ferment temp

When the directions say ferment at 60-72 degrees. is that room temp? is my ale pale sitting in a 70 degree room or acctually fermenting at 70 Degrees

Yammel said:

When the directions say ferment at 60-72 degrees. is that room temp? is my ale pale sitting in a 70 degree room or acctually fermenting at 70 Degrees

Click to expand...

It means the actual fermenting beer temperature. You can put a stick-on thermometer on the outside of the fermenter to see the fermentation temperature at a glance.

In a 70 degree room, an active fermentation produces so much heat that the actual fermentation temperature can be more like 80 degrees! Of course, that's way too hot.

Fermenting. Fermentation causes heat so your brew while fermenting will be quite a bit warmer then ambient room temp

Yammel said:

When the directions say ferment at 60-72 degrees. is that room temp? is my ale pale sitting in a 70 degree room or acctually fermenting at 70 Degrees

Click to expand...

That is ferment temp. I generally shoot for a room temp at the bottom of the yeast's range knowing the actual ferm temp will be 5-8 degrees above that.

You generally get the best results at the lower end of the ferm temp range of each particular yeast strain. Fermentation also cause a slight rise in temp, so fermenting wort in a 70 degree room may actually be a few degrees higher. I typically ferment at 64-68 for ales, to give a little cushion against fermenting too high.

Lol there was no replies when I started typing, love that

Thanks. That clears that up. 5-10 degree above ambient temp. I will get one of those stick on temp things so i can be sure.

I just put the stick-on thermometers, like for aquariums, on glass carboys. I go straight from the boil to a carboy. I don't use the bucket except to bottle with.

My last stout had a room temp of 60, but the fermenter was at 66.

I just put the wort in the fermenter a day ago and just realized it is not active yet. That is why i am confused because the wort is the same as the room right now. But I guess when it becomes active is when I will have that differential.

If poss.ible put the fermentor into a larger bucket or tub of water. Then you can measure the temp of the water in the tub which will approximate the temp in the fermentor. More importantly, if you see the temp in the tub start to increase, you can add some ice to knock it back down.

IMO 70 ambient air is going to end up with a too hot fermentation for most yeasts/beer styles when this thing takes off.