Fermentation temp issues

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Ryan0186

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2013
Messages
65
Reaction score
6
Location
Charleston
Received my brew kit from Northern Brewer today and couldn't be happier. I am going to wait till I get more bottles saved up (which should be very soon) and a few other pieces for to be properly prepared for brew day. I was looking over the instructions that came with the kit and noticed that the recommended temp for fermentation is between 60-72 degrees. This time of year in SC it isn't unheard of to have outdoor temp in the high 90's. We keep the AC on in the house at 78-79 degrees to help save on the power bill. I am planning on doing the entire brewing process from brew day to bottle day in my kitchen. I was just wondering if these warmer temps in my house are going to affect my batch in any negative ways. We don't have cool dark basements here so the only next best place I can think of would be the closet in my bathroom. Stay a little cooler in there during the day. Any advice on this issue is very much appreciated. Thanks everyone.
 
While I wish I had AC in my house the usual ambient temps that I deal with are 80*+. That being said, it is very important to control your beer fermentation temps. The best way to do this if you, like me, don't really have either a basement or a naturally cold place in your house is to do an ice bath of sorts. Some people here call it a swamp cooler.

Get a large laundry bucket (or something that you can place the fermentor in with room around it for water). Fill the bucket with water up to about half way up the wort in the fermentor. Add frozen water bottles to the water to keep the water cool. The more bottles of ice you add the lower the temperature of the water will be. It's also not a bad idea to add either bleach or star san to the water since it's sitting stagnant and you don't really want to deal with moldy water. Not that that would effect your beer any but it's not really fun to clean either. You want to make sure the water temp is about the temperature that you want your wort to be. Remember that fermenting will increase the temps inside the fermentor so make sure your water sits about 62-64*. If you have a thermometer that you attach to your fermentor be sure to go by that instead of the water temp.

This has worked well for me. Granted I'm on my first batch but I have been able to keep the fermentor between 64-68* this way even though the ambient temp of the closet my beer is in is about 82*.

I can post a picture of my set up if you want to help clear up what I'm trying to say.
 
Your next brew could be a siason, where temps in high 70's or low 80's is preferred.

Here in Maine, what I brew coincides with the season. Although I usually have a few mini-environments. Right now it's in the upper 70's on the second floor, lower 70's on the first floor, upper 60's in the garage and lower 60's in the cellar. I had my siason upstairs a month ago and it did well. I have an American wheat in the cellar right now. It might not be a perfect science, but it works ok.
If I want to do a siason in January, I would have to buy one of those heating rings to put around the bucket. There ain't a spot anywhere around here that is warmer than 64 F in January (except maybe the dog's bed).

Sounds like you have less mini-environments right now so the swamp cooler is right up your alley.
 
IF you could post a pic that would be awesome. I will def build a swamp cooler. I am going to have to do the fermenting in my kitchen so I guess during the day I will throw a towel over the bucket to block sunlight. The kit that I ordered didn't come with any temp equipment. Where is the best place to get the temp strips that are hooked to the bucket? Thanks for the advice so far guys.
 
Ryan0186 said:
IF you could post a pic that would be awesome. I will def build a swamp cooler. I am going to have to do the fermenting in my kitchen so I guess during the day I will throw a towel over the bucket to block sunlight. The kit that I ordered didn't come with any temp equipment. Where is the best place to get the temp strips that are hooked to the bucket? Thanks for the advice so far guys.

Couple bucks at the LHBS. I have also heard that aquarium stores sell them to monitor water temp. They are nothing fancy.
 
I check with the aquarium store here in town this weekend and see what I can find. Its going to be a few more weeks before I start brewing so I can get all my gear together.
 
Quick note on bottles. Make sure you are saving the ones that don't twist off. The twist-offs tend to not seal very well when you cap them.
 
Yea, I have been buying a lot of sweet water to get the bottles. I also bought a case of new castle but after doing some reading in the forum it seems that the clear bottles are not going to be the way to go and I might just ditch them. I have a friend that works a a bar down the road. I told her I would give her ten bucks if she gets me a few trash bags of bottles on Saturday night. I am hoping there will be some amber pry offs in the bags but I have a feeling its going to be 90 percent cheap domestic twist offs.....
 
