How do you control temperature?

Hello all. I've just bought my first brewing equipment setup and am ready to get going but from all I've read temperature control seems to be a major point in making a good beer great. I've been looking at the Ranco two stage temperature control setups but can't bring myself to drop the $200 it is going to take for that box and a brew heater to control my setup (yet). So I pose the question, how do you keep your brew fermenting at the optimal temperature?

If anyone is willing to drop suggestions I have the following options:

Spare Refrigerator (in garage)
Room with ambient around 70 F
Room with ambient around 60 F
Room with ambient around 55 F

Thanks for any help in advance.

Got my analog temp regulator for about $35 from www.homebrewstuff.com and it works great!

I would just keep your wort in the 60F room

You can research swamp cooler on here, which is basically a method of increasing thermal mass to make temperature changes more gradual.

If you have a spare fridge though I would buy a cheap thermostat control (on ebay- search keggerator thermostat) and use the fridge as a climate controlled box. So basically say you wanted 65F. You set the thermostat and it automatically turns the fridge on and off to maintain 65F.

I use a water bath and add frozen water bottles as needed. Typically only need 1-2 bottles twice a day to keep temps in the lower 60's. Was using my spare bathub but have now moved to the plastic totes with rope handles you see at Target, WalMart etc. Works extremely well and is much cheaper than buying a spare fridge/chest freezer and temp controller. I can hold temps within +-2 degrees with this method.

Check out the ebay temp controller build: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

Here's the gist of it: You buy an STC-1000 off of ebay for $25. It has a temp probe that controls two circuits, one for heating and one for cooling. You connect each circuit to an outlet - plug a fridge into the cooling one, plug a heat source (e.g. lightbulb) into the other. Tape the probe to your fermenter - if the temp gets too cold, the heat circuit flips and turns on the heat. Too warm & the fridge kicks on. Super easy, very cheap.

Having a spare fridge makes this a no-brainer. You are a lucky summ-b, let me tell you.

Grab a temperature controller like the folks above said and you're golden.

We have one for our all-grain setup at my friend's house, and it beats the pants off my swamp cooler setup at home.

I am about to start myself and my plan is to use an oil filled room heater (don't use much anyway) with a set temperature mode in a basement closet. I made a room temperature to be 15C by closing the ventilation and the heater kept 18-19C in a closet when I tested it set to be 18C. The downside is that 15-16 C (59-61F) is the lowest I can get. Think it would work for ales? From what I read my primary fermenter will be ~ 5F higher than an ambient temperature - may be on a higher side of the range

Can't believe no one has said this...you have rooms with perfect ambient temps. Why even bother? Use the ~60 degree one.

I use my basement floor. It has a constant ambient temp of 60 degrees. I find that this time of year, when I have the 60 degree ambient temp, my ales ferment out at 66 degrees. Once fermentation slows, 2-5 days, I move the fermenter upstairs with an ambient temp of 68 and they finish the process at 68-70 degrees. This process works well for me and has been producing great beer. A temperature control environment would be better and is where I want to be, but SWMBO has other plans for the money in my pocket.

Side by side fridge with the center cut out... Love controller replaced the original thermostat... Can set temp and then crash cool it when it is ready...
Need to get some shelves so I can start double stacking fermenters in there...

rexbanner said:

Can't believe no one has said this...you have rooms with perfect ambient temps. Why even bother? Use the ~60 degree one.

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+1 to that. 60 degree room is perfect for an ale. If it holds that temp and does not swing more than a degree or two you will be good. Your ferment temp will raise but would be in perfect range.

TyTanium said:

Check out the ebay temp controller build: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

Here's the gist of it: You buy an STC-1000 off of ebay for $25. It has a temp probe that controls two circuits, one for heating and one for cooling. You connect each circuit to an outlet - plug a fridge into the cooling one, plug a heat source (e.g. lightbulb) into the other. Tape the probe to your fermenter - if the temp gets too cold, the heat circuit flips and turns on the heat. Too warm & the fridge kicks on. Super easy, very cheap.

Click to expand...

+1, mine's on it's way from China as I post.

I'll be putting up a thread on a ghetto lagering chamber to use to lager in the winter outdoors or in the garage/unheated sunporch, in the next week or so.

Definitely agree the 60 degree room is great for most ales.

The fermentation chamber opens up the world of lagers and offers more control for German wheat yeasts that throw different flavors with only slight temp fluctuations.

Revvy - I look forward to your ghetto lager chamber build . I just built mine, but had to bend back my minifridge freezer shelf to fit a carboy w/airlock...and cracked the coolant line. Bummer. Now looking for cheap alternatives, haha.

I put my bucket in a cooler filled with water. I use frozen pet bottles to regulate the temperature of the water in the cooler, and this in turn regulates the fermentation temperature. When it is particularly cold in the house I will use hot water bottles, or a thermostat-controlled heating pad under the bucket. I check the water temp occasionally with an instant-read thermometer, and make adjustments as necessary.


The cooler in question also doubles as my mash/lauter tun. Total cost about $15 on sale at Target.

So it looks like from the posts I will try to get a STC-1000 and wire it myself (hopefully not catching my garage on fire in the process) and attach that to my spare fridge and some type of heating element. Light bulb/Flood light hung inside of the fridge sounds about right. If I can get away with heating control for around $50 I will be very happy.

Otherwise I will start with the 60 F room and move the carboy to the 70 F room after primary fermentation. Thanks all.

Trokair said:

So it looks like from the posts I will try to get a STC-1000 and wire it myself (hopefully not catching my garage on fire in the process) and attach that to my spare fridge and some type of heating element. Light bulb/Flood light hung inside of the fridge sounds about right. If I can get away with heating control for around $50 I will be very happy.

Otherwise I will start with the 60 F room and move the carboy to the 70 F room after primary fermentation. Thanks all.

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There's a ton of stc wiring threads on here, like the one TyTanium posted, I've been looking at them all week. And none of them really are overly complicated. If you've ever changed out a busted wall socket you can do this. They don't even require soldering. I'm far from an electrical genuis or anything like that, and I'm not even worried about doing it.

carter840 said:

If you have a spare fridge though I would buy a cheap thermostat control (on ebay- search keggerator thermostat) and use the fridge as a climate controlled box. So basically say you wanted 65F. You set the thermostat and it automatically turns the fridge on and off to maintain 65F.

Click to expand...

You'd think this is pretty obvious but..

if you go this route, don't think that frozen stuff in the freezer is gonna stay frozen.

Yup, the wiring is really easy. I tested mine by plugging a lamp into each outlet and alternating the probe between my hand and some ice water.

Interesting thing about why we don't solder AC (posted by an EE in one of the threads, summarized to the best of my memory) - if the joint ever gets weak, there's too much current going through too small a connection, generating heat which melts the solder. That's why wire nuts + electrical tape are used for AC. The wires should be snug in the wire nut and be able to withstand a firm tug. Tape is used for insurance & protection from exposed wire.