Quick question. How important is it that my home-brew stay between 70 & 72 degrees while bottle conditioning?
It is not critical that the beer specifically be between 70-72 degrees F. It does need to be warm so that the yeast is 'active' and therefore conducting a true secondary fermentation in the bottle. Depending on the yeast strain this would mean somewhere in the low-mid 60s and up to the mid 70s. Having provided this larger range of values; 70 degrees is a 'sweet spot' if you can achieve it without too much effort. Cheers!
Nothing super-magical about 70 & 72 . . . those are probably optimum temps for keeping the yeast active and aging the new beer. I regularly condition at 79 - 80 'cause that's my room temp and there is a limit on how many fridges I can buy. My higher temp speeds things up, but it's not the ideal storage temp. Others post they condition in the 60s which usually works for most yeasties though it make take a tad longer. Bottom line . . . relax and let those little guys finish your beer.
Back in the way back days I used to bottle condition in the middle of winter in an old apartment that never got above 63-64 in the winter. No issues, though I always planned on it taking a month. Even in summer my rule was always a month, though I could never resist some sampling. The extra two weeks always seemed to help with the beers flavor. Granted, back then my fermentation practices weren't as developed and I'm more patient with primary fermentation these days.
