60 degree basement too cold for ale?

Just put my order in for ingredients for a spring wheat, doing my first mini/partial mash. just looked at the thermometer in the basment where i always let everything ferment and it's 60 degrees. looks like the high end for a lager and the low end for an ale. any suggestions. We have a small house and i don't think the wife would be too keen on keeping the fermenter in the babys room. Again gonna be doing an ale.

60 is fine for most ale strains. fermentation will raise the temp to mid 60's.

what wheat yeast? banana esters are suppressed at lower temps and clove becomes more prominent.

That's a good ambient temp for many ale strains. Keep it off the floor, if it's concrete, and you'll be fine. Fermentation temps are anywhere from 5-10 degrees warmer than ambient, in general, so choose a strain that fits that temp range. As it turns out, most ale strains will.

The yeast I'll be using is Wyeast's YEAST STRAIN: 3056 | Bavarian Wheat Blend™

the low end of the temp range is 64 degrees F. I know the internal temp will raise with the fermentation. Do you think I could just wrap a blanket around the fermenter bucket and be good?

It'll be perfect. My basement is more like 55, and during active fermentation my carboys heat up to low 60s which makes for a nice clean profile. If your wheat is an American wheat, you'll be fine. Just wrap it in a couple towels or blankets. It will retain the exothermic heat that is created during fermentation.

Edit: Didn't see the yeast strain. I haven't used it but I imagine you'll get more clove than banana at that temp. But that could be a good thing depending on what you like.

Fermwrap or the DIY equivalent. Search should turn up some quick results. Even a layer of thin insulation might be enough. During fermentation the yeast will produce some heat.

It depends on your yeast, but, yes 60° will be fine, especially since the yeast generate heat during fermentation. Your wort will be 5° to 10° warmer than the ambient temperature.

monty67 said:

Do you think I could just wrap a blanket around the fermenter bucket and be good?

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That would be fine. It would also keep out light, so it would be doing double duty. I use old t-shirts, towels, and blankets depending upon ambient temps. It's far from sophisticated, but it works well.

you folks are faster than me and answered all my questions before i gave you all the info you needed thanks. Will wrap it up and keep it off the concrete floor. It's a clone of a Pauliner Wheat that I've done using all extract and it was way better than any kit i used. Figured try the minimash and see how much that improves it. Thanks!

fwiw, i just had a 1.107 RIS ferment out in less than a week at 58F ambient using us-05

60 degree basement is really good. Your fermenter will get maybe 67ish at peak fermentation.

If you want it warmer get a $12 heating pad at the local big box. You easily get into the mid 70's with a cheap heating pad. Lots of brews (Belgians) want fermentation close to or above 80f at the end of fermentation.

You should be fine.

I ferment in Better Bottles in the basement, cement floor and use a large muck bucket with water and a 75W aquarium heater set to 68 deg...helps to get some consistent temps, and the yeast don't seem to mind.

Like others have said you should be fine, but if you really wanted to dial it in you could set the carboy in a water bath with an aquarium heater.... You will get less temp fluctuation which is better for fermentation.... A steady temp will result in a cleaner fermentation.

My basement here in PA gets much colder than 60 (in fact the main living area doesn't get much warmer than 65 in my old house) so I ferment in a big plastic tub full of water w/ an aquarium heater.

Its important to find a heater that can be adjusted down to the low 60s because some aren't made to go that low.

I'm able to set mine and keep my ferment temps pretty constant between 64 and 68 depending on the style I am brewing.

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I'm north of Philadelphia, and my basement stays 62F all year long. With no deviation between day/night. I have successfully used so far:

US-05
WSP001 (California Ale yeast)
and other ale yeasts.

I havealso washed and pitched slurry starters. It seems to be an ideal temperature for many strains, or at least good enough.
I have pitched into OG of 1.039 - 1.111 with no ill effects or stuck/slow ferments. (Except for my ginger beer experiment).

You should have no problems!
My dog barks at my airlock, though.

60F is perfect. I have a temp controler and didn't need it. I cooled to 68F and it started going when it cooled down to 66F. It has been 67F for a week.

Nottingham is a good yeast for low temps. I ferment with it down to 55 degrees on purpose, its a really clean taste at the lower temps.

You may want to keep it upstairs until fermentation starts, then move it down.

If its already fermenting, then dropping to 60 won't hurt it.

I have had issues with getting yeast to get going when it was pitched to a vessel on a concrete floor at 58-60. But once i moved it up 3 feet to a table to 60-62 it took off as normal.

I've become a fan of fermenting in the low 60's or high 50's. For me, it seems to produce a beer with a cleaner taste. All of the Ale yeasts I've used do fine at those temperatures, as someone already mentioned that internal temperature rises a bit while fermenting.

I had repeated a previous Ale recipe fermented at 58 Deg ambient, where the origonal was at 68 Deg. The 58 Degree batch was way better tasteing for me.

