Newbie question

Hello everyone,
I got a brewing kit for Xmas and have my brew in primary fermentation, it says to keep it at 19-21 celcius so I got it in the house, I'm worried about the temp dropping through the night, will it have an effect if its colder than the guidelines say?

It's a youngs lager kit btw

I'm pretty new to brewing as well, but I would try wrapping a blanket around it. You can also just keep your thermostat turned up for a few weeks. This is what I do lol.

When the temp gets too low for me I sometimes fill milk jugs/2liter bottles with hot water, circle them around the fermenter, pressed up against them and wrap the whole thing in a sleeping bag. Has worked really well for me. Be careful though, got a little too warm on one occasion.

Ideally you want to keep as steady a temperature as possible through the active fermentation phase which could be 3-7 days. Temperatures swings can cause stress to the yeast and create off flavors. If the temp gets too cold the yeast will just quit and drop out until warmed back up.

Try placing the vessel in a tub of water to help equalize and maintain the temperature as the volume of water will create an insulating layer

Cheers guys, ill keep an eye on it and run it a bath if necessary

duboman said:

Ideally you want to keep as steady a temperature as possible through the active fermentation phase which could be 3-7 days. Temperatures swings can cause stress to the yeast and create off flavors. If the temp gets too cold the yeast will just quit and drop out until warmed back up.

Try placing the vessel in a tub of water to help equalize and maintain the temperature as the volume of water will create an insulating layer

Click to expand...

+1; Since the process ultimately depends on the yeast, they have to be kept happy, and every yeast is different. Some respond well to temp variation and others DO NOT.

When I first started brewing, I made Irish Red Ale with Nottingham yeast for my first 3 batches.

On the first one, I made note of the fact that my ferment temp was at the upper end of the range.
On the second batch I focused on keeping it within middle of the range
Third batch (done when it started getting cooler in Vermont) allowed me to keep it at the low end.
All 3 were great beers and each had a different taste that (since all other factors were essentially controlled and reproduced) can be attributed to the yeast.

Thanks for your comments, I appreciate the advice and have been trawling the forums every day to take as much advice on board as I can!!
I figure from what I have read that it pays to leave the brew in primary fermentation longer than the advised 4-6 days? Being new to this I would most likely been too hasty with it but from reading up on here I figured "good things come to those who wait"
I was also thinking about getting some sort of electric blanket with thermostat control for future brews, my wife's not so keen on the dining room becoming a brewery, so I plan to use my outbuilding but its pretty cold in there at this time of year.
Thanks again for the help and I shall continue to read up while my brew bubbles away

sc0tty81 said:

Thanks for your comments, I appreciate the advice and have been trawling the forums every day to take as much advice on board as I can!!
I figure from what I have read that it pays to leave the brew in primary fermentation longer than the advised 4-6 days? Being new to this I would most likely been too hasty with it but from reading up on here I figured "good things come to those who wait"
I was also thinking about getting some sort of electric blanket with thermostat control for future brews, my wife's not so keen on the dining room becoming a brewery, so I plan to use my outbuilding but its pretty cold in there at this time of year.
Thanks again for the help and I shall continue to read up while my brew bubbles away

Click to expand...

Are you going to rack this into a secondary? If so you can rack after fermentation has slowed down for 24-48 hours. If your just doing a primary only I'd say leave it in there for atleast 10 days. When I do just primary I do 10 days no matter what. When doing a 2 stage fermentation I leave in primary for 5-7 days. Then rack to secondary and leave for 1-2 weeks. If I'm doing a big imperial I sometimes leave in secondary for 2-3 months. Just don't want to leave in primary for to long because it can sit on the dead yeast cells(trub) and produce very off nasty flavors. I hope this has helped. Cheers.

Another factor is that the beer temperature almost never coincides with the ambient temperature. Because the yeast in their fury of activity to release heat. If I want my yeast at 68 I try to set the room to 65 or a little lower. Not easy in my apartment, but I find a way.

hoppyhoppyhippo said:

Another factor is that the beer temperature almost never coincides with the ambient temperature. Because the yeast in their fury of activity to release heat. If I want my yeast at 68 I try to set the room to 65 or a little lower. Not easy in my apartment, but I find a way.

Click to expand...

Good tip. Totally forgot about that. Fermentation really raises the temp. I've had a few strains go above 10 degrees of the temp in my house. Can't wait to get a fermentation chamber lol.

derbycitybrewer said:

Are you going to rack this into a secondary? If so you can rack after fermentation has slowed down for 24-48 hours. If your just doing a primary only I'd say leave it in there for atleast 10 days. When I do just primary I do 10 days no matter what. When doing a 2 stage fermentation I leave in primary for 5-7 days. Then rack to secondary and leave for 1-2 weeks. If I'm doing a big imperial I sometimes leave in secondary for 2-3 months. Just don't want to leave in primary for to long because it can sit on the dead yeast cells(trub) and produce very off nasty flavors. I hope this has helped. Cheers.

Click to expand...

I've got a pressure barrel to syphon into, I'll wait while I get 3 days steady hydrometer readings before I do this, is that right?
Once it's in the barrel how important is the temperature, can I move I into the cold?
This is scary lol

sc0tty81 said:

I've got a pressure barrel to syphon into, I'll wait while I get 3 days steady hydrometer readings before I do this, is that right?
Once it's in the barrel how important is the temperature, can I move I into the cold?
This is scary lol

Click to expand...

