Temp Control Importance??

I am on my 3rd batch of HB and I am now wondering what the impact of temp control is?? My fermenter stays in a spot that the temp swings between upper 60s to upper 70s. Is this swing in temp to much? My brews have been fairly good, but I am thinking closer temp control will improve the beer. Any thoughts?

temp control is the #1 thing you can do to improve your beers, in my opinion (and many others). flavors and aromas put off by the yeast change radically with a few degrees deviation. you'll definitely want to work on your temp control.

Yep, keep your temps down to at least between the recommended range for the yeast you use.
I use the lower end of the yeast range myself.

In most cases you want to try to stay towards the lower end of the temperature range for the yeast you're using.

Try using a swamp cooler to get the temperature down.

Made a big difference in the taste of my beer.

Temperature control is very very important. You are correct that your temperature swings are too much. Ideally for ales you would start fermenting somewhere in the mid to high 60s. (beer temperature that is, not the room temperature; you can get a stick on thermometer for your fermenter to see the beer temp). The beer temperature is usually much higher than the ambient temperature during fermenation.

Once you have your fermentation temperature, you want to keep it there for the bulk of the fermentation (a slight rise of 1-2 degrees is OK, but try to avoid a drop in temperature). After you've reached your final gravity and the yeast have had some time to clean up, temperature control becomes less important, but you still want to avoid swings in temperature.

Here's a link to a very good podcast on fermentation temperature control. They do a much better job explaining than I do.
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/533

well if the ambient temp stay in the 70s, your ferentation temp will be even higher. when it stays in those higher temps your going to start to get some flavours that you may or may not like. (think fruity esters)

Some styles its ok (hefes, wits, etc) some styles is not (anything lager-esq, alts, cream ales)

I think your best bet is try to find somewhere a little more stable (even if its a cooler area) because ferentation temps are always higher than ambient. you can always add a brew belt or a blanket to help insulate and warm up the fermentation if need be

wow alot of people all writing at the same time! just shows how important temp control is!

Put the beer into a water bath - like a larger trash can that is filled up to the halfway or 2/3-point on your fermenter. The mass of the water will help stabilize the temperature of your brew. You can then add ice (or frozen water bottles) to the bucket to keep the temperature down when it is getting warm in your fermentation room.

As said above, temperature control (after sanitation) is the #1 thing that brewers need to master to make great beer.

Get a stick on thermometer and attach it to the outside of your carboy...they are cheap and rather accurate. Check the temp several times a day...morning and evening then again at bedtime.
Five gallons of liquid is a large theramal mass...trying to chill the mass after boil before you pitch the yeast...you are well aware of this.
It takes time to change that amount of mass a single degree.
I keep my carboy in a room with a southern exposed window; the temp swings quite a lot. I have a digital thermomter that will records and stores temps. Even though the room ambient temp swing is from mid 70*s by day to mid 60*s at night, the brew stayed around 66* for three weeks.

I think you should be ok as long as the temp swings into the 70s were for only several hours (~6) and not several days.

Just to clarify the space that my fermenter is located has the has the wild swings in temperature. I need to add a stick on thermomter, but I am more concerned with the swings in the outside temp...

I was contemplating creating an insulated "box" with a light in it to keep the temp constant, and storing in my garage (in the 40-50* range)...

Has anyone created something like this? I see a lot of folks converting a fridge, but right now I can not afford this portion of the HB Equipment "needs" {unless santa brings one HoHo HomeBrew}..

I use a water bath with a tote. I take a ~30 gallon tote and put my fermenter inside of it. I fill the tote up with water to the level of the beer in the fermenter. Then I use this aquarium heater
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EUE77C/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
to regulate the temperature. It works great.

Stupid question... But a 30 gallon tote = rubbermade trash can??

Also what temp do you you set the heater for?? Do you wait for fermentation to begin to place in the tote, or add to the tote and just let nature happen?? Great idea, but more details would be greatly appreciated..

