Ale ferment temps

i currently have been making my ales ferment around 69-71 degrees what would happen if i lowered/raised the temps? and should i?

Most ales are happy at 68, why would you want to change that? Unless it is a belgian yeast, those temps are perfect.

I usually go with about 68 degrees for all my ales. This is the temp of the fermenter, not the ambient temp.

If you lowered it, and I sometimes go as low as 63 on my ales, it may take longer or even put the yeast to sleep a little early, but it can make for a cleaner ferment. If you go higher, you will start to get a lot of fruity esters and fusel alcohols, the higher the temps, the worse it gets. I say mid to upper 60s is perfect.

I have been trying to start all my ferments (ales) around 62 - 64 and let them warm up to 68 - 70 after 4 to 5 days. After the initial vigorous fermentation slows, I let it warm up to make sure it does not stall prematurely. It keeps the krausen in check in the beginning, and seems to allow full attenuation. I got about 80% attenuation on my IIPA, and pitched my barleywine on the IIPA cake Sat. I let it get up to 67 overnight, and the blowoff tube has some gunk in it this AM. Back to 62 with you.

It all depends on what you are looking for. If you want to stress the Ester characteristic of the yeast you can ferment warmer up to 70, 71, 72...etc. with dry strains. You have to be careful though because if you bring it up too warm you will have bottled fruit, or even worse higher alcohols which are just plain nasty in beer. Now, if you are using any one of the Belgian strains what you can do is start them cooler (low to mid 60's) and then bring them up as the ferment progresses. You can even bring them up past the 80's . But when to do this comes only with experience....so only do so when appropriate (like when brewing a Dubbel, Tripel, etc) and only when you feel comfortable you know what the yeast is doing.

Now on the other side of the coin...you can push your temps way way down (even past the 'recommended' temperature from the manufacturer...same going upwards) but you risk a very slow or stalled ferment. Which is really not a terribly big deal, as a day in a warmer temperature will help get things back on track. The plus side to this is that you get a 'cleaner' flavor profile...in other words you really don't taste the yeast profile so much as you do the malt and hops. But this is very dependent on the strain of yeast be used. You can push some yeasts up higher without affecting the 'clean' taste (Nottingham seems to be fairly good at this) so going colder won't do terribly much different, however in some recipes you'll notice. It is all trial and error once you begin playing with these things. But that's pretty much the rule of thumb.

Bottom line though, is to err on the side of colder. You rarely get off flavors from fermenting cold, I imagine it could happen if the strain is stressed but I have not experienced this. I have experienced some undesirable characteristics from fermenting too warm too soon when pushing strains though.

how can i better control the temp on a room i live in memphis its very hot and humid here so i was just wondering i went home this morning and the fermometer said 74! i kinda freaked out its a belgium wheat beer..

could i wrap a wet towel around it? will that help keep it cooler? or maybe get a plastic tub and throw a 2 liter of ice in it?

i keep my fermentation cabinet at 58°F ambient which keeps a nice 62-64°F fermentation temperature. i find this to be perfect to make wonderfully clean, flavorful ales.

how would i go about doing that?

pcolson said:

how would i go about doing that?

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Assuming that you, like most people myself included, are lacking a temperature controlled fermentation chamber, you can do a few easy things to keep your fermentation somewhat cooler than the ambient temperature, in no particular order:

First, start with the coolest place in your house. If you have a basement, it's probably in there. Can you close off a basement room with the air conditioner vents open to make it really cold in there? That might work right there, in the summer at least.

A rope handled keg tub is great for a lot of brewing tasks (don't lift it by the rope handles! They will pull through eventually.), but you can put your fermenter in the tub and fill it with water. Freeze plastic bottles of water and rotate them through the tub to maintain the temp you want.

A towel or shirt around the carboy, wicking up water from the tub will help. Aim a fan at that to really turbo charge your swamp cooler.

awesome thank you i dont have a basement but im sure the ice thing should work! and the shirt thing

pcolson said:

how can i better control the temp on a room i live in memphis its very hot and humid here so i was just wondering i went home this morning and the fermometer said 74! i kinda freaked out its a belgium wheat beer..

Click to expand...

When I lived in Houston, which was hot and humid, I kept my brew in a closet (no A/C). We had no floor vents in that place so I couldn't set it by a vent as I do now (works great).

