Cold vs Warm conditioning.

[Pietrach]

Hi
To date I always warm conditioned my ales. I ferment for say 10-14 days in primary vessel in around 20deg and then move to bottles (+priming sugar) where they stay for another minimum 4-6 weeks in the same temperature. However, I know other people and breweries cold condition beers straight after primary fermentation. What benefit does it give in terms of flavour? I was always happy with my beers, amount of esters etc. I keep thinking that if I put the beer in cold conditioning straight after the primary fermentation is finished (say 2-4 days) then I will end up with cleaner beer (sediment will drop out more quickly) and crisper beer (less esters). Is this correct?

Do you know any commercial breweries that don't do cold conditioning?

Thanks
Pawel

[Charles1968]

It will condition much faster at room temp, but it will keep longer if you can store cold. Beer will drop clear at room temp, but you won't get rid of chill haze without lagering at close to zero. Lagering makes tannins drop out, which is why the beer tastes smoother and is free of chill haze. But this this takes months rather than weeks. I tend to bottle condition at room temp for a couple of weeks and then move beers to the shed for long term storage. If there happens to be a cold spell in winter, so much the better.

[Pietrach]

Good advice. Initially I was thinking about:
7 days in primary, 7 days in warm secondary to make sure fermentation is complete and develop esters, then 7 days in cold (4-8 deg) to drop sediment, then bottle and keep warm to carbonate.
Pietrach

[Charles1968]

Firstly, I wouldn't bother moving from primary to secondary. A lot of US brewers who used to do this (and wrote about the need to do it) have long since changed their mind and now just leave the beer on the yeast. You need to leave the beer on the yeast so the yeast can metabolize unwanted chemicals like diacetyl and so clean up the flavour. The risk of off-flavours developing from yeast breakdown in the sediment is almost zero - think how long bottled beers last without spoilage with yeast at the bottom. So I would recommend two weeks in primary and then bottle. The warm temp in primary will help the yeast gobble up all the sugar and then gobble up unwanted by-products like diacetyl.

Secondly, you don't need to chill the beer to drop the sediment. It should be clear enough to bottle after two weeks. Chilling does speed up clarification because it makes CO2 more soluble in water, which thus stops bubbling forming, and it's the bubbles that lift tiny particles and keep the sediment suspended (they also lift the krausen). However, after two weeks they beer will have settled and degassed a bit and most of the sediment will have dropped out. If you have means to chill then by all means do it as it will speed up clarification.

Then as you say bottle and leave at room temp to carbonate. It will carbonate fine at lower temps - just takes a bit longer.

[Midlife]

Since having a temprature controlled fridge for beer/ale I do a cold condition for a week... after bottling or keg, I leave for seven days at room tempratures then crash cool to 5C for a week, then bring back to ambient. I've found a relatively cool place to store until ready for drinking.

I have found a good consistant cold conditioning works for me, and I have a nice clear beer.

Cheers

D

[Charles1968]

Once beer is bottled, the CO2 bubbles stop forming and sediment will drop out whatever the temperature. If you cold condition in bottles, it won't clear the beer any faster but it will start to drop out chill haze. However, if you let the beer come back up to room temp, the chill haze redissolves from the sediment and then reappears next time you chill. So you either have to store the bottles permanently in a cool place, or remove chill haze in primary by crash chilling and then fining or filtering or lagering and racking. Or just live with it..

[tractorboy]

For the last year I have been fermenting for 2 weeks then transferring to another vessel with sugar for another 2 weeks to condition before bottling. All at room temp. I used to go bottles straight after fermentation but I found that there was way too much carbonation in the bottles but I'm very happy with current results. I'm thinking about leaving my current batch in the same vessel for the whole four weeks, just adding priming sugar at two weeks. Not being lazy, just saving my back!

Bob

[Pietrach]

Interesting approach. I always vary the amount of priming sugar to get the right CO2 volume for the style. I never complained on too much carbonation.

[Lime Corridor]

I like up to two weeks in the primary at room temp and up to a week in the secondary at lower temperature. I mainly use a secondary because I love a sample, just can't help myself...

Then prime and bottle, one week at room temperature and one week at cooler temperatures (the shed). This method works for me.

LC

[faeyd]

I leave in primary for 2 weeks then crash cool to 2 degrees for a couple of days. Then I transfer to a corny under CO2 at 10 degrees for 2 weeks and then bottle using a Blichman or serve out the corny.

I have a pilsner that is lagering (my first attempt) so it will be interesting to see how that is when I bottle it around Christmas.