Secondary Temps Wot I've Just Discovered

[The King of Spain]

I used to think that secondary temps for us plebs that bottle were of no real conseqence because its only 160g of dextrose vs 5KG convertable sugar in the primary. But I just did an ale using Notts and with controled temp for the secondary, and can report my favorate ale is ready to drink about 3 weeks earlier than usual. Tasted again today as a first beer to make sure, ' tis true.

Cheers KOS

 

[goomboogo]

My major concern regarding temperature whilst bottle conditioning is not about optimising the peak conditiong period for early drinking but maintaining condition for the longest possible time. I work by the rule that for every 5C over 20C it essentially halves the life of the beer in terms of reasonable quality. Using this figure, if a beer that is best consumed within six months is stored in a black plastic covered pallet in the car park of your local mega-bottleshop during December, the beer will be cactus before you get to not enjoy consumption.

Beer, especially bottle conditioned beer needs to be looked after to optimise it's drinking potential. How many times have people drank the same brand of beer on differnt occasions with different results? Storage does matter.

 

[boingk]

Beer, especially bottle conditioned beer needs to be looked after to optimise it's drinking potential. How many times have people drank the same brand of beer on differnt occasions with different results? Storage does matter.

Exactly! My Dad got onto this one before I introduced him to homebrewing - he has a coolroom as part of his business and keeps his beer in there. He always kept an unopened case as well as the one he was drinking. During a conversation on homebrewing and bottle storage he said it was because after a month or so in the coolroom the beer tasted better then when it was straight off the shelf. I also find that storing your beer even for a few days in the fridge prior to drinking improves it a bit, as opposed to a 12 hour chill or an hour in the freezer for example.

Cheers - boingk

 

[matti]

I am a winter loving Swede.
Reason -> my bottled beer last longer.
i generally allow them 2 weeks a 16-20 degrees then store them in the garage in a dark cupboard for another 6 week.
I put a temperature log in there some time ago to see what temps it get to. It hovered around 8-16 degrees from April to October..
Bewdiful.
Now I have the luxury of a fermenting fridge and a keg fridge