Should I keep this in the primary or bottle it?

[goodsuds]

I brewed my Liberty Cream Ale on the morning of 6/1 and it has been in the primary since then. I had planned on keeping it in there for a full 3 weeks but the problem is we're getting some really hot weather and my AC is having trouble keeping the house cool. I have the primary bucket in a swamp cooler but the house is getting so warm that the fermenter is hitting 72*F (ambient was 79-80*F today), and it is only supposed to get hotter (almost 100*) until Friday, so it is likely the fermenter will reach 74*F or possibly higher if I can't replace the ice packs frequently enough.

I pitched US-05 and kept my fermenter temps around 64-65*F for the first week and slowly brought it up to 68*F for the 2nd week. Primary fermentation is long since over and I've reach my FG so now I'm just waiting on the yeast to flocculate out. Should I worry about the temps going up and bottle it tomorrow or just wait it out? If it matters I'll be force carbing this and giving it another week to condition in the keg so it will be ready for July 4th. I just want to make sure its as clear as possible and avoid any off tastes.

 

[befus]

I think you would be safe either way (I assume your second word should be brewed). At those temps after 18 days fermentation surely is over (check hydrometer). Three weeks should be enough time, especially since you have ramped the temp on purpose and by circumstance and the yeast should have cleaned things up pretty much. OTH, there is not much yeast activity going on to add off flavors either. If it were mine I'd bottle it. IF possible and you could set the fermenter in the refrigerator for two days first, so much the better. Good luck.

 

[goodsuds]

@befus - thanks for the info.

The gravity hasn't changed since week 1 so I know its done, and it actually tastes pretty good (hops are a bit dominant) so maybe I will rack it tomorrow. It still looks a little cloudy so I had debated cold crashing it but I don't have any room in the beer fridge.

Decisions, decisions...

 

[Trophy_Brew21]

Doesn't hurt the beer if you leave it in primary, but you will be fine to bottle/keg!

 

[goodsuds]

It's still a little cloudy which is why I was waiting a full 3 weeks to rack it (tastes pretty good though). Would there be any benefit to dumping the water out of my swamp cooler and filling it with ice and throwing an insulated blanket around it? That's the only way I can attempt to cold crash since I can't get it in the fridge. I have no idea how cold that will get it or for how long, but I would imagine a 20lb bag of ice would take a while to melt and still stay quite cold for at least 12-18 hours.

 

[befus]

It's still a little cloudy which is why I was waiting a full 3 weeks to rack it (tastes pretty good though). Would there be any benefit to dumping the water out of my swamp cooler and filling it with ice and throwing an insulated blanket around it? That's the only way I can attempt to cold crash since I can't get it in the fridge. I have no idea how cold that will get it or for how long, but I would imagine a 20lb bag of ice would take a while to melt and still stay quite cold for at least 12-18 hours.

Well it is not going to hurt anything. With the mass involved, it will take quite a while to get the temp of the beer down though. I'd say it would take a day to get there, and then two once it did. So say three days at four sacks of ice the first day and two minimum the next two if your insulation is good. Ice isn't cheap and we're just guessing as to the temps. It takes almost that much ice to keep beer in the 60's for fermenting and no telling what it would take to get into the low 40's. Your call.

 

[goodsuds]

Yeah, you're right. It will be too much work to get it cold enough and keep it cold. I'll just rack it tonight and be done with it.

Thanks again for the help!