With that warm of an ambient temp, it's going to be a challenge to keep that fermentation cool enough (especially during the first 5-6 days when it's most crucial), but you'll have to do it if you want tasty beer. Also, try to get your wort down around 62-64*F before you pitch yeast. That will really help.

Keep in mind that the swamp cooler method is less efficient in humid climates since it relies on evaporative cooling. Have lots of frozen water bottles ready to go before you brew.

What yeast came with the kit? If it's US-05, 65-66*F seems to be the sweet spot for that. Nottingham? It loves cool temps (upper 50's-lower 60's) and gets funky above 68*F. These are beer temps, not surrounding air.

If you find yourself really enjoying this hobby and getting addicted to it, you may want to look into having a fermentation fridge/freezer regulated with an STC-1000 controller if you have the space. It is just the thing for those of us who live in the south. It will make temperature problems a thing of the past.
 
IF you could post a pic that would be awesome. I will def build a swamp cooler. I am going to have to do the fermenting in my kitchen so I guess during the day I will throw a towel over the bucket to block sunlight. The kit that I ordered didn't come with any temp equipment. Where is the best place to get the temp strips that are hooked to the bucket? Thanks for the advice so far guys.


P1040764_zps8e594bc9.jpg


P1040763_zps4a4e2709.jpg


As you can see the temperature strip is NOT in the water. This is very important to get the temp of the wort/beer instead of the water temp.

Also, I generally use between 6-8 frozen bottles of water and I rotate them anywhere between every 8 - 12 hours. So get a case of water bottles and freeze them all to be sure that you have enough to do your rotation.

Some people also will put a t-shirt around the fermentor and have a fan in the room to help keep the temps down. I have found that I don't need that but you may. It's all about what works for you.
 
I think for this first batch my only option is going to be to do the swamp cooler. I would love to build a fermentation fridge like your talking about. My goal is eventually to start kegging and have a kegerator. With the STC that you were talking about could I set up the perfect temp for fermentation and then adjust it to a proper serving temp? IF this first batch comes out skunky I will prob hold off on brewing another batch till the weather cools in late sept early october. Also yea the yeast that I got in my kit was US-05.
 
Ryan0186 said:
I think for this first batch my only option is going to be to do the swamp cooler. I would love to build a fermentation fridge like your talking about. My goal is eventually to start kegging and have a kegerator. With the STC that you were talking about could I set up the perfect temp for fermentation and then adjust it to a proper serving temp? IF this first batch comes out skunky I will prob hold off on brewing another batch till the weather cools in late sept early october. Also yea the yeast that I got in my kit was US-05.


As far as bringing it up to serving temp using temp control; you're bottling so you will be chilling your bottles after conditioning. The temp control is used mostly for fermentation, cold crashing, and lagering (at least mine is). It is a balancing act to keep a schedule going (you cannot ferment an ale and lager at the same time, but you can cold crash and lager simultaneously, etc....). Also, it is best to fill your "swamp cooler" bucket up with water to the top level of your wort in the carboy. This is easily achieved when you use a rope bucket, like the one pictured, for a 5 gal batch.
 
P1040764_zps8e594bc9.jpg


P1040763_zps4a4e2709.jpg


As you can see the temperature strip is NOT in the water. This is very important to get the temp of the wort/beer instead of the water temp.

Also, I generally use between 6-8 frozen bottles of water and I rotate them anywhere between every 8 - 12 hours. So get a case of water bottles and freeze them all to be sure that you have enough to do your rotation.

Some people also will put a t-shirt around the fermentor and have a fan in the room to help keep the temps down. I have found that I don't need that but you may. It's all about what works for you.

This is exactly what i have in my garage. i have 2 rubbermaid buckets on a shelf i built. i have my FV bucket in the rubbermaid with 2-3 gallons of water and every morning and after work i throw 4 frozen water bottles in. keeps it around 62f. it's also been 85-90f the last 3-4 days. it's dark in my garage so i didn't put a t-shirt or anything over them.
 
My kit didn't come with a carboy, I got the fermentation bucket and bottling bucket. Do I need a carboy or can I just throw the fermentation bucket in the rope bucket to keep it cool? The Ingredients kit that came with my brew gear doesn't say I need a carboy but just says to leave it in the same bucket for the entire process until priming and bottling. Should I go and pick up a carboy? I managed to find a store here in town that sells brew supplies.
 
