Carbonating in cold weather.

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corks
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Carbonating in cold weather.

Post by corks »

I've recently bottled a couple of brews, and they've been in the bottle for two weeks now. I opened one, just a stubby, last night, and it was definitely not carbonated, which i can only put down to the very low temperature that is the norm in my house. just curious as to how everyone gets their bottled beer carbonated in winter. I would presume storing it inside would work for most people, but unfortunately the heading in my house leaves a bit to be desired.
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warra48
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Location: Corlette NSW

Re: Carbonating in cold weather.

Post by warra48 »

Patience is a virtue, so they say.

And that's certainly true of carbonating brews in winter.

I bottled a Best Bitter on 13/5/09, and for the first 3 to 4 weeks it did nothing.
Opened one yesterday, and it's perfectly carbed.
wrighty
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Joined: Friday Dec 12, 2008 7:51 pm
Location: geraldton W.A

Re: Carbonating in cold weather.

Post by wrighty »

G'day Corks.
No where near as cold here but struggling to keep 18c in my shed .
Have an old fridge that i store my bottles in was planning to get a cheap electric blanket to shove in there
and use the thermometer to set and hold 20-22 c to get carbing a bit quicker.

Cheers Wrighty.
Im not an alchoholic i dont go to the meetings !
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corks
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Re: Carbonating in cold weather.

Post by corks »

thats a bloody good idea to wrighty, might have to look into it myself. even a old chest freezer would work, lay the blanket on the top and rig up a thermostat. could probably fit three or four brews in at once.
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corks
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Re: Carbonating in cold weather.

Post by corks »

decided to just put an oil heater in my wardrobe. took all the clothes out, put the boxes of beer in, cranked the oil heater, bloody hope it works, i need them carbonated in less than three weeks...and i hope it don't cost too much.... :?
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Bizier
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Re: Carbonating in cold weather.

Post by Bizier »

Don't crank it, leave it on low for a long time.

I have been thinking of putting some beer for a case swap under my kitchen sink, next to the water heater to get them to express carb.

BTW my electric blanket that was warming two brews dust carked it. I saw them for $25 in Kmart though, so I might go get one.
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Anna
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Location: Southwest Sydney NSW

Re: Carbonating in cold weather.

Post by Anna »

Corks, I had the same problem with an Ale and a Draught. Put them in the wardrobe (sliding door only) with the heat pad (which I wasn't using because the subsequent brews were lagers). I only had to turn the heat pad on at night and it kept a fairly constant temp. of around 16-18 Deg C. The ambient temp. in the room drops to around 6-8 Deg C at night. The bottles carbonated beautifully after 3 weeks. BTW - I put the heat pad on its side between the 2 crates of bottles. Anna.
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