. If the beer is warmer to start, more co2 is given off at a faster rate so more foam is made.

 

[ChshreCat]

Yep. After you chill them, the beer absorbs CO2 from the headspace at the top of the bottle. I always leave mine at room temp and put them in the fridge in batches so I don't open them until they've been in there for at least a few days.