Conditioning question - ambient (variable) temp vs fridge

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CJF

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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
 
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’ ?
 
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
 
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
 

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