Fermentation temps

So I just did a partial mash ale recipe. Pitched the yeast around 70 degrees after using my wort chiller to get down to temp.

My question is where to ferment. We live in Memphis so the temps this week look pretty consistent with highs in mid 50s lows in low 40s. We keep our house in the upper 60s most generally. In the past I have carried my bucket to our master bath tub while it fermented and have not had problems. But I am wondering if for this time of year if the temps in our garage would be better? I am slightly worried about overnight but I figured I could put a blanket/towel around the bucket to try and keep the temp more consistent with the daytime temps.

Anyone see any advantages/disadvantages to either idea?

Try to keep it consistant at 65 or less...I keep mine at 59-61 degrees..Remeber once it starts going the temp is going to raise a few degrees.

search "swamp cooler" here on HBT. (not on google, on HBT) that's your best and easiest bet for controlling temps.
don't ferment outside, in the garage, or in an other uncontrolled environment. the yeast don't like the drastic temp changes that happen in a garage or outside.

The swings are my concern but it seems for at least a few days they should be minimal.

My other option would be to use our bonus room which generally stays quite a bit cooler than the rest of our house. But it's carpet which means a blow off would really suck and it's on The 2nd story and I am not keen on stirring things up going up and down the stairs.

Its takes longer than you would think to bring 5gallons of 70F down. When outside ambient is around 50 at night and 65 ~70 during the day, in my garage I maintain 65F while its fermenting but its generating a bit of heat also. If you have one of those Stick on strips, stick one on and watch it, if it gets down to 62 or so put it inside the house if it gets close to 68 put it back outside or close to a window you should be ok, but watch it, its a pain but its what I do.

Thanks dark that's basically what I was thinking.

Think I will leave it out there a while are what the temp is tonight before bed. If its lower than I want I will move it upstairs. If its in the right range guess I will leave it.

Dark_Ale said:

If you have one of those Stick on strips, stick one on and watch it, if it gets down to 62 or so put it inside the house if it gets close to 68 put it back outside or close to a window you should be ok, but watch it, its a pain but its what I do.

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that's a lot of temp fluctuation during fermentation, not so sure that's a good idea if you don't want to stress the yeast.
a constant temp, on the low end of the temp range for the yeast will produce the cleanest beer. some strains need to be allowed to warm towards the end of active fermentation, but i've never heard anything about letting temps go up and down randomly being good for the yeast or your beer.

Nord that is probably very true but without a "easy" way to keep temps as low as I want I think the garage is my best bet. I don't think the temps will swing wildly of course if they appear to I will move indoors.

My main question I guess is what's "worse" the chance of temps fluctuating a little or carrying the bucket around stirring up the trub?

NordeastBrewer77 said:

search "swamp cooler" here on HBT. (not on google, on HBT) that's your best and easiest bet for controlling temps.
don't ferment outside, in the garage, or in an other uncontrolled environment. the yeast don't like the drastic temp changes that happen in a garage or outside.

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apparently you missed ^^this^^ post. everything you need's at home cheapo for around $10.

I know the swamp cooler idea but I don't think my wife is going to go for one running in our bonus room.

I also don't think my garage will fluctuate "that" much. If the outdoor temp only swings 15 or so degrees in 24 hours with 1 warm wall I would think the garage would change even less I would imagine.

Hops4life said:

I know the swamp cooler idea but I don't think my wife is going to go for one running in our bonus room.

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it doesn't 'run'. it's a bucket of water. you cool it with ice bottles, warm it with an aquarium heater or hot water. just search "SWAMP COOLER" here on HBT, it's about as basic and simple as ya can get.

Sorry for the misunderstanding I am used to the term for a fan setup blowing over ice water cooling a larger area.

As I said a few posts ago my concerns are what is worse. A possible swing in temps of a few degrees or lugging the bucket down from the second story after fermentation is over and stirring up the finished product?

Hops4life said:

Sorry for the misunderstanding I am used to the term for a fan setup blowing over ice water cooling a larger area.

As I said a few posts ago my concerns are what is worse. A possible swing in temps of a few degrees or lugging the bucket down from the second story after fermentation is over and stirring up the finished product?

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that's why i made it clear to search HBT, not google for swamp coolers. ours are different from the things you cool a garage with.

neither temp swings or a lot of lugging of your carboy it recommended for different reasons. temp swings=bad beer. lugging a bucket around=risk of dropping homebrew. lugging a carboy around=the same risk. if you are lugging it up and down stairs twice a day, your risk for dropping and spilling increase. plus that's a huge PITA. do the swamp cooler thing, you're going to need one anyway if you wanna make beer in the summer, so just do it now.

All good points Nord. I had thought I had read that too much lugging could result in issues as well. Once the yeast cake settles to the bottom then lugging that down the stairs would stir it up and I would end up with sediment in the finished product.

In the end your probably correct and l will move the bucket up to the bonus room. Temps in that room this time of year should be more than cold enough.

Just a quick update. I decided to use the garage as an experiment last night. Original pitch temp was around 69. Think the wort was still a tad on the warm side. By about 10 last night it was dow. Around 64-65 on my stick on thermometer. Checked this am and it only seems to have dropped a couple degrees into the 62-63 range. Fermentation seems to have started strong. Going to stay with the garage unless temps fluctuate more then I will go indoors.

Home Depot sells electronic thermometers that keep the highest and lowest temp so you can see the swing. They are pretty cheap too. I have one in my basement right now and the temp swings between 57 and 61. The past few days have gone from 8* to 65* outside. With such a huge swing in outside temp, I'll take a 4 degree swing inside my basement. You also have to remember that it takes the beer more time to change in temp than it does the ambient air. So in my case where I have a 4 degree change over the past few days, that will amount to the beer changing maybe a degree or two at the most.