Heating for carbonation ???

[geoffclifton]

In this cool weather my 2 brew fridges are run on cool for the first 12 hours to get the wort down from 25* to 18* and then changed over to 18* heating set point for fermentation.

My question is after bottling. How warm should the beer be kept for the first week or two to produce good carbonation? How much does temperature fluctuation affect the carb ferment?

Currently the nights are below 10* and the days around 20* so at a guess the bottled beer in the garage would be ranging say 13*-17* but it's gunna get a bit colder over winter. To date I have not had a problem but that beer is a month old.

I'm wondering on the need to build a 100 bottle (fortnightly batch) carbing cupboard with a couple of 25 watt globes and yet another fridgemate.

Cheers, Geoff.

[Dogger Dan]

Nope, It will carbonate just fine, what is the temp where the bottles sit?

Dogger

[geoffclifton]

would be ranging say 13*-17* but it's gunna get a bit colder

We'll probably be seeing 8* nights soon and I'll guess by then the bottles will be in the 10*-14* range. I thought that it may be good to keep them at brew temp 18* for at least a week after bottling.

How has everyone else coped with winter bottling?

Cheers, Geoff/

[rwh]

Can you put them inside for a week or two? That aught to be enough.

[Dogger Dan]

I think it will do just fine for carbonation. I am concerned about the temp flucs though.

Dogger

[DarkFaerytale]

last winter when i was keeping beer in the laundry i had an electric pet matress heater thingo that somone had left behind when i moved into the new place, i would just place that underneath the plastic tub holding my bottles and have it set on a switch to turn on for 15 mins and off for 15 mins, kept a pretty good 18 degree temp over winter nights, now i'm lucky enough to have a spare bedroom cupboard to keep my maturing beer in

-Phill

[Boonie]

In this cool weather my 2 brew fridges are run on cool for the first 12 hours to get the wort down from 25* to 18* and then changed over to 18* heating set point for fermentation.

My question is after bottling. How warm should the beer be kept for the first week or two to produce good carbonation? How much does temperature fluctuation affect the carb ferment?

Currently the nights are below 10* and the days around 20* so at a guess the bottled beer in the garage would be ranging say 13*-17* but it's gunna get a bit colder over winter. To date I have not had a problem but that beer is a month old.

I'm wondering on the need to build a 100 bottle (fortnightly batch) carbing cupboard with a couple of 25 watt globes and yet another fridgemate.

Cheers, Geoff.

Hi Geoff,

I have a cupboard that is large enough to fit 2 Brewing Kegs with the Light Bulb underneath the shelf for heat. I stack the beer bottles in with the brews cooking to save on energy. With some thought, you could build a nice melamine cupboard to accomodate the 100 bottles and some brewing kegs too. Your fridge with fridgemate is better, due to the constant temps, but for a newbie to HB, this may be of some assistance.

Throw some in your fridge with the fermenters?? I dunno how big your fridge is, but you may be able to accomodate 20-30 and rotate after a week. Atleast you will have some carbed up for winter.

Cheers

Boonie