Conditioning

[Anna]

During the cooler months I've been fermenting around 18-20 deg. for 2-3 weeks, bottling, then conditioning around the same temp. until drinking time. Which now means I have about 100 bottles in the spare room, which faces west! But now the weather is getting warmer (well, hotter after yesterday's 40 deg!), I'm not quite sure what to do with all the bottles. After reading the forum extensively yesterday I scrounged a couple of polystyrene "broccoli" boxes from the local greengrocer which I plan to use for carbonating the just-bottled brews - this seems to work great to keep them around 18 deg. My question is about the already carbonated bottles, which are now at least a month old. Is it OK to store them in the fridge (about 5 deg)? Will they continue to condition or will everything stop? I know the longer you leave them the better they get, but where on earth do you store big quantities in summer? Anna

Oh, BTW - they are all either Coopers Draught or Ales.

[drsmurto]

Keep them <30C at all costs. Any higher than that for extended periods of time and you will find the beer deteriorates rapidly.

I have a double brick house so one of my spare rooms is a faux cellar and holds a consistent temperature range all year round. I store all beer in here, including kegs until fridge space becomes free.

Once they are carbonated then storing them in the fridge will be fine.

[chadjaja]

I also find bottles stored at fridge temp give you better sediment control meaning pouring is made easier as its more compacted.

[drsmurto]

I also find bottles stored at fridge temp give you better sediment control meaning pouring is made easier as its more compacted.

Very good point!

I am unusual as far as croweaters go (for a number of reasons ), i like my Coopers Pale/Sparkling clear not cloudy so i leave the bottles in the fridge for a few days. It makes pouring a clear beer much easier.

[Anna]

Phew! That's good news. I moved them all from the spare room into the fridge in the garage last night and it took me about 10 trips (since I'm just a weak lil' female and can't carry a whole crate at a time!). I would've hated to have to move them again. Will they keep "aging/maturing" at 5 deg.? Anna

[jello]

Well I'm at a loss with what to do with my beer.
I don't have any insulated rooms and the freezer is for fermenting.

Yesterday was scorching. I'm not sure how to deal with the problem of storing.

[Anna]

It's a bugger isn't it Jello? In winter I had the problem of how to keep the bottles warm enough to carbonate and now they're carbonated I've gotta stop them getting too hot! And the more proficient you become the bigger the problem gets! Maybe just drink faster?? The polystyrene "broccoli boxes" seem to be a good cheap solution. I use the couple I got for carbonation, half filled with cold water. The temp inside the boxes was sitting around 18 deg. this morning - it will be interesting to see if it stays that way when the summer really hits! Perhaps you could put a frozen softdrink bottle on top of the bottles in the boxes also, with maybe a wet towel over the lot. I was a little hesitant going into the greengrocer to ask him, but he was most obliging - I got the feeling he was either an HBer himself or he had been asked for them before! I'll go back next week and try to get a couple more. They are just the right height and fit 18 longies each. I've put them in the laundry, which is slightly cooler than the rest of the house. Anna

[chadjaja]

yup i agree, go get some boxes from your grocer who will be happy to give you some especially if you actually shop there. Intact ones with the lid are perfect and with them crammed full of bottles you don't use a lot of water in them to submerge the bottles in covering most of them. A frozen coke bottle would lower it too as said but you would have to replace it a fair bit for bottles sitting there months. Not many other options apart from a second fridge.

[jello]

It is Anna, AND...I'm a lazy bugger. I'm looking for a large fridge or freezer on ebay.

I successfully wired up a TempMate for my fermenting freezer, so i'm confident i can do it again. Constantly freezing and rotating bottles will annoy me.

[Anna]

Hi Jeff! You're so lucky you can do things like that! Wish I had a techy-minded other half. Also annoying is continually carrying bottles from one end of the house to the other! Oh, what we go thru for a decent beer....

[jello]

I'd be happy to do it for you, if that's something you'd like to use.

Edit: or someone in your local area could do it. It wasn't hard to wire up. Otherwise you could just use the exercise for an excuse to drink another beer.

[Anna]

You know - I reckon I could do it myself if I tried. I saw some really good step-by-step instructions, complete with photos, somewhere on the web the other day (could have been this forum). Trouble is, I've already taken over the brewing and poor old other half has been suffering ever since with a bruised ego! (Like he could follow instructions.....hahahahah! In our house it's a case of "Let him try to put it together for a few hours, THEN hand him an HB and read him the instructions...)

[warra48]

You know - I reckon I could do it myself if I tried. I saw some really good step-by-step instructions, complete with photos, somewhere on the web the other day (could have been this forum). Trouble is, I've already taken over the brewing and poor old other half has been suffering ever since with a bruised ego! (Like he could follow instructions.....hahahahah! In our house it's a case of "Let him try to put it together for a few hours, THEN hand him an HB and read him the instructions...)

Anna,
I use a TempMate on my fermenting fridge.
Normally, I'm a reasonably handy sort of chap, and do all sorts of jobs around the house, but I steer clear of anything electrical.
Having said that, I had no difficulty wiring mine up, using the diagrams on AHB.
I can highly recommend the TempMate.
FYI, here's the link again: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum// ... ntry367165

[BigPete56]

Don't know whether it's practical or applicable for you, Anna, but I store mine under the house. Keeps relatively cool even on the hottest Melb days, and is not subject to dramatic changes in temp.

[Longwood-65]

I dream of the days I can store beer,
I just brew too slow and drink too fast

[Anna]

Don't know whether it's practical or applicable for you, Anna, but I store mine under the house. Keeps relatively cool even on the hottest Melb days, and is not subject to dramatic changes in temp.

There just might be some room actually. I'll put a thermometer under there this weekend and see what the temp. is! Good idea. Thanks everyone.

Warra: I think I'll keep OH away from electricals - he's got far too much HB available to do anything serious on a weekend!