Fermentation and bottling temps

[johnboy291]

Hello all I am very new to brewing. I have a Cream Ale Extract Kit w/ Specialty Grains in the the primary for about a week. I kept the temp between 64-67 in my fermentation bag. After the 5th day the temp started to go down to about 59 at the lowest with just (1) 2 liter bottle of ice. Should I let it slowly rise in temp before I bottle? I used Wyeast 1056 liquid yeast. I have a digital probe taped and insulated to the outside of the bucket.

My bottling question is when everyone says "Bottle Condition at room temp" would that be 70-75 degrees or should you try to keep it in the same range as when it was in the primary?

Thanks be gentle I'm learning lol

 

[ncbrewer]

You might get a lot of opinions/ideas on fermentation temperature. I'd give it another week or two at 65 or even higher to let the yeast clean up any off flavors that it might have.

For bottle conditioning, actual "room temperature" seems to work. I condition mine at 75 in the summer. In the winter, it's 68 and a few degrees cooler overnight - works ok, but it takes about twice as long.

 

[BlackGoat]

Yes, you should bottle condition at room temps, but what I think you are confusing is that they are talking about what temperature the bottles should be sitting around at, not what temp the beer is when you bottle it. Its fine to bottle while the beer is a bit cold, many of us "cold crash" the beer (meaning we throw it in the fridge for a day or two before bottling/kegging) so that when we bottle its quite cold even if we've let it warm back up a bit. So, once it is in the bottle, you let it sit at around 70 degrees for three weeks to carbonate. Were you planning on bottling already? I would suggest waiting until the beer has been fermenting for at least a couple weeks, perhaps 3-4, before bottling it. That would give it a chance for the yeast to clean up any off-flavors and allow it to clear up, plus it will be more likely to be completely done fermenting.

 

[johnboy291]

Many thanks it was a bit confusing or I was just confusing myself either way. I'll take my already bottled beer out and let it warm up to room temp. The beer in the primary is only a week old and I was bottling at two weeks but I'll leave it in a bit longer thanks again.