So what I did was set the fermenter (carboy) in a shallow tray of water, maybe 4 inches deep, put an old t-shirt over the carboy so that the t-shirt dipped into the water at the bottom, and then turned a fan on it. Sometimes I'd come in and wet the shirt if it wasn't wicking the way I liked or if it wasn't wicking fast enough to keep up with the fan speed.

The evaporation was good enough to get my temps down into the upper 60's from the low to mid 70's. Of course with Houston's hard water, that t-shirt got pretty crusty over time.

If your humidity is super high indoors then obviously this trick won't work as well. But if you have A/C then that reduces your indoor relative humidity enough that this should get you a couple extra degrees.

Goofy but effective.

Edit to add: I see moonpile recommends the shirt thing too. Maybe not so goofy after all.

Good luck!

i did it i got my old ACU top from the army and froze ice packs and put them in the pockets working great so far! got it right where i want it! sweet homebrew mmm

Similar to eating what's local and in season, I go with the seasonal swings of temperature in my house to determine the brew schedule. During the summer the upstairs is 80+ degrees, so I'll brew a saison, or maybe a belgian in the 75-78 degree basement. In the winter, the cooler basement temps lend themselves to ales that demand "cleaner" flavor profiles.

Here's a silly question for everyone:

What are the different ways to gauge the temperature of the fermenter. I got this crappy plastic strip thermometer from this beginner kit but it's a pain in the neck to use. I was thinking about getting a digital thermometer with it's sensor on a long wire and dropping the sensor into the fermenter. But I'm super worried about contaminating my first batch. Advice?

stick the strip thermometer on the fermenter. Near the top.

I put mine so 5.5 Gallons is at the top of the thermo.

Works well enough for most people on here I think.

I live in Houston and my wife tends to keep the room temperature between 75-80 in the winter i don't have a thermometer to check the garage temps and here in Houston the outside can drastically change anywhere from 82 - 49 (highs and lows from current 10 day forecast) looks like ill have to periodically check up on this at least twice a day and maybe have to move my brew around the house from time to time i will try some of your suggestions ! thank you for your help guys.

i never used a lot of thermometers and tried to Google it but didn't have any luck (user error im shore lol) is there a thermometer collects data like the high and low temps threw the day? this way i can get a good idea of were temps stay threw the day in certain areas and i wont have to worry too much wile at work

I've used all three methods shown below and they all will do the job if you're diligent with swapping out shirts and/or water bottles..

Good: Keep Tee shirts wet and change them ofter to prevent mold growth


Better: Keep a close eye on the temperature and swap out frozen water bottles as needed


Best: The larger the volume of air and liquid the smaller the temperature swings.

I have been starting my fermentation (stouts, porters) at about 78 degrees. The temp hangs there for a few days...then gradually tapers to 66 degrees in a week or more. Is this a huge mistake??...I've enjoyed my beers very much....but have only done 10 batches, so I don't have a lot to compare them to. So far I have only used dry yeasts...such as coopers or safale 04, and now use a 24 hour starter. Any suggestions or constructive criticism??

I have brewed maybe 15 batches so far and have never temp controlled a batch. It was regularly 74-78 ambient temp in my apartment for all of these. Some of the brews have come out awesome, and others with off-flavors up the wazoo. 2 of those that came out well were belgians (tripel and saison) which got me started thinking about the need to control fermentation temperature. I decided to brew a Hefe based off of EdWort's Bavarian Hefeweizen recently and decided to try something different since I heard the desired range for fermenting this brew was 65-68. I used the carboy-in-bucket-of-water method and rotated ice packs in and out of the water and monitored the water temp with my floating thermometer and stick-on-carboy "fermometer" and a t-shirt over the carboy. This has made controlling the temp much easier.

I ferment in a closet on the first level of my house (no basement here, sadly). I place my ferm bucket in a plastic storage container that I got from Target and fill it with cold water to about halfway up the bucket. In the summer, I swap out frozen cold packs that you would use in a cooler, and in the winter I am able to use the ambient temp to keep the water in the container cold enough.

I monitor the temp in the room with this gadget from target:

http://www.target.com/p/la-crosse-w...9080u-it-cbp/-/A-11178865#prodSlot=medium_1_5

It will tell you what the high and low temps were over the past 24hrs. To monitor the temp of the fermenting wort, I use this gadget:

http://www.target.com/c/automotive/...matchallpartial+rel+all#?lnk=lnav_t_spc_1_8_0

I tape the end of the probe to the side of the bucket (above the water line of course) and insulate it with a towel, so it is reading the temp of the wort in the bucket. I figure I'm getting pretty accurate readings using these two things. Good luck!

