Temp change

Well, that is what I suggest for two reasons:

• I personally would be concerned about the ale yeast strain 'dropping out' if you cold conditioned in bulk. I suppose you could add some yeast in the bottling buckets to account for this?
• In my opinion conditioning is conditioning - this could occur in the bottle just as well in bulk.

Maybe Esteban will reply on why he is an advocate of bulk conditioning here.

As I made mention previously, since you used a Belgian Ale yeast strain there may not even be a need for long term conditioning here.

If you bottle you can sort of 'experiment' here. Try one bottle after it carbonates (e.g., two weeks of bottle conditioning) and see how the beer tastes (i.e., whether you like it). Based upon that one bottle evaluation you can decide whether you are motivated for longer term conditioning. If you chose to conduct longer term conditioning it is your choice at what temperature to do this: room temperature, refrigerator temperature, or even something in between.

Cheers!

 

There will be plenty of yeast remaining in suspension to do a second fermentation, it is not an issue.

 

I think your beer will be fine. As others said, it may need some extra time to condition (and a lot of stouts / Porter's do better after sitting a while). Try it and see. How much time needed to condition depends on the beer. If you keg, just pressurize it and leave it be for a few weeks and sample as needed. Bottle conditioning may be the way to go if you don't mind bottling. That way it isn't tying up a keg. I wouldn't worry about doing a secondary, just extend the time in primary, and let it sit in keg / bottles.

 

I purchased a wireless outdoor thermometer, placed the outdoor sensor in my basement, (where I ferment), and put the display in my living room. So I always know the ambient temp during fermentation.

 

I'm kinda jealous of all you guys that have basements you can ferment in.