so, i have been doing primary fermentation in a closet, ~72 degrees. i have no way to control the temp at this point. i have noticed that fermentation has been occurring more quickly than anticipated (duh, higher temps), but i have been picking up a slightly undesirable overtone of banana in my recent beers. i am almost positive this is due to the yeast basically over-fermenting. what can i do to fix this, having very little temperature control right now?
how to control ferm. without a temp controlled environ
- Thread starter tyke
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Certain yeasts do better than others at higher fermentation temps. For example us-05 does better than s-04.
There are a couple cheap and simple ways to control fermentation temps. Two of the easiest are the swamp cooler method and the water bath method.
Swamp cooler: Put the fermenter in a shallow container filled with a few inches of water. Wrap a t-shirt around the fermenter so that it dips into the water on all sides. The t-shirt will draw the water up from the container onto the surface of the fermenter lowering the temp of your wort about 5 degrees. To get a little cooler, add a small fan pointing at the t-shirt.
Water bath: Put the fermenter in a larger container of water. Drop bottles of frozen water in every few hours to lower the temp.
Option 3 is to move to Moscow where I snowed today and just put your fermentor on your 55 degree balcony
There are a couple cheap and simple ways to control fermentation temps. Two of the easiest are the swamp cooler method and the water bath method.
Swamp cooler: Put the fermenter in a shallow container filled with a few inches of water. Wrap a t-shirt around the fermenter so that it dips into the water on all sides. The t-shirt will draw the water up from the container onto the surface of the fermenter lowering the temp of your wort about 5 degrees. To get a little cooler, add a small fan pointing at the t-shirt.
Water bath: Put the fermenter in a larger container of water. Drop bottles of frozen water in every few hours to lower the temp.
Option 3 is to move to Moscow where I snowed today and just put your fermentor on your 55 degree balcony
Certain yeasts do better than others at higher fermentation temps. For example us-05 does better than s-04.
There are a couple cheap and simple ways to control fermentation temps. Two of the easiest are the swamp cooler method and the water bath method.
Swamp cooler: Put the fermenter in a shallow container filled with a few inches of water. Wrap a t-shirt around the fermenter so that it dips into the water on all sides. The t-shirt will draw the water up from the container onto the surface of the fermenter lowering the temp of your wort about 5 degrees. To get a little cooler, add a small fan pointing at the t-shirt.
Water bath: Put the fermenter in a larger container of water. Drop bottles of frozen water in every few hours to lower the temp.
Option 3 is to move to Moscow where I snowed today and just put your fermentor on your 55 degree balcony
Option 4 brew Saisons.
Swamp cooler. $10 and a tiny bit of work.
Nottingham is known to be bad for esters at fairly low temps. US-05 is much better at high 60s to low 70s IMO.
Nottingham is known to be bad for esters at fairly low temps. US-05 is much better at high 60s to low 70s IMO.
LandoLincoln
Well-Known Member
1) Swamp cooler.
2) Google "son of fermentation chiller."
3) Brew beer that benefits from higher fermentation temps (saisons).
2) Google "son of fermentation chiller."
3) Brew beer that benefits from higher fermentation temps (saisons).
HerbieHowells
Well-Known Member
I'm in your same boat, and a swamp cooler or water bath is the way to go. My brew room is about 72 ambient, but as long as I start cold and change out the ice bottles in the water bath a few times a day, I can maintain mid 60s pretty well.
You want to be careful with just assuming that because you have a warm brew room, Saison is the way to go. You do want to let it get warm, but over time. I have had nice results from starting in an ice bath for the first day or so, then pulling the carboy out of the ice bath for a few days, and eventually placing the carboy in a blanket or near a floor heater to get it all the way down to final gravity. It's not as smooth of a ramp up as I am sure is ideal, but you can still get a nice dry Saison with well balanced esters. If you just pitch and let it rip, your results probably will not be quite as nice.
You want to be careful with just assuming that because you have a warm brew room, Saison is the way to go. You do want to let it get warm, but over time. I have had nice results from starting in an ice bath for the first day or so, then pulling the carboy out of the ice bath for a few days, and eventually placing the carboy in a blanket or near a floor heater to get it all the way down to final gravity. It's not as smooth of a ramp up as I am sure is ideal, but you can still get a nice dry Saison with well balanced esters. If you just pitch and let it rip, your results probably will not be quite as nice.
chrishanson
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I picked up an 18 gallon rope handled tote for mine at Home Depot for less than $5 a month or so ago. It worked just fine. Although it's a bit of a pain to move around with all the water in it solo.
HerbieHowells
Well-Known Member
I use a 17 gallon rope handled plastic tub. They're not expensive, and you will never have to rent a keg bucket again.
I used the big rope handled tote for a couple of batches, and it worked fine. I gravitated to the 60 qt Igloo cube because it maintains temperature better (for me) than the rope-tote. With the cube, I only have to change out ice bottles morning and evening for it to maintain water temp within +/- a couple of degrees.