Like freisste says you don't need a carboy. You can put the fermentation bucket in the rope bucket. Just make sure that the water in the rope bucket comes up to AT LEAST the half way point of your wort. May be a little bit more difficult to set up initially since you can't see where your beer level is as easily in a bucket but should be no different in the long run of the ability to keep your fermentation temperatures where you want them.
 
+1. Taking steps to control your ferment temps will improve your brews significantly more than going out and buying a carboy. You're better off putting that $$ toward a controlled fermentation chamber.
 
My uncle gave me a mini fridge to put my beer in the garage. I am going to measure it tomorrow and see if the primary bucket will fit in it. I am thinking maybe I can adjust the temp in it and use it as a controlled fermentation chamber.
 
Ryan0186 said:
My uncle gave me a mini fridge to put my beer in the garage. I am going to measure it tomorrow and see if the primary bucket will fit in it. I am thinking maybe I can adjust the temp in it and use it as a controlled fermentation chamber.

This allowed for more space and an STC 1000 temp controller is a cheap way to cool/heat to whatever temp you need. (But it's ugly)

image-618263757.jpg
 
I really like what you built there. Honestly I don't care how ugly it looks if it works. As long as it is sealed and holding a proper temp for fermentation. Do you keep your bottled beer in it when your not fermenting? Im thinking I will try to do the same thing as you and expand the fridge with wood to make up the difference in needed space. My mini fridge is black so I can just paint it to match. Did you put a strip of steel on the front edge for the door seal to stick to? Also did you put any kind of insulation on the back side of the wood where it attaches to the body of the fridge?
 
So I just went out and removed the shelves from the mini fridge and the bucket will fit if I modify the door like you did with yours. The only problem is that the air lock will not fit on top of the bucket. The airlock adds another 4 inches or so and the fridge doesn't have adequate space. I guess I need to design a way to have an airlock. Did you have the same issues with height clearance? is there a shorter airlock that I can purchase?
 
I tried something a little different this summer. I placed my fermenter on top of one of the registers and turned on the hvac fan. I wrapped a sleeping bag around the bucket. Surprisingly, the temp dropped and stayed at 63f for the last week even though my thermostat stayed on 72.
 
I was wondering when you guys use a swamp cooler to ferment in, what do you do to control the temps for the bottles you are conditioning in?
 
As far as I know you bottle condition at room temp? My house stays at 78-80 all the time. We like it hot. Will that affect my bottle conditioning?
 
Ryan0186 said:
Did you put a strip of steel on the front edge for the door seal to stick to? Also did you put any kind of insulation on the back side of the wood where it attaches to the body of the fridge?

I put magnetic tape on the front edge of the wood so that the door will seal onto it. I also cut out the door shelves with a razor (it was that easy).

As for I insulation, I have used it in both of my keezer builds but I did not use it for the mini fridge conversion and it seems to work very well without it.

The airlock not fitting might be a problem but you could use a blowoff tube instead. That could save you some space.

Good luck!
 
If you have the space, your could remove the door from the fridge and build a box big enough to fit your fermentation vessel (or two or three, you might eventually have multiple fermentations going at once), just insulate the box and put a door on it somewhere so you can get into it, and have one end fit onto your mini fridge. Or make it big enough to have your mini fridge inside. I've seen this done a few times, and it's my next project.
 
I think what I am going to do for now since I have everything to do a simple swamp cooler for this first batch while I am deciding how I want to build my future fermentation chamber out of my current mini fridge. Once I develop my skills as a home brewer I want to get into kegging so I am going to need a bigger fridge later.
 
Consider going with a chest freezer (from Craigslist) and an STC 1000 (cheap on Amazon). Can't get much cheaper or easier.
 
Do you keep your bottled beer in it when your not fermenting?

In all probability, there will be no such thing as "when you are not fermenting". I almost always have something in the fermenter. When one batch is bottled, I brew the next within a couple of days. You'll probably do the same.
 
...and I keg, so I sometimes put bottles in my keezer but that's not very offen. I wouldn't bother putting them in the ferm chamber.
 
Back
Top