pjj2ba

Recipes 

That's less than a 2 F difference, and is air temperature to boot. A 5 gal container of wort/beer is going to respond slowly to those kind of temperature changes. That big mass will not fluctuate the full 2 F. Probably less than 1 F given how quickly it goes from hi to low.

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DSmith

Recipes 

If you put the fermenter in another 10-15 gallons of water (with a little bleach) the temperature will even fluctuate less, and possibly hold the peak fermentation temperature back a little.

Coff

Recipes 

+1

This was my thought, 2f fluctuations in ambient temp spanned over a short amount of time doesnt seem like enough to do any damage to an active fermentation.

i4ourgot

Recipes 

what do fluctuating temps do to beer, besides slowing yeast down

LKABrewer

Recipes 

Big fluctuations in the temp could oxidize your beer; as the ferementor heats it will push out CO2 and as it cools it will pull in O2.

The main problem is the yeast, though. They really do not like temperature fluctuations.

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