conditioning

[phill71]

OK...I'm now the proud owner of a fully functioning fermentation fridge, fitted with a heating tube & variable temp control.

I'm currently fermenting a London Pride recipe, using genuine brewers yeast, which was generously donated by a local micro-brewey &I've never seen fermentation action like it. It was churning away like a washing machine cycle for the first day! (only previously ever used yeast sachets like us-05 & SO4)

When I visited him to collect the yeast, he very kindly gave me a whistle stop tour of the brewery, and when he pointed out his conditioning tank, I'm sure he said that after tranfering the newly fermented beer it was cooled and then a little gas added, then left for a day or two.

As now I can control my temps from anywhere between 2c - 30c, my question is should I cool my brew after tranfering to my bottling / conditioning tank, and at what temp, and what's the reasons / benefits of doing so?

Phill

[Horatio]

Hi Phill

I always do this but it i not essential. I rack into another vessel and then drop the temperature down to anywhere between 0 and 12c for a week or so. The actual temperature depends on what else is in my second fermenting chamber at the time. If I'm lagering it will be 0 or if I'm fermenting any lager the ale will sit alongside it at 12c. If that makes sense?

Te reason I do it is to drop the beer bright by the yeast falling out at the lower temps. I Get a really clear beer into my bottles that way. Like I said though not essential as time will also clear your beer but I like to keep the fallout in the secondary FV and not the bottle.

Cheers,
Phil.

[phill71]

Cheers Phil

Makes perfect sense...thanks

[jayjt29]

Phil,
Do you have any probs with carbonation by dropping the temp so low and making the yeast fall out prior to bottling?
Cheers
Jay

[Horatio]

Phil,
Do you have any probs with carbonation by dropping the temp so low and making the yeast fall out prior to bottling?
Cheers
Jay

Hi Jay,

So far I've never had a problem with the beer carbonating. I often keep my lager at 0c for two months or more and have never needed to add any additional yeast at bottling time. Even the clearest looking beer will still contain millions of good yeast cells unless filtered or pasteurised.

[jayjt29]

Cheers, learn something every day

Jay

[Cpt.Frederickson]

Good info, that. Cheers Phil. Had previously thought along the same lines as Jay, but have been unsatisfied with the larger amounts making it through to the bottles. Gonna give this a go on my current brew I think.

[LoverBrew]

Phil, Jay, ealier in the chain you say you added no more yeast prior to bottling your lager, but did you add any priming sugar or DME mix etc?

Thanks.
Tim

[Horatio]

Phil, Jay, ealier in the chain you say you added no more yeast prior to bottling your lager, but did you add any priming sugar or DME mix etc?

Thanks.
Tim

I add around 2.5g to each 500ml bottle Tim.