Bottling and carbonation questions

[Mofo]

I’ll be bottling an Imperial Amber. It’s a 74-point beer that’s fermented down to 13 points for an ABV of about 8%. I started fermentation at 18C, nudged it up to 20C after fermenting half way, then up to 21C. It’s sat at a steady 21C ever since. It was fermented with US-05.

My first question is how long to leave it on the trub. It was brewed Tuesday, May 26 and dry hopped a week later. I opted to dry hop in the primary fermentor rather than rack to secondary. I’ll remove the hops on Tuesday 16. 

With a bigger beer like this is it better to leave it on the yeast cake or bottle it? I’ve left other beers on the yeast cake for up to six weeks and they came out fine. But is bottle conditioning the better option?

My second question concerns bottling and storage. I know that I need to take into consideration the highest temperature the wort reached during fermentation when calculating CO₂ volumes (21C). But I can’t store the bottles in the same space the beer has been fermenting. My plan was to bottle there, then move the bottles to a room that currently gets as warm as 30C during the day.

Will I get bottle bombs if they carbonate at this higher temperature? Can I store the bottles in their current location for the two weeks they’ll need to carbonate, then move them? Should I first move the fermentor to the warmer location and let the finished beer reach the higher temperature before bottling? Or would it be best to find a way to store the bottles at the lower temp?

Many thanks for the help!

[Georgebrewer]

G'day Mofo... George here from Sydney Australia... US Safale 05 is a great yeast I use it all the time.. in fact just yesterday 13th June Brewed an American pale ale and its at 18 C now...

Dry Hopping... I normally throw the hop pellets in without a bag... 7 days of dry hopping is all you need mate, any more and it wont really make a difference... Dry hopping in primary is just fine...

At those temperatures the fermentation is finished for sure... 05 works at just over 15 C and so get that brew into the bottle after your 7 day dry hop and yes bottle conditioning is the better option..

Your 2nd Question... if you can bottle condition at 18 C that will be ideal... I am concerned that 30 C is far too hot for any beer to be stored at and especially not for first 2 weeks of bottle conditioning... As Dr Charles Bamforth has said on Brad's Podcasts... the best way to store beer and prevent oxidation is to store it cool or cold after a few weeks of bottling...

You wont get bottle bombs, just because of high heat... bottle bombs happen when the primary fermentation has not finished properly, or is there is an infection or if you put far too much Dextrose or sugar in your bottles...

I always use 7 grams of Dextrose to a Litre, for bottling... I transfer the beer to a bottling bucket/fermenter with 140 grams of Dextrose for a 20 litre batch... sometimes its hard to calculate the exact amount, because of the trub but even if you get 6.5 grams to a litre its not an issue or a bit over in fact its fine...

No you don't have to move the fermenter to a warmer location in fact 21 is too warm already... and yes best to not have the bottles in the 30 C room best to keep them as close to 18 C as possible...

Does that answer your questions??
If you have any more questions feel free to write again

Happy Brewing
George 

[Mofo]

Thanks, George, yes, you answered all my questions.

I referred to Tom Hampton's excellent post on fermentation temp control when I fermented this US-05 batch. It mirrors what he does with WLP001. That's a liquid yeast, I know, but it's the same yeast strain. Then just the other week (after starting this ferment), I was talking to the owners of a local brew house who use a lot of US-05. They take their wort to 16C before pitching. They brew good beer, so I'll try the same. I'm just curious if slowly raising the temp when fermentation is half complete is purely an energy-saving move or if there's some other benefit.