Bottle conditioning

[jorrocks]

I bottle condition my ales.  I traditionally prime in a priming tank, bottle and then let the bottles sit for 2-3 weeks at room temperature before I stick em' in the fridge.

I happen to have plenty of fridge space at the moment.  Any harm in only leaving the bottles at room temperature for say a week?  Surely the fermenation of the small amount of sugar gets done in a couple of days (my primary fermentation is done in 4 days admittedly at lot more yeast then) and the rest of the time is just conditioning?

Or does it take two weeks for the small amout of yeast to eat up the sugars?

The only reason I want to stick the bottles in the fridge is to in effect cold condition them - I get a lot brighter beer if it is left in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

[Beer_Tigger]

I find that the speed at which different batches carbonate varies, so I test them.  After a few days I try a bottle, then a day or two later, etc. until I like how the carbonation is, then move them to cold storage.

[jorrocks]

Cheers, thanks for the tip.