How to handle too-low temps

For someone like me who can't get a temp-controlled mini fridge, summer was easy to understand, if a bit tedious - when your ferm temp is getting higher than you like, throw some ice or frozen water bottles into the swamp cooler to bring the temp down. Repeat forever.

Now I've got the opposite problem. I like to keep my house at about 60 or lower on the thermostat, but that means that my fermentor is always slowly cooling to below the yeast's ideal temp range. Being that the weather just cooled off where I am, I'm reacting by putting hot water into the swamp cooler. Now, is this the best approach, or is there some other way to keep the fermentor warmer (~65-70F) without all the constant temp adjustments?

Along the same lines, does lower than 70 temps affect bottle conditioning & carbonation? If the bottles get down to about 60, will they still carb OK, or do I need to ensure warmer temps for those as well?

Slightly unrelated, since my house is generally at 52 or so in the winter (hate high gas bills), that's right in the temp wheelhouse of lager yeast, right? So other than lower temps, what are the differences in making lagers vs ales? I take it the fermentation time is longer, but how much longer?

Well ales will definitely take longer, they usually like it 66 or better. But they will still work though. Bottle carbing will certainly take longer as well. A good option would be to make yourself a fermentation chamber, keep the gas bill down and a small space heater that is thermostat controlled would likely do well for you. If you have the space a closet would be perfect, and you could bottle condition in there as well.

You'll be fine at 60 and most ales will have no problem at all at that temp. Many yeast strains do just fine under the "ideal" temp. The temp rise will even push the temp into the low mid 60s at that temp.

In the winter try using yeasts like Kolsch or Scottish ale because they like to be in the 50s.

At 60, I would pitch ale yeast in the 63-64 range and wrap it in a blanket or sleeping bag. That should insulate it until the yeast starts adding its own heat. You can likely remove the insulation on day 2 once the temps start to rise. I would get a weather thermometer probe stuck to the side of the fermenter (with paper towels and tape to insulate).

Agree with Jon above, Kolsch yeast (WY2565) loves to ferment in the 56-59 F range. You do need to pitch a large starter though.

As far as lagers go, I would chill to 48F for most strains, and pitch a LARGE starter (think big here, 3.5-4L or so for moderate sub 1.055 OG lagers). Then try to chill in swamp cooler to keep at 48 or so. The other lager trick is usually in timing. You want to watch the fermentation closely, and when it has fermented approximately 80% of the sugar, you want to rise into upper 50's for 48 hours for a diacetyl rest. My D-rests come between 1 and 1.5 weeks of primary. Then you want to chill into the mid 30's for lagering. Generally a 6-10 week lagering process depending on gravity. You can do this in the bottle, but you should bottle carb first, which does not get you quite the same crisp clean result. Still should be a fine beer though. I do recommend trying at least one lager, its fun and a little more challenging.

spark_plug said:

Well ales will definitely take longer, they usually like it 66 or better. But they will still work though. Bottle carbing will certainly take longer as well. A good option would be to make yourself a fermentation chamber, keep the gas bill down and a small space heater that is thermostat controlled would likely do well for you. If you have the space a closet would be perfect, and you could bottle condition in there as well.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately in my tiny house, I do not even have that much room. The hope is to move within 9 months to a year, and you better believe a "must have" for the next place will be a room just for all this stuff.

JonM said:

You'll be fine at 60 and most ales will have no problem at all at that temp. Many yeast strains do just fine under the "ideal" temp. The temp rise will even push the temp into the low mid 60s at that temp.

In the winter try using yeasts like Kolsch or Scottish ale because they like to be in the 50s.

Click to expand...

Sounds good - I was looking at a Scotch Ale as my next batch anyway, so that works out. The porter I just brewed yesterday is using London Ale yeast, which has an ideal temp range of 65-72. I'll just do my best to keep it at or a little above 65, at least for the next few days.

Thanks guys!

edit:

solbes said:

At 60, I would pitch ale yeast in the 63-64 range and wrap it in a blanket or sleeping bag. That should insulate it until the yeast starts adding its own heat. You can likely remove the insulation on day 2 once the temps start to rise. I would get a weather thermometer probe stuck to the side of the fermenter (with paper towels and tape to insulate).

Agree with Jon above, Kolsch yeast (WY2565) loves to ferment in the 56-59 F range. You do need to pitch a large starter though.

As far as lagers go, I would chill to 48F for most strains, and pitch a LARGE starter (think big here, 3.5-4L or so for moderate sub 1.055 OG lagers). Then try to chill in swamp cooler to keep at 48 or so. The other lager trick is usually in timing. You want to watch the fermentation closely, and when it has fermented approximately 80% of the sugar, you want to rise into upper 50's for 48 hours for a diacetyl rest. Then you want to chill into the mid 30's for lagering. Generally a 6-10 week lagering process depending on gravity. You can do this in the bottle, but you should bottle carb first, which does not get you quite the same crisp clean result. Still should be a fine beer though. I do recommend trying at least one lager, its fun and a little more challenging.

Click to expand...

Awesome info, thanks! Sounds like lagering is still out of my ability due to the mid 30's requirement. I guess lagers will have to wait til I can get a temp controlled fridge.

