I live in Florida and the temperature in my apartment consistently gets in 77 to 80 range even this time of year. I am working on getting a freezer/fridge to keep my fermenter at the right temperature but in the meantime I have been doing the swamp cooler method for my first five gallon batch and it seems to be working so far. I started with Mr Beer’s lbk however and just bottled an oktoberfest-ish beer from the lbk. My first batch got lost to oxidation before I knew I should be cooling the lbk when it is hot but the oktoberfest seems to be ok. My question is, given that my bottles are going to be in the 75 to 80 degree range until I can work out a freezer/temp controller, would it be better to just condition them in my fridge after the first few days (carbination) or just leave them out?
If you put them in the fridge, they won’t condition. Leave them out until fully carbonated, and upper 70s is a good temp for conditioning, then put them in the fridge.
I brewed for almost 2 years in a small apartment in FL. Did the swamp cooler for the first week or so of fermentation, then let them sit at room temp for a couple weeks. All bottles sat at room temp until ready for the fridge. Beer came out fine.
CCM that is exactly the encouragement I needed. After that first batch came out so bad (it was drinkable but not enjoyable) I was worried I had no chance in this apartment without a bunch of extra stuff.
I have an Irish Red (my first 5 gallon batch) in a secondary now and an open primary. You think I would be safe letting the secondary sit at slightly than cooler room temp (around 75ish) and start a new batch in my swamp cooled primary or should I just keep cooling the secondary for longer to ensure good beer?
[quote=“Barishi”]You think I would be safe letting the secondary sit at slightly than cooler room temp (around 75ish) and start a new batch in my swamp cooled primary or should I just keep cooling the secondary for longer to ensure good beer?[/quote]Temp control is critical early on, not so much after primary fermentation is done - you won’t hurt the beer by storing for a while in the 70s.