A trash can would work, but what I was talking about is more like this:
http://www.reliablepaper.com/Brute_20_Gallon_Tote_With_Lid_p/rcp9s31gra.htm

The night before the brew, I fill the tote with water to the level that I think I'll need, put the aquarium heater in there, and I set the temperature about 1 degree lower than my desired fermentation temperature (the aquarium heater allows you to set the temperature from 64F to 94F in 1 degree increments). By the next day, the temperature heats up to the set temperature. When I'm done brewing, I place the fermenter in the tote, which is 1 degree lower than my desired fermentation temperature. Once the fermentation gets going, the energy from the fermentation raises the water temperature about 1 degree, so I'm right at my desired fermentation temperature. I also assume that the temperature of the water is equal to the temperature of the fermenting beer, since the heat transfer between the water and beer is better than the heat transfer between air and the beer (which is why when fermenting in air, the beer is 4-10 degrees warmer than the air). My assumption may be wrong, but I figure it's close enough.

Does that clear things up?

Edit: Added picture below. In the front I have a carboy and in the back I have some bottles conditioning at about 72F.

I think he means a storage bin.

Also, he's in Atlanta, so he's pretty much never going to need a heater. He'll need to cool the fermentation.

Thanks this clears it up.. I have about a dozen of those things.. Pure HB ingenuity at its best.
Thanks again this helps a ton..

You're welcome. I can't take credit for the idea though. I too learned it on HBT.

JKoravos said:

I think he means a storage bin.

Also, he's in Atlanta, so he's pretty much never going to need a heater. He'll need to cool the fermentation.

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This can be done by using frozen 500mL water bottles (or gallon jugs, if it's particularly hot). Just plop one or two of those in the water and change them when they thaw. They'll keep the water cool in the hotter months.

hbhudy said:

Just to clarify the space that my fermenter is located has the has the wild swings in temperature. I need to add a stick on thermomter, but I am more concerned with the swings in the outside temp...

I was contemplating creating an insulated "box" with a light in it to keep the temp constant, and storing in my garage (in the 40-50* range)...

Has anyone created something like this? I see a lot of folks converting a fridge, but right now I can not afford this portion of the HB Equipment "needs" {unless santa brings one HoHo HomeBrew}..

Click to expand...

I'm not sure how the light would affect your beer. I know sunlight is bad and can have negative effects on the taste. This could be different with different light sources though.

You can actually fit two carboys in the 30g rubbermaid. Assuming you are fermenting two beers at the same temperature.

Regardless of where the idea came from, tx Jescholler!

I'm in the Great White North, and the basement is where all my brewing equipment is. Gets cold enough down there that I was thinking of lagering this winter! Heating is what I need, and I was also considering some sort of an insulated box with a lightbulb and thermostat, but this water bath is very simple, and I think you're right, will do a better job of regulating things.

edit: 100W is enough? Seems to me like that's pretty small to be heating that much water.

100w is plenty for that much water. Also powerhead from the petshop might be a good idea to move the water around and keep the temp consistent everywhere.

I don't recall the size of my larger one (the one in the back in my picture). It's covered with a blanket right now and the blanket is held on with binder clips. It takes about 6 5-gallon buckets to fill up, so it's about 30 gallons. It fits 2 carboys comfortably.

The Jager website tells you how many gallons of water the heater will keep warm. I think they assume your room temp is 70 degrees and you are heating to 90 or so. I oversized my heaters a bit because I didn't want them to be underpowered. It's not a big deal if they're overpowered though. They tend to be long, so make sure that your storage container is tall enough for the heater you buy. About 90% of the heater needs to be submerged. The 150W heater is 13" tall and is good for 30-45 gallons (http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI...egory=FIHTGH&child=EJ1117&tab=1&size=150 watt).

The water bath seems to work well for cooling. I used one all last summer and rotated frozen water bottles into it to lower temp. The lightbulb and insulated box should work but could create fire hazard issues. Another option is to use yeasts to match your environment. For example, if your garage is in the lager range, brew lagers. Some strains of ale yeast can tolerate greater ranges of temperature (such as safale 04 and 05) but still do not like temp fluctuations.

hbhudy,
I agree with the post below...
I purchased a Penn digital temperature controller and a cheep (115.00) freezer from Lowes. I do a batch every month.
I pretty much stick to the same recipe and have noticed a more uniform taste
between batches.
In the beginning, without the precise control, I managed to make batch of smoke flavored light lager YUK...
Joe

PintOfBitter said:

temp control is the #1 thing you can do to improve your beers, in my opinion (and many others). flavors and aromas put off by the yeast change radically with a few degrees deviation. you'll definitely want to work on your temp control.

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