Quick sanity check plz- 2ndry ferment during conditioning?

[BenB]

So today I bottled up my Patersbier. Made a flipping schoolboy error and only cleaned and sanitised exactly what I thought I'd need only to discover I needed 3 more. Ended up filling an empty 5L Ashbeck bottle with what was left over before running off to the shops to get some fizzy water to decant and use the bottle from. And to my pleasure this PM I discovered an Easykeg of my year old Old Perculiar clone. It was labelled AG#1 (which was a different beer and a bit shite- "a beer only it's brewer would love") but turns out I'd re-used the keg a few times and it was a good brew. Way more hoppy than OP though. And the OG came out rather high so it's about 6%. Happy days.

Any how. So it says to "condition" the beer at 12degC and I'm aware of the purpose of conditioning. But..... Does conditioning the beer include secondary fermentation (priming) or am I supposed to leave the beer at 22degC (the fermentation temperature) for a few days to pressurise after priming before reducing it down to 12degC to condition and sort out any fusels etc.

Previously I've always brewed bitters which haven't had any of this fancy conditioning at lower temperatures!!!!

At present the fermentation chamber is on 12degC but I can quickly ramp it up if needs be.

[MattyBoy]

I would say that If you have added priming fermentables at bottling then you must keep the beer at fermentation temp for a further 7-10 days for 2nd-ary fermentation to take place before dropping the temp to 12 for conditioning.

Matty

[Kyle_T]

I would say that If you have added priming fermentables at bottling then you must keep the beer at fermentation temp for a further 7-10 days for 2nd-ary fermentation to take place before dropping the temp to 12 for conditioning.

Matty

Not always, a large portion of people I know will crash chill the brew or drop it down to 10° before bottling and adding the priming agent to the bottles or batch priming, this then sits at 12° for 2 weeks or so to carbonate.

[orlando]

I would say that If you have added priming fermentables at bottling then you must keep the beer at fermentation temp for a further 7-10 days for 2nd-ary fermentation to take place before dropping the temp to 12 for conditioning.

Matty

Not always, a large portion of people I know will crash chill the brew or drop it down to 10° before bottling and adding the priming agent to the bottles or batch priming, this then sits at 12° for 2 weeks or so to carbonate.

That is yeast dependent. Lager yeasts might be happy at 12 but some Ale yeasts could drop out and fail to condition, I would be happier at a minimum of 15.

[Jocky]

You'll need a week at a warm fermentation temperature to carbonate the beer, then you can do what you want with it. Time will continue to improve the condition of the beer.

[BenB]

Okay, thanks for confirming. I suspected as much. I've ramped it up to 21 degrees C. 5 days at that and then it can have two weeks conditioning before Christmas Day... The bottles have all got a nice later of yeast at the bottom so as long as they're not dormant it should be fine. Let's hope they handle the pressure. I've used standard beer bottles and plumped for 2.5 volumes of CO2 (total) from dextrose- I adjusted the carbonation for the ambient temperature but must admit I didn't actually check the beer temperature before bottling (just assumed it was ambient). So there might be more CO2 in the beer prior to priming (0.2-0.3 volumes by all accounts).

Let's hope standard ale bottles will handle 2.8 volumes! If not the next few days in the chamber (whilst at higher temperatures) might be exciting! Let's hope the Easykegs survive for that matter- I note they recommend 20g per 5L carbonation.... turns out pro-rata I've used 28g.....

If there's a loud bang at some point over the next few days it's probably my beer fridge and brewing shed exploding!

I think I might just be cold crashing these for a few days prior to packaging them up for the trip up North and will likely be transporting the bottles/kegs in a sealed brewing bucket!