Conditioning temperature

[ssparks]

Good evening,

I have been thumbing through Greg Hughes homebrew beer book planning my potential next brew, and being a fan of porters I thought this would be a good brew. Looking at the recipes they are calling for the beer to be conditioned after bottling at 12c for 4-5 weeks and 11+ weeks for the baltic porter.

Is there anyway around this? I have a fridge in the garage that I use for fermenting but i would prefer not to tie it up for a month and a half on one beer, especially as it is a non too economical commercial fridge (i need the large fridge for my other interest, so there is no short term plans to change it)

Is there any other alternatives, or do I have to suck it up?

Simon

 

[cushyno]

Just taken a look at my copy of "the Bible". GH recommends 12degC conditioning for many recipes.
Though I've never made that particular recipe, high gravity beers with dark grains always take a long time to reach their best. That particular recipe uses Wyeast 2633 Oktoberfest which is traditionally lagered for lengthy periods.

How long have you got? You could drink it before 12 weeks, but I always find the individual ingredients in darker beers take time to blend together. I'm currently doing a much simpler lower gravity brown ale and it's only after 8 weeks that the challenger hops and dark malts are fully starting to mesh. A baltic porter won't be at its best for a long time.

GH's Brown Porter is much lower gravity and simpler grain bill. I found this quite enjoyable bit still took around 6 weeks to condition well.

 

[cushyno]

As far as conditioning temperature goes, I'm not too fussy about it. If the temperature is at 15, 16 degrees that's fine I'll take it if it dips down to 5 degrees, so be it. Time matters. Specific temperature may help, but it's not crucial.

 

[foxy]

I condition mine at 17-18 C during summer months (they stay in the fermenting room) winter they condition in an outside shed around 12 C even at 12 C I have fairly good carbonation at 1 week, 2 weeks and just about fully carbonated. Hoppy beers drink asap unless you have gone overboard with the ABV.