Yikes! Help! Should I Bottle My Beer Cold?

[WarmBeer]

Okay, yes, I forgot one major step while getting ready to bottle my latest brew. I forgot to take it out of the fridge earlier, where it's been cold conditioning for the last 4 days.

I've bulk primed it, and it's now sitting in my cube at about 5-6 degrees. All my bottles are sanitised and ready to go!

So, should I just go ahead and bottle it, or will this lead to unexpected circumstances?

If not, can I leave it safely, and bottle it tomorrow night, even though I've already added the sugar in bulk prime?

Help me Obi-wan, you're my only hope!

Brett

 

[Gavo]

If you leave it the yeast will consume the priming sugar and you would have to wait until it has fully re-fermented. I have bottled many times at 10 degrees with no problem.

Gavo.

 

[devo]

Bottling cold is not something to be concerned about.

 

[brendanos]

It's definately worth considering/factoring in, as colder beer retains more of the CO2 produced during fermentation. For example, 23L of beer at 4C could retain 1.5 volumes of C02 compared to 0.9 volumes at 20C, which could mean the difference between adding 150g of priming sugar or just 90g. I used the online carbonation calculator here:

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html

 

[buttersd70]

If the temperature of fermentation was already taken into account when priming it (ie, if a priming calculator has been used), then it won't make any difference. The saturation level will be that of the highest temperature. That saturation level woud not have increased if the beer was chilled after fermentation was completed.
I wrote an article which deals with the saturation levels and bulk priming....link is in my sig.

 

[Adamt]

Well, it may be a small problem depending on your fermentation regime...

CO2 will stay naturally dissolved in beer at atmospheric pressure. With decreasing temperature, more CO2 can stay in solution. After fermentation finishes (completely), the beer will be "saturated" with CO2 at the temperature fermentation finished at. If you lower the temperature of the beer after fermentation has ceased, the CO2 concentration will not increase (as there is no further CO2 produced)

If it was still fermenting (albeit slowly) when you set it down to CC, the beer may be saturated (at 5-6C saturation level) with CO2. Most priming calculators/standard priming amounts assume the beer is saturated at a 20C saturation level or thereabouts, so you may find your beer ends up overcarbonated... or maybe not.

Bottle it now (as you've added your priming sugar) and check bottles after a week, and then every couple of days after that. I wouldn't think the extra carbonation would produce bottle bombs, but better to be safe than sorry.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

whenever I rack beer/mead cold I'm always a little more paranoid at the fact that the colder the liquid, the more readily it will absorb oxygen. I'm always really careful, but I wonder if temprature at racking/bottling has any effect on oxidisation......

 

[WarmBeer]

Okay, just finished bottling it cold.

I accounted for the peak fermentation temperature in my bulk prime calculation, plus the fact I was making a low carbonated English Mild style (~1.8 vols CO2, Jamil's recipe) means I shouldn't have to worry too much about bottle bombs. Only added 80g of sugar in my bulk prime.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Oh yeah, had a taste out of the fermenter. Yummmmmmmmm :icon_drool2:

 

[Adamt]

Just to clear this up... your peak fermentation temperature means diddly squat (well, as far as determining dissolved CO2 after fermentation goes anyway):

Assume fermentation finishes at end of day 7.

Day 2 - 19C
Day 3 - 17C
Day 4 - 17C
Day 6 - 15C
Day 7 - 14C

Peak temperature is 19C, beer will be saturated as 14C (i.e. higher level than 19C) unless the temperature is raised and the vessel is not under pressure (i.e. vessel is airlocked or covered loosely).

 

[WarmBeer]

If the temperature of fermentation was already taken into account when priming it (ie, if a priming calculator has been used), then it won't make any difference. The saturation level will be that of the highest temperature. That saturation level woud not have increased if the beer was chilled after fermentation was completed.
I wrote an article which deals with the saturation levels and bulk priming....link is in my sig.

Thanks for the link to that article Butters.

As usual, concise, technically accurate, and able to be understood by laymen.

I can only assume you do this sort of technical writing for a living, you're a natural.

 

[WarmBeer]

...
The saturation level will be that of the highest temperature. That saturation level woud not have increased if the beer was chilled after fermentation was completed.

VS.

Just to clear this up... your peak fermentation temperature means diddly squat (well, as far as determining dissolved CO2 after fermentation goes anyway):
...
Peak temperature is 19C, beer will be saturated as 14C (i.e. higher level than 19C) unless the temperature is raised and the vessel is not under pressure (i.e. vessel is airlocked or covered loosely).

Ooooooh, I can feel a smackdown match coming on. Two great forum contributors, two differing opinions.

In the red corner, weighing in at 2711 posts, the "Nun Sandwich" himself, Adamt. In the blue corner, weighing in at 2737 post, the "People's Champion", buttersd70.

"Two men enter, one man leave. Two men enter, one man leave"

 

[Adamt]

Sorry Butters... very well written but there's a few technical oversights!

I'll draft an edition tomorrow (hopefully) and run it by you.

EDIT: LOL! I have the height advantage too... and I'm 5'7"!

 

[buttersd70]

Granted....for dropping fermentation temp, it's not valid....it was written with the assumption of stable fermentation temperature, or alternatively, for ferments finishing on a rise (and we know what assumptions are the mother of). You are, of course correct that peak temperatures occuring during CO2 producing phases should be discounted, particularly for non stable temperatures....so feel free to edit to reflect that. Just edit it directly, no real need to run it by me.

The main problem as I see it though, is one of simplifying it for those that don't have (at least reasonably) stable temperatures....particularly in relation as to when hypersaturation levels start to drop to stable saturation (particularly as far as the less experienced, or less attentive brewer is concerned).....using the 7 day example, say they determined that fg is stable on day 6 and 7....what is there to indicate that fermentation didn't actually end earlier?....so for example, fg was actually achieved on day 4, but no hydro reading was taken until day 6, and again on day 7....so the assumption is made that the 14C would be the temp to use, when in fact 17 would be more appropriate in that case. So certain liberties and assumptions need to be made. Although, from a practical sense, the difference in carbonation levels between 17C and 14C equates to only 0.1Volume of CO2. Hardly worth the hassle of being that precise.....the main point of the article is to point out the larger discrepency of using (incorrectly) cold conditioning or serving temperature, which is what a lot of people do.