Back to Shopping at NorthernBrewer.com

Changing Bottle Conditioning Temp

Northern Brewer General
#1

Hello All,

I am relatively new. Have a successful Caribou Slobber under my belt, a Bavarian Hefeweizen that’s been bottle conditioning for 4 weeks, and a Chinook IPA that’s currently dryhopped in it’s 3rd week of secondary.

I have a chest freezer which can fit 2 carboys set up as the fermentor. It’s been working great. Keeping it at about 62 degrees and currently have the IPA and 4 x 12 packs or bottle conditioned hefe in there.

My question is, what happens if I move the bottled hefeweizen out of the 62 degree fermentor/freezer and store it at room temperature? (about 77…FLA). I really want to make room for my stout that is waiting on deck. Will moving the bottles after 4 weeks to a warmer temp affect anything?

Thanks for your advice,

#2

Not a problem.

#3

Agree with Denny. Though you want to obviously make sure that you have your priming sugars done properly. And your beer will “age” a bit quicker at the warmer temperature. If you have any cool dark place that is in the 60’s that would be a bit better but you should be fine.

You can always you know… Store some of those bottles in your fridge at this point and drink them too. :o

#4

Thank you both.

There was a little experimentation (and confusion) with the hefe brewing. Funny story. Added some orange peel, and made a mistake reading OG and put in a little extra water in. Wound up with a little extra beer. First batch with my new fermentor freezer, which I really got so I could keep ferm temp low and avoid overpowering banana esters. Fermented at a nice 61 degrees.

After 2 weeks of bottle conditioning it was a little banana-y. Found out…extra water = more esters…DOH! 3rd week conditioning was better, and 4th week was like a new awesome beer! Very little banana now.

Thanks again for the help. I’m only on my 3rd batch, but I really love how the homebrew community is so knowledgable and support to noobs like me.

#5

I don’t think that’s an accurate correlation.

#6

I could be wrong.

I just finished my first read through of Palmer’s book. My “a-ha” moment was when I thought I read that if you didn’t use enough yeast for the volume of wort, then you would get more esters. Since I mistakenly used some extra water (6 instead of 5 gallons) and the same amount of yeast for a 5 gallon batch, I thought that explained the banana even though I fermented at the bottom of the
temperature range for that yeast.

I’ll have to try to find that passage again. Maybe I should have stated not enough yeast instead of too much water (wort)

#7

[quote=“Najski”]I could be wrong.

I just finished my first read through of Palmer’s book. My “a-ha” moment was when I thought I read that if you didn’t use enough yeast for the volume of wort, then you would get more esters. Since I mistakenly used some extra water (6 instead of 5 gallons) and the same amount of yeast for a 5 gallon batch, I thought that explained the banana even though I fermented at the bottom of the
temperature range for that yeast.

I’ll have to try to find that passage again. Maybe I should have stated not enough yeast instead of too much water (wort)[/quote]

It’s not the volume that matters, it’s the OG. If you add more, you still have the same amount of sugar for the yeast to chew through. That’s what counts. And there are some heavy hitters in the yeast world who disagree with what John wrote. Several knowledgable people say that less yeast equals fewer esters.

#8

That makes sense.

Thanks for the info Denny, I appreciate the help and am excited to learn from anyone who can impart some knowledge.

Either way, it still tastes great!

#9

And that’s all that really matters!

Back to Shopping at NorthernBrewer.com