Bottling Temperature

[bcp]

I normally bottle at room temperature as that's what it's going to sit at for a while.

But being lazy, and that my fermenter is still only up to 13 and i want to get it out of the way... any problems with bottling at lower temperatures? There will be some expansion, but would it matter?

 

[davewaldo]

I often bottle around 3 degrees because I rack from cold conditioning onto the bulk priming sugar then bottle straight away

I don't have any issues. I use the warmest temp the beer has been post fermentation in the sugar calculator.

I was finding that if I left the beer to warm up it would stir up a lot of the sediment. I'm bottling almost crystal clear beer.

 

[jakub76]

I can't think of any reason why bottling at 13C would pose a problem. I'd say go for it.

 

[murrayr]

at lower temps the beer has more disolved CO2 in it. So you dont need to add as much when priming.
can't remember exactly what the figures are, but bear in mind.
before i was aware of this i did have a bit of a problem with over carbing my lagers
murray

 

[manticle]

If it reaches 20 after primary then isn't 20 the calculation temp even if you cold condition and bottle at 5? I've always found it a little confusing but this is my understanding.

 

[warra48]

I've bottled brews straight from cold conditioning at about 2 to 3C, and I've never had any problems doing this at all

I do prefer my carbonation on the lower end of the range.

If you use BeerSmith, the Carbonation tool at the bottom of your recipe page allows you to input the temperature of the beer you are bottling, and it will adjust the recommended priming medium accordingly.

 

[stm]

If it reaches 20 after primary then isn't 20 the calculation temp even if you cold condition and bottle at 5? I've always found it a little confusing but this is my understanding.

Correct. That's because it's the fermentation that produces the dissolved CO2 (with more dissolved CO2 the lower the temp). Once fermentation has finished (at say 20deg ale temp), and then you drop the temp to 5, there is no way more CO2 will be forced into solution at this stage if it is just cold conditioning (in the absence of more fermentation or pressure). But the beer will release CO2 if you increase the temp. So you would be correct to use 20 as the calc temp.

But the OP may well have fermented at lager temp of 10, and if he's bottling at 13, he should use 13 as the calc temp.

OP: there a useful priming calculator here:

http://www.aussiehomebrewing.com/AlcoholCh...Calculator.html

 

[Pennywise]

If it reaches 20 after primary then isn't 20 the calculation temp even if you cold condition and bottle at 5? I've always found it a little confusing but this is my understanding.

Spot on, unless under pressure the wort wont absorb anymore. So the highest temp the wort reached is the temp that you should calcutate your priming for.

 

[manticle]

Even though I know this to be true it's always done my head in a little. It's only recently that I've stopped allowing my cold conditioned beer to warm up before bottling (mainly because of advice that some of the stuff you drop out with cold will make its way back into the beer).

 

[jiesu]

One thing to note when bottling cold beer is the bottle wand. The very low temperature of the beer causes the plastic in the wand to contract and the pressure in the wand will easily push the valve right off the end causing alot of overfilling in the bottles and spillage of the beer. My advice would be to take the wand apart before use and superglue the two halves that hold the valve release stalk in place together so that It can't come apart anymore. Many people on here have done so.

 

[Florian]

One thing to note when bottling cold beer is the bottle wand. The very low temperature of the beer causes the plastic in the wand to contract and the pressure in the wand will easily push the valve right off the end causing alot of overfilling in the bottles and spillage of the beer. My advice would be to take the wand apart before use and superglue the two halves that hold the valve release stalk in place together so that It can't come apart anymore. Many people on here have done so.

That's very good advise, my bottling wand fell apart twice the last time I bottled at 3 degrees. It gets quite messy if you don't have a bucket handy and interrupts the whole process as you have to fish the parts out of a bottle and sanitise again if something fell on the floor.

The only downside I see with super glueing is that you can't take the want apart anymore for proper cleaning/sanitising.

Florian

 

[aussiechucka]

Thanks for all the advice and help on this subject as I will be bottling my first BIAB larger. All of this info is helpful to know before hand. :super: