priming temp????

[btsails]

Hi guy's,
I am new to this site but have been brewing for about 2 years, just wondering what thought's there are on the temp the beer should be stored at, I have always thought about 15-20 but this winter I am unable to keep in warm enough, the nights are very cold and I have no heater, I would guess the bottles are getting below 10 sometimes! Will this be a problem or will it just take longer for my beer to be tasty!!!!
Cheers for any comments.

[timmy]

That should be fine. If possible keep 'em inside for a week or so after bottling but after that outside should be fine. The cold will help them drop the proteins and yeasties out of suspension so you'll probably end up with a clearer beer.

[scblack]

As Timmy says your beers should be fine.

For the carbonation, try to give them a week or two at room temperatures for the yeasties to do their work on the priming sugars.

But after that time, any temp will be OK.

[btsails]

cheers guys,
Thought they should be ok.

[drsmurto]

I just moved 5 crates of bottles into the spare room. Only took my partner an hour to discover what i had done.

With night time temps dropping to below 5C i realised that i wouldnt get the desired carb level if i left them out there so in they came. Just have to hope my priming calcs were correct

Ideally, priming temp should be the same as ferment temp.

[Mackers]

Quite a few years ago, CUB put out a special Epicure Steam Beer, brewed by Mark Shields. The tasting notes, and I'm relying on my memory here, said that it had been stored at 25C for a week to ensure secondary fermentation.

I now do the same. I use a plastic crate lined with a short, caravan-type, electric blanket and pile some old blankets on top. I've found that I can adjust the temperature by the number of blankets! I've made hundreds of brews this way and never had a problem with carbonation.

[Trough Lolly]

Quite a few years ago, CUB put out a special Epicure Steam Beer, brewed by Mark Shields. The tasting notes, and I'm relying on my memory here, said that it had been stored at 25C for a week to ensure secondary fermentation.

I have no idea what CUB do to their beers to make them taste the way they do (and that's a topic on it's own!!) but remember that they are brewing beer for commercial sale and they're more interested in pushing their product down our throats than taking the time to allow the beer to naturally improve and condition at lower temps. 25C at secondary fermentation reads more like a bottle carbonation step rather than a deliberate attempt to ferment the beer at such a relatively high temp.

Unless you add yeast during priming, you're using the same yeast cells to do the carbonation step that have already fermented the beer and I would not recommend anyone deliberately trying to ferment an ale above 18-20C if they can. You'll know why when you drink a fusel alcohol / estery laden beer...

Cheers,
TL