Temperature when conditioning in 2nd fv

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
PhilM

PhilM

Active Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2018
Messages
49
Reaction score
11
Hi folks,
Have a strong Scottish Ale on the go, about 9%, and am going to condition it in a 2nd fv for several months. Would really like some advice on what temperature this should be done at. I’ve fermented 2 weeks at 19,4° (as per the recipe) and wondering if I should keep that temperature or is there any negative if I raise it to 21-22°. Or is there any benefit to lowering it? Any thoughts or advice?
 
May one ask "Why?" you want to do this?

The only time I have left a brew at atmospheric pressure in an FV was to "lager" a brew in a fridge at the end of fermentation. This was for up to 12 weeks without a problem and the lagering process was followed by carbonation at 20*C and then a further conditioning period before drinking. The brews were delicious!

However, I have conditioned many brews under pressure in PB's and Growlers for many months and in the case of a Stout it sat in a King Keg Top Tap for over a year at ambient garage temperature without spoiling.

Hope this helps.
 
The main reason for doing it is space, I prefer to condition in a batch rather than in the bottle, also want to avoid bottle bombs. Another aspect is the temperatures available to me. Where we live in Sweden (Brit living abroad) the garage temperature can be as low as -20 and indoor 22-24. Not sure what the effect on the final beer would be, therefore asking for advice if the indoor temp is ok or if I should keep it lower (ie in brew fridge which is a new concept for me)
 
Personally, I would check the SG and if it was at 1.010 or less (or at the SG recommended by the maker of the kit if it was more than 1.010) I would:
  • bottle it with 3g per litre of sugar,
  • let it carbonate at room temperature for at least two weeks,
  • check one per week thereafter to ensure that they had carbonated okay but weren't over-pressurised,
  • chill it if required before drinking. (Personally, I hate cold beer so I normally drink my beer at just below room temperature.)
A careful check of the SG and adding minimum sugar will remove the chance of over-pressure.

I still have a few bottles of Robust Porter that were started on 15th January, 2018. Last summer the garage reached over 28*C but there were no "bottle bombs" and the Porter still tastes fine - but it's very lively!

PS

My advice is to not use your Brew Fridge for anything other than fermentation, carbonating, lagering or cold-crashing.

There's nothing amiss about keeping bottled beer tucked away in the house if it's been properly fermented out and carbonated. Think how many bottles of beer are kept on the ordinary shelves in your local supermarket and you will understand why.
 
Last edited:
Since it's an ale, the room temp you mentioned will condition the beer nicely. Make sure there's very little head space in the secondary since the usual time to transfer to a secondary was around Day 5, more or less, CO2 availability will be at a minimum or zero. If you do several months, you may have to add yeast at bottling time.

If the space issue can be overcome, I would bottle instead of using a secondary. As mentioned above, there's no need to worry about bottle bombs if precautions are taken. Using a priming calculator is a good precaution as well.

Note: There are yeasts with "diastaticus" in the name that behave a little differently that you have to watch out for. That info can be found on the fact sheet of the yeast maker's website
 

Similar threads

Seghes
Stuck…or not?
2
Replies
22
Views
1K
Mash Monster
Mash Monster
Haversham
Temperature! Newbie in need of reassurance re high initial temperature of ale.
Replies
13
Views
1K
RoomWithABrew
RoomWithABrew
M
Cheapest 30L Electric Kettle?
Replies
8
Views
1K
Empty bottle
Empty bottle
Rento
G30/G40 counterflow chiller…
Replies
13
Views
3K
RoomWithABrew
RoomWithABrew
H
Bottle Conditioning & Temperatures
Replies
7
Views
1K
phettebs
phettebs

Latest posts

Back
Top