PS I brew mostly ales and try to keep my ferm temps between 64 and 68, trying to err on the side of the lower temp. Works well for clean tasting ales

I keep my thermostat at 60 degrees (to save on gas) and it's been well below freezing most nights here. I keep my fermenting buckets against a south-facing wall on the ground next to my wine closet on the ground floor (not very many basements in Flagstaff). Most really active fermentations swing between 59-63 degrees during this time of year which is beautiful for ales, cider, mead etc. They are insulated and light protected with thick beach towels to keep the temp fairly stable. Low temps and longer primary (i.e. 3-4 weeks) make for really clean, clear, product (for ale at least) and the mead really benefits and clears really fast. Plus side to living in a cold environment? Set the bucket on my deck at night and let it REALLY cool down to drop yeast out of suspension, but that's another matter. In summer I go for the wet towel trick in a pan of water and have box fans in the windows usually running so the temp stays below 70, usually 64-68 depending on how hot it is. +1 for the towel trick on the cheap. Only downside is being diligent about changing towels/water/ ice if necessary and let's face it, 90% of fermentation is ambivalence and neglect, followed shortly thereafter by ravenous consumption and a warm feeling of numbness

g

What meant to say is I find the best and simple way is to grab the following items.
1- A working fridge that your fermenter would fit into.
2- A temp controller (STC-1000)
3- Small 20w to 60w cupboard heater
Set the controller up to desired temp, plug the fridge and heater in to the controller box and you are away laughing. Real simple regardless of were you live. I brew ales, lagers etc and have awsome success and its cheap to set up. You would be happy as a dog with two dicks!!!

Fermentation temperature control has a HUGE impact on quality, and is probably the best upgrade you can make to your brewing system.

I pitch the yeast at 62 degrees, and raise the temperature 1 degree every 12 hours. Once I hit 68 degrees, I pull it out and let it finish up at room temperature for the diacetyl rest. It always produces clean, perfect beers with zero off-flavors. Temp control is super important.

If you don't have the equipment for that, then at least wait to pitch the yeast for as long as takes to cool your wort down to less than 70, and ferment in a swamp cooler. Pull it out of the cooler after a few days and let it finish off at room temp to eat up the diacetyl. Too many people get impatient or nervous and pitch the yeast too soon when the wort is way too warm, and off-flavors are the result.

IPA with the STC1000 and the chest freezer. After much reading, I'm wondering if I need to follow this plan (start at 62, then gradually increase to 68), or keep my temp the same as it currently is (62). I am hoping for a cleaner taste, but want the yeast to attenuate and finish low as intended. I have had a few off flavors before, but I felt confident that I never got above 68 degrees ambient in my basement. I feel my sanitation has been spot on, but out of the 10 or so I have done, about half have been worthy of letting others try, and have have been well....just okay. I'm finding if I dry hop, it covers up a lot of mistakes, and I have had pretty decent results with cream ales and a stout. The worst so far was a SNPA clone, a couple of wheats, and a brown ale. Not sure what my problems have been, but I am anxious to see how this chest freezer will help. I have started doing full boils and partial mashes, have a chiller, and am pitching at proper temps....my fingers are crossed on a Two Hearted partial clone from AHS. Most of my other kits were NB. Any advice on the steady 62 or raise it to help ensure attenuation?

Thanks!

EDIT - its not my first IPA, but the first time using the STC. Also, the yeast I'm using is S-05

I like to ferment slightly warmer. I usually pitch around 72 then bring it to 68. I never had an issue with off flavors. I always use liquid yeast. I think its worth the extra $3.00. I got away from using a secondary unless I'm flavoring because the extra time on the yeast cake will clean up a good amount of off alcohols. This way there's less chance of contamination. I think the warmer temp ensures the yeast are active and do their job.

pcolson said:

could i wrap a wet towel around it? will that help keep it cooler? or maybe get a plastic tub and throw a 2 liter of ice in it?

Click to expand...

I bought a 4" deep litter litter tub, put mu bucket in there with ice and water for the first few days. Adding a glass of ice as needed when I'm around. Adding a shirt or towel wrapped around your fermenter dipping into the ice bath will drop the temp greatly. I just use the ice bath alone.