Temperature! We all know it’s the be all end all for Brewing.
So, my question is this: You ferment at the desired temperature, for x amount of time.
After you transfer to the secondary (if you do this step), what temperature do you let your beer sit at? What about when you bottle it?
My secondary and bottling temperature has been a constant 17c (62.6F), and it has worked well for me. But I’m always open to improving.
I’ve started performing a secondary fermentation in the keg and/or cask, letting them sit at 55 degrees.
62 is okay for secondary, but I think you may want to go higher for bottle conditioning, maybe 70-72.
I’ve been racking to secondary for 17 years until I started reading on these threads that it is not necessary. When I did I tried to get it as cold as possible to drop out the yeast and clear. Sometimes as low as 35 degrees. Seemed to work well.
Interesting thoughts. In the winter it’s not a problem to do a secondary cold, as my garage is around 35-37F, but summer… I might need another fridge.
And what about Cellaring beer? Should that be colder? I just did a Wee Heavy, which says it can be cellared for months. I haven’t moved it out of it’s primary yet as it’s only 10 days old.
IIRC, cellaring should be cool and consistent. Not cold, just cool. Like low 50’s. Consistency is the key with cellaring. you don’t want wild temp swings.