Cold Conditioning - Priming

[Geordie_Oz]

Hi Guys,
As i am about to start my cold conditioning i am looking out for some tips on when and how to do priming/carbonation.

after i have CC for 7-9 days, im reading a whole heap of different methods and wanted to thrash some of them out, should i bring my ale up to room temperature before i either bulk prime or add carbonation drops to the bottle?

or

should i add a little bit more yeast to the mix so that the priming sugar has something to chow down on and leave it cold

Maybe something to note also is that i plan to gelatine 48 hours before bottling just for that extra clarity.

Thanks
Geordie Oz

 

[goatchop41]

You don't have to let it come up to temp before bottling, but you'll want it there for a couple of weeks after bottling to allow it to carb up properly. No need to add extra yeast, even after fining with gelatin, as there should be enough yeast still in suspended in solution to get the job done.

Two tips though:
1) once the bottles have come up to ale temps, give them a bit of a spin/tip/swirl to re-suspend, as a lot of the yeast can settle at the bottom when still cold and then carbing will take a fair bot longer (speaking from personal experience).

2) make sure that when you are working out your priming sugar calculations, use the max temp that the beer was at once fermentation finished, not the cold crashing/conditioning temp, otherwise you'll underprime

 

[Dozer71]

I like to allow it to come back to room temp for bottling. Only to stop the condensation forming on the bottles (after filling and prior to capping).

 

[rude]

I like to bulk prime straight away from cc

Then they are cold & it takes all my will power to not drink them :blink: :unsure:

Does'nt stop me from sampling out of the fermenter though

 

[kaiserben]

I like to allow it to come back to room temp for bottling. Only to stop the condensation forming on the bottles (after filling and prior to capping).

I bottle cold and then sit the bottles on paper towels inside a cupboard (or wrapped in a towel in a box).

 

[rude]

I should add that they then come back to room temp for 2 to 3 weeks to carb

Then I cc in the fridge while in the bottle ready to drink

 

[Jack of all biers]

You don't have to let it come up to temp before bottling, but you'll want it there for a couple of weeks after bottling to allow it to carb up properly. No need to add extra yeast, even after fining with gelatin, as there should be enough yeast still in suspended in solution to get the job done.

Two tips though:
1) once the bottles have come up to ale temps, give them a bit of a spin/tip/swirl to re-suspend, as a lot of the yeast can settle at the bottom when still cold and then carbing will take a fair bot longer (speaking from personal experience).

2) make sure that when you are working out your priming sugar calculations, use the max temp that the beer was at once fermentation finished, not the cold crashing/conditioning temp, otherwise you'll underprime

What Goatchop said. Very good advice, especially point 2. It has gotten me a couple of times over the years and I keep forgetting to LEARN.

 

[Rocker1986]

Also, the priming sugar doesn't chow down on the yeast, it's the other way around.

But yeah, Goatchop has covered it. Follow that advice and you'll be all sweet. B)

 

[Geordie_Oz]

Thanks Guys much appreciated