1 Week Warm Conditioning Cant be Enough

[Ceejay]

It's really a case of trying to store it as cold as possible to minimise oxidation staling reactions.

"Cold conditioning" I'm guessing is really the same as lagering. Great for lagers, but not necessary for most ales.

Generally, for every 10C increase in temperature, chemical reactions happen twice as fast. So, storing a beer at 3 degrees, as opposed to 23 degrees (room temp) generally means the beer takes 4 times as long to stale.

It's not absolutely necessary, but if you're having to store at room temp, then you'll just have to drink your beer faster. There's a great podcast on staling here:

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/788

 

[mike77]

I never cold condition my bottled beer but I drink it too fast for there to be any noticeable issues. I think the longest any beer has survived in the cupboard without being drunk was a 6 months tops and it tasted really good. It was a hoppy saison if I remember correctly.

 

[rpt]

I leave my bottles in the warm for 2 weeks after bottling. However, the plastic bottles don't seem to be any harder after 2 weeks than after 1. So when I bottle my next brew I shall try to remember to move some bottles to the cold after variable numbers of days to see if it affects the carbonation.

 

[Brycey]

I bottled my wheat beer on the 21st, the next day i put one in the warmest spot i could find and left it for four days.
I stuck it in the freezer for about half an hour and it was very well carbed, nice head all the way down the glass. Obviously clarity wasn't a problem. My first all grain though really benefited from the full two weeks at room temp and is improving week on week in everyway(carbination,head,taste and clarity). So i think it really depends on the style of beer.

Cheers
B