Forced Bottle Carbonation

[fluffhead]

Are there any adverse affects on forcing carbonation in bottled beer? I know that ideally you should move your beer to a warm spot around 75 for a week or so...blaa blaa blaa BUT..I had an "oh shit" moment when I realized the local comp. is next weekend. I was thinking to bottling tomorrow and sticking them in the attic of my barn till next weekend. Temps can probably reach into the upper 90's and cool into the 50's in there this time of year. Any thoughts?

[noremorse1]

If it gets too hot they could explode. Also, you could skunk your beer. However, for that short of a time, you will probably be alright. My suggestion is to put them on top of the fridge. You should get a decent amount of carbonation in a weeks time.

[brewinhard]

Almost all of the comps I have entered require that your beer entries are received 1 or 2 weeks before the comp is to be judged. So if you have one week to get them carbed and another subsequent 1 or 2 wks before the judging, then you should be pretty okay to have the beer properly carbonated.

On a side note, I have repitched some fresh champagne yeast (lalvin EC-1118) to help speed up carbonation. On a 7% beer I have gotten carbonation in 4-5 days using this method keeping the bottles aroun 75 deg F.

So check and see when the actual judging will be and you should be okay. I have shipped beers that I just bottled several days before the entries were due and the bottles were carbonated just fine by judging time. Fine enough to medal anyway!