Suggestions for 2nd Fermentation

[FatGaz]

I'm looking for ideas on how to 'warm condition' my bottled beer. I currently bring them into the dining room for a week, but as I'm now brewing every week, the wife is getting a bit fed up of all the beer in there all the time.

Any ideas anyone??

Had the idea of buying a 60L bucket, putting the bottles in it, topping it up with water, and putting a brewbelt around it for a week in the garage. Could there be any problems with doing this??

Cheers
Gaz

[CestrIan]

I hope you've got plenty of 50p's for the meter

I put mine in a couple of milk crates and stash them in the cupboard under the stairs.

[Troutman47]

I installed a heater in the airing cupboard, now the hot water cylinder has been replaced with a combi boiler it's not so warm so a cylindrical heater was the answer.

[mark4newman]

Hi

My wife, didn't like beer bottles conditioning in the house.

So I got a large wooden box (Wood is a good insulator), then insulated it with an old foam mat. Then I made a slatted false base (converted shower thingy) , and have a brew belt below it and controlled by an ACT.

Now I just leave them in this in the garage.

[Horatio]

Hi

My wife, didn't like beer bottles conditioning in the house.

So I got a large wooden box (Wood is a good insulator), then insulated it with an old foam mat. Then I made a slatted false base (converted shower thingy) , and have a brew belt below it and controlled by an ACT.

Now I just leave them in this in the garage.

I thought you were going to say 'and my wife is now very comfortable in the wooden box!'

[FatGaz]

I have got myself two heavy duty plastic boxes, lined them with camping mat material, and put a brewbelt in each. I bottled a brew the other day and put the bottles in the insulated boxes and plugged in. All appeared to be ok. Went in the garage this morning to have a look, and the bottles are really warm. Unplugged the brewbelts, and put a thermometer in, and its reading 30deg! It must have been a lot warmer yesterday! Whilst it is warm weather, I am planning on just turning the brewbelts on at night.

On a better note, I filled a couple of 'coke' bottles and squeezed out the air. They have expanded so I can assume Co2 has been produced.

Do you think the beer will be ok after being at such a warm temp?

[FatGaz]

I have got myself two heavy duty plastic boxes, lined them with camping mat material, and put a brewbelt in each. I bottled a brew the other day and put the bottles in the insulated boxes and plugged in. All appeared to be ok. Went in the garage this morning to have a look, and the bottles are really warm. Unplugged the brewbelts, and put a thermometer in, and its reading 30deg! It must have been a lot warmer yesterday! Whilst it is warm weather, I am planning on just turning the brewbelts on at night.

On a better note, I filled a couple of 'coke' bottles and squeezed out the air. They have expanded so I can assume Co2 has been produced.

Do you think the beer will be ok after being at such a warm temp?

Sorry for 'bumping' this - but I would really appreciate peoples thoughts - Thanks

[gnutz2]

I store bottles in boxes of 12 under our bed!

[PureGuiness]

Slightly high temperatures for secondary are less likely to cause any flavour issues than during primary fermentation so I suspect that you'll be ok on this ocassion. Even with a brewbelt you could consider investing in one of those tempaerature controllers to control when to switch the brewbelt on. You've then made your first step into building temperature control (brew fridge).

Alternatively, use a timer switch to control when the brew belt comes on. If it's a 24 hour one then you can set it to come on 15 mins per hour or something to keep a more consistent temperature going.

[Grimmy]

+1 on the 'brew fridge'. If you built yourself a fermentation cabinet (using an old fridge with a heater inside and a temperature controller - loads of builds detailed on here) then this could act as a cabinet to facilitate secondary fermentation in the bottles. I'm in the process of building my brew fridge and to be honest until I read this thread I'd not thought of using it for that! Not too much of an issue in summer as (hopefully) it will be warm enough. However, useful in the winter.

As for your other question on off flavours - I'm still a newbie so can't offer advise...sorry.