Conditioning question - ambient (variable) temp vs fridge

[CJF]

Hi All

First question on this board ever - wish me luck (and I am sure its not a new one so sorry!)

Just brewed using a part grain APA kit and transferred to home pressure keg with some sugar for secondary fermentation (~22 deg C for a week).

I have a homemade brew cabinet, so can control temperature fairly well in this circumstance.

I have now turned off the heater to condition, but my brewing has do be done in a brick shed, so ambient temps can vary at the moment (13 at night - 20 in the day).

Is this temp fluctuation the best for conditioning? I had always presumed that temp fluctuations were never that good for beer?

The alternative is I can put the keg in a small, spare fridge - but at its highest setting this is about 5 deg C. Will it impact the beer conditioning at this cold a temperature.?

Many Thanks

CJ

 

[Mash Monster]

Hi All

First question on this board ever - wish me luck (and I am sure its not a new one so sorry!)

Just brewed using a part grain APA kit and transferred to home pressure keg with some sugar for secondary fermentation (~22 deg C for a week).

I have a homemade brew cabinet, so can control temperature fairly well in this circumstance.

I have now turned off the heater to condition, but my brewing has do be done in a brick shed, so ambient temps can vary at the moment (13 at night - 20 in the day).

Is this temp fluctuation the best for conditioning? I had always presumed that temp fluctuations were never that good for beer?

The alternative is I can put the keg in a small, spare fridge - but at its highest setting this is about 5 deg C. Will it impact the beer conditioning at this cold a temperature.?

Many Thanks

CJ

I believe the UK recommended cellar temperature is 11-13°c and I’m sure the purists out there will condition their beer at this temp. Which is easily achievable in a brew fridge with an inkbird or similar controller.
I’ve moved away from pressure barrels and have switched to a corny keg set up in a kegerator. My kegs are conditioned at 5-6°c and it works for me. That said I’m a heathen and I don’t like warm beer. I personally would try to avoid big temperature swings. When I used pressure barrels I kept them in a garage sat on paving stones on a work top with insulated covers and on warm days had special keg cooling packs that were like a quilted blankets that you kept in the freezer it was all a bit of a faff hence the corny keg route .
BTW How do you control the heat in your ‘brew cabinet’ ?

 

[foxy]

Hi All

First question on this board ever - wish me luck (and I am sure its not a new one so sorry!)

Just brewed using a part grain APA kit and transferred to home pressure keg with some sugar for secondary fermentation (~22 deg C for a week).

I have a homemade brew cabinet, so can control temperature fairly well in this circumstance.

I have now turned off the heater to condition, but my brewing has do be done in a brick shed, so ambient temps can vary at the moment (13 at night - 20 in the day).

Is this temp fluctuation the best for conditioning? I had always presumed that temp fluctuations were never that good for beer?

The alternative is I can put the keg in a small, spare fridge - but at its highest setting this is about 5 deg C. Will it impact the beer conditioning at this cold a temperature.?

Many Thanks

CJ

Best conditioning temperature is the temperature you fermented at. Go lower and conditioning takes longer, keep your beer under 20C

 

[Mash Monster]

Best conditioning temperature is the temperature you fermented at. Go lower and conditioning takes longer, keep your beer under 20C

I agree @foxy but my understanding was that the OP had already conditioned for a week @ 22°c and was looking for guidance on cold conditioning. I agree with you that 22°c is a little on the high side and like you I would ideally condition at fermentation temp ideally at 20°c or below I’m a great believer in the 2+2+2 method even though a lot of beer kits recommend warm conditioning for only a week