By pressure, do you mean a keg? If so, it will carb quicker if you keep it at around 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit for a week or two. Then put it in the cold for an additional week or two and it should be good.

And thanks again, glad I joined I would be panicking if I hadn't got proper advice

derbycitybrewer said:

Are you going to rack this into a secondary? If so you can rack after fermentation has slowed down for 24-48 hours. If your just doing a primary only I'd say leave it in there for atleast 10 days. When I do just primary I do 10 days no matter what. When doing a 2 stage fermentation I leave in primary for 5-7 days. Then rack to secondary and leave for 1-2 weeks. If I'm doing a big imperial I sometimes leave in secondary for 2-3 months. Just don't want to leave in primary for to long because it can sit on the dead yeast cells(trub) and produce very off nasty flavors. I hope this has helped. Cheers.

Click to expand...

Only 10 days? Wow. I like to go on the safe side and just leave it for a 3 week minimum and not worry about secondarys unless I am making an infused beer or extended aging. Its true that you can be done in 10 days or less, but why not let the yeast do their thing and clean up any inconsistencies and condition it a little before packaging?

sc0tty81 said:

And thanks again, glad I joined I would be panicking if I hadn't got proper advice

Click to expand...

I would say after 48 hours of steady hydrometer readys your good to transfer. That's all I wait for. Just get of the trub when you transfer. You are using a racking can to transfer right?

DrunkleJon said:

Only 10 days? Wow. I like to go on the safe side and just leave it for a 3 week minimum and not worry about secondarys unless I am making an infused beer or extended aging. Its true that you can be done in 10 days or less, but why not let the yeast do their thing and clean up any inconsistencies and condition it a little before packaging?

Click to expand...

I like to get it off primary and into secondary to age. Less head space and gets it off the trub and dead yeast cells also. I use 6.5 gallon primary's and 5 gallon secondary's everyone's fermentation process is different. This has produced great beer for me. Looking to start lagering in a month or two. Just got a lagering fridge open.

derbycitybrewer said:

I would say after 48 hours of steady hydrometer readys your good to transfer. That's all I wait for. Just get of the trub when you transfer. You are using a racking can to transfer right?

Click to expand...

All I've got is some pipe with a debris trap, it says to syphon into bottles or barrel?

Everybody has their own process, here's my $0.02
1. Most brewers here on the forums seem to agree that a secondary is unnecessary unless you are adding fruit or oak. The secondary recommendation came from the early days of brewing when few if any brewing yeasts were available. Bread yeast was used, and those strains undergo autotrolysis (sp) which can impart off flavors. Most people today, by contrast, brew with genuine brewers yeast. I routinely do 4 weeks primary, no secondary, bottle condition 4 weeks and chill 24-48 hours before serving.

2. The yeast manufacturers publish recommended fermentation temps, which refers to the temp of the liquid inside the fermenter, not ambient. I did a heat study a bunch of batches ago to see how much difference there was. I dropped a temp probe into the wort through the airlock hole and compared it to another probe taped to the outside of the fermenter, which was insulated from ambient air. The interior probe was routinely 2-3 degrees warmer than the bucket. Now I usually adjust my ferm chamber temp controller to the low end of the published range, which should put the yeasties just where they're happy.

In the old days before the ferm chamber, I used a water bath. Place the fermenter into a rubbermaid tub and fill it half way with water. Drop in frozen water bottles to cool, or a submersible aquarium heater to heat, as required.

derbycitybrewer said:

I would say after 48 hours of steady hydrometer readys your good to transfer. That's all I wait for. Just get of the trub when you transfer. You are using a racking can to transfer right?

Click to expand...

I could cable tie something to my syphon pipe to make the end I'm syphoning from rigid, this would resemble a racking cane?

william_shakes_beer said:

In the old days before the ferm chamber, I used a water bath. Place the fermenter into a rubbermaid tub and fill it half way with water. Drop in frozen water bottles to cool, or a submersible aquarium heater to heat, as required.

Click to expand...

Sounds good I can see myself doing something similar if the Missus kicks me into the outhouse for brewing, should be ok in summer but this time of year it's freezing out there :/

It could. Racking canes are fairly cheap. I would just go to you LHBS and pick it up. I also put a nylon bag on the end of my racking cane to keep settiment out of my secondary.

derbycitybrewer said:

It could. Racking canes are fairly cheap. I would just go to you LHBS and pick it up. I also put a nylon bag on the end of my racking cane to keep settiment out of my secondary.

Click to expand...

I'll pick one up before its due for transfer
Thanks again and happy new year!!

sc0tty81 said:

I'll pick one up before its due for transfer
Thanks again and happy new year!!

Click to expand...

Happy New Years to you as we'll. dunno if you get on YouTube or not but there's a huge community of us that makes homebrew Wednesday videos and a great way to ask other brewers questions while you show us in the video. My name on there is jelder1276 check it out. Cheers.

derbycitybrewer said:

Happy New Years to you as we'll. dunno if you get on YouTube or not but there's a huge community of us that makes homebrew Wednesday videos and a great way to ask other brewers questions while you show us in the video. My name on there is jelder1276 check it out. Cheers.

Click to expand...

I'll check it out, cheers, party time!!