Just make sure you pitch enough yeast.

So there's not any issue with the beer dropping back to 60 after the peak metabolic time, but before the yeast 'clean up' their junk?

StMarcos said:

So there's not any issue with the beer dropping back to 60 after the peak metabolic time, but before the yeast 'clean up' their junk?

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Actually, I came here to mention that, noting that it seemed to be ignored. Kudos for noticing when others didn't.

Most of the junk SHOULD be cleaned up, although theoretically, you may run into slight diacetyl issues. In reality though, it is very likely to be negllgible. If you're not detecting buttery/butterscotch flavors, it's nothing to worry about.

It may not end up as clean as it could be though. Most highly experienced brewers these days prefer to ramp up the temperature as fermentation continues partially because of this. You're fermenting cool enough to begin with that it probably won't be producing heaps of off-flavors in the first place, but it will likely struggle to clean them up - some byproducts/intermediates moreso than others.

Obviously, this will limit your ability to produce certain styles well. You can absolutely forget about doing a saison, which is the most obvious example. Other styles will just be difficult to produce in a balanced manner, or with the profile you may prefer (like hefeweizens).

But also, another reason why ramping up the temperature is a popular method is to promote full attenuation. Especially as fermentation slows down and it falls back to around 60°, at such a low temperature for ales, it will probably often not attenuate as fully as it otherwise could. Some strains of yeast that are particularly sudden in going from balls-out fermentation to very slow activity, like driving 100mph into a brick wall (and the resulting quicker temperature drop), could potentially make the yeast stall.

Of course, not all strains of ale yeast work optimally at the same temps, so if you continue to use no form of temp control whatsoever, look at this data on the strain before deciding to use it.

Lastly, one could expect fermentation to have slower starts at these temperatures, providing bacteria a greater chance to gain a foothold. It shouldn't be too bad, it's not really that far off from a good starting temperature for most strains if you plan to ramp up, but sanitary practices need to be very thorough - although ideally they should be no matter WHAT temperature you're fermenting at. The reason lager yeasts are pitched at double the amount of ale yeasts (ideally) is BECAUSE yeast is less active at the lower temperatures used, largely to ensure quick starts, so it follows that you could probably benefit from somewhat higher pitching rates as well, without the off-flavors typically associated with overpitching at higher temps. You may want to experiment with 25-50% higher pitching rates to see how they impact your finished product.

But really, I'd ultimately recommend some form of temperature control, even if crude. In my opinion, there have been two distinct phases in the life of my homebrewing "career", and the beers I was able to produce: before temp control, and after. The aquarium heater as people have mentiomed is a decent solution for the price, because it's more automatic due to the built in temperature controller. Brew-belts can be picked up for next to nothing, and while they are simply on or off, the position can be adjusted for finer control (lower = warmer), in addition to various methods of keeping only a portion of it in contact with the bucket. It's a really cheap solution, and largely more convenient than an aquarium heater, except for the need to monitor the temperature via a stick-on fermometer or something similar. These things can achieve much warmer temps than a lot of people realize, so if you go this route it's best to be conservative with it in terms of position (start with it high up) and contact area. Brew pads or whatever they're called, that you sit your fermenter on top of, are quite similar in terms of pros and cons, but in general I find the belts to be superior.

Kind of a longer post than I had intended, but I hope it helps. I know I mentioned a lot of cons to such a low ambient temperature, but the reality is, most of these effects are slight and probably would only be noticed by relatively seasoned craft beer drinkers, though I think it'd be really difficult to do well in competitions - or at least those judged by BJCP-certified beer judges, since many local competitions are often judged by complete amateurs - although because of this, success in such competitions often have little to do with actual quality and more to do with mass appeal anyways.

Thanks for keeping this post up. Been brewing through the spring, summer and now with fall setting in I had a little trouble overcooling the wort. My Summer method was much to aggressive for a 61 degree day. Had to actually warm up my wort before I could pitch. Got it to 60 and let it rip. After a day in my dark room ( a basement bathroom stub out) I am holding at 64. I expect it to go up another 2 maybe 3 degrees. That should set me up perfect for this batch. Glad to read all of this, it was reassuring.

Allergic, thanks for bumping the thread. My basement is now in the low 60s, and will fall to about 60 in winter. So, after using ice packs and a cooler for summer and fall, I have good information for winter brewing.

John, my pleasure. Got a little nervous last night and put a towel around it. I have my fermentor sitting in a milk crate which is attached to a rolling plant stand. Keeps the bucket off the ground but I really didn't want the brew to stay at 64. I wrapped a towel around it and it popped right up to 68. Its nice not having to fight to get it down. I think it will be easier to warm it. I have never watched the temp in the dark room through the winter so it will be interesting how it will fluxuate. Next year I will be able to plan better. Any tips you have will be greatly appreciated.