Fish Aquarium Heater=$20 @ Walmart, use it in your swamp cooler, set it and forget it.

Cheers

WileECoyote said:

Fish Aquarium Heater=$20 @ Walmart, use it in your swamp cooler, set it and forget it.

Cheers

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Fo' realz? That sounds like an awesome solution!

In the winter, get a submersible fish tank heater. Mine was ~$20. Can be set from like 60-88 degrees.

In the summer, since your place is warm, just make saisons

I found this thread particularly enlightening:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/wyeast-1214-abbey-ale-yeast-temperature-question-433836/

Check out Denny's comments about the manufacturer's recommended temps sometimes being too high.

JonM said:

I found this thread particularly enlightening:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/wyeast-1214-abbey-ale-yeast-temperature-question-433836/

Check out Denny's comments about the manufacturer's recommended temps sometimes being too high.

Click to expand...

Thanks! For the porter, I used the London Ale 1028, and on the package it said 65-72, but because of what Denny was saying I checked Wyeast's website and it says 60-72 there which makes me feel better about the batch's current temp. Still gonna get me one of those aquarium heaters.

Kozzer said:

Fo' realz? That sounds like an awesome solution!

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I have 2 of them and used them all winter long last winter they work great.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

The heaters i have are, Aquatop 100 watt submersible heater, model # HT-100

I did some research before i bought them and this heater seemed to have better reviews than most of the others.

Cheers

I used my lunch hour to buy one for $25. There were options at $15 and $20, but those have the "feature" of "not having to set the temp", which means they're at 78F and you can't do nothing to change it. I thought different species of fish have different ideal water temperatures but oh well. I got the adjustable one and now I can go nuts with a up to a 30 gallon swamp cooler!!!

Kozzer said:

I used my lunch hour to buy one for $25. There were options at $15 and $20, but those have the "feature" of "not having to set the temp", which means they're at 78F and you can't do nothing to change it. I thought different species of fish have different ideal water temperatures but oh well. I got the adjustable one and now I can go nuts with a up to a 30 gallon swamp cooler!!!

Click to expand...

Spend another $18 and you can wire that heater into a digital ST-1000 controller. You set the temp you want and the controller will turn the power to the heater on and off as needed.

BTW- 60*F ambient is a great temp for most ale yeasts since the temp inside the fermenter will run 6-10*F warmer at peak ferment. I'd only use the heater to warm it into the mid-60's after the first 4-5 days.

Kozzer said:

I used my lunch hour to buy one for $25. There were options at $15 and $20, but those have the "feature" of "not having to set the temp", which means they're at 78F and you can't do nothing to change it. I thought different species of fish have different ideal water temperatures but oh well. I got the adjustable one and now I can go nuts with a up to a 30 gallon swamp cooler!!!

Click to expand...

That's what I did! While some of my favorite yeast strains do best at 60-64 degrees (Wyeast 1335 and 1450, the "pacman" strain, WLP001), as well as the hybrid California lager strain, I got a small 10w aquarium heater and can keep the water bath at whatever temperature I want.

The cool thing is that you can ferment at 62 degrees for 5 days, and then finish the fermentation off at 70 degrees with just a turning of the knob. It works great for me!

The model # HT-100 heaters are temp adjustable too, another reason they were the ones I purchased.

I also do like Yooper said and set them at 62 for 5 days, and then turn it to 70 to finnish.

One of the best brewing tools ever.

Cheers

.

Unfortunately the one I got looks like it only goes down to 72. Not sure yet, only time will tell if it'll work for my needs. I don't own a fish tank but I guess I never realized that every fish that ever lived can only live in upper 70's water.

And I only had the heater plugged in for like a half hour, because I also put more (warm) water into the swamp cooler to get the level high enough for the heater to function properly, and it got to 64 and has been there all by itself since then - with very vigorous airlock activity.

I know this is an older thread, but I thought I should throw this out there.
In the past I spent a lot of years keeping multiple tropical fish tanks. Those heaters are consistent, but not accurate. By that I mean you might set it at 70 and it might do a great job of keeping the water at 74. I would recommend checking the temperature of your swamp heater/cooler with a good thermometer occasionally to make sure it is where you want it. Also I lost almost an entire tank of fish when the cheapo heater got stuck 'on' and took the temperature into the high 90's. You definitely get what you pay for with those things so get a decent one and keep an eye on it. A good one should last for years.

As to why they all seem to only go down to 70 or 72.... tropical fish need those higher temps. If a hobbyist is keeping fish that require cooler temperatures they just do with out the heater. I kept a tank of fancy gold fish in my basement for years where the temperature in the winter dropped into the mid 50's and they did fine with no heater.

Sorry, geeked out there for a minute..... back to beer!

Thanks for the tips! As for now, it's been soooo cold that the heater is struggling to keep the swamp water above 60! I know it's working, because when I take a fermentor out of the swamp (well after activity has settled) I have to move it into an especially warm part of the house or the temp will drop into the low 50's or upper 40's. It's only really a problem when it gets 10F or below outside, unfortunately that's been the rule rather than the exception so far this winter.