I live in the sun belt and have temperatures of 90 degrees where I ferment. Using the Son of a Fermentation Chiller, the temperature inside the chiller during the fermentation process of my current Nevada Sierra Pale Ale clone has been 70 degrees. Is that good enough? I have always had a higher ambient temperature while fermenting and the beer has had a slightly sweet fruity taste. Do you think this one will be better?
Using WLP002, but the fermenter sets so low in the chiller that you can't see the tape on thermometer. I was hoping that in that small of area that the ambient temps and the temps inside the fermenter would be closer to the same. I do understand the wort heats during the process.
Well, the cooler the ferment the less of that fruity character you'll get, so if this is cooler than previous ferments it should be a bit better. I never ferment my beers that warm but hey! you're making your own beer and that's the most important part.
You might consider getting a fermentation fridge. You can usually find them cheap or free on craigslist or similar websites. Just add a temperature controller and you're off to the races.
Do you have an ambient temperature you would recommend to keep the wort at 68 degrees, which is the suggested low end fermenting temperature for WLP002.
Do you have an ambient temperature you would recommend to keep the wort at 68 degrees, which is the suggested low end fermenting temperature for WLP002.
When I set my fermentation cabinet at 65 degrees the wort usually manages to stay around 68 degrees or so, at least during the first part of fermentation. There's no single answer because as the fermentation progresses, less heat is generated and so your ambient temp needs to rise a bit to compensate, if you really wanted to keep the fermenter at a constant temperature. However, personally, I just keep it at one temp and let the beer temp fall to ambient as the fermentation calms down.
If you really want a specific fermentation temp, then you should just find a way to measure the beer temp - indoor/outdoor thermometers with a remote probe are pretty cheap, you could tape the probe of one of those to the side of the bucket. Then adjust your ambient temp in the fermentation cabinet as needed to keep the fermenter temp where you want it.
I think WLP002 will leave the beer somewhat fruity even at the low temps in its range, it is to be expected with an English ale yeast.
You might try WLP001 (US-05, Wyeast 1056) it will probably be much cleaner tasting at fermenting at 70. Conditioning cool will help the fruity taste dissipate somewhat.
I live in the sun belt and have temperatures of 90 degrees where I ferment. Using the Son of a Fermentation Chiller, the temperature inside the chiller during the fermentation process of my current Nevada Sierra Pale Ale clone has been 70 degrees. Is that good enough? I have always had a higher ambient temperature while fermenting and the beer has had a slightly sweet fruity taste. Do you think this one will be better?
You should be able to get about a 30 degree delta from ambient, so set your thermostat lower to 65 or 60 and you will see a difference. You may have to change out your jugs more often in the first few days of fermentation.
Using the Son of a Fermentation Chiller
Linear Mode
