Secondary - temps

I've just racked my NB Caribou Slobber Ale into a secondary and was just wondering if you guys tend to use different temperatures for secondary fermentation.

Primary temp was @ ~65F

I'm going to brew a batch of Midwest Copper Ale tonight and would like to store both in the same room. Is it normal to store primary fermentors with secondaries?

Apperciate your responses as always!

My primary and secondaries are all in the same place. Only reason I can think to change temperature on the secondary is if you wanted to cold crash it for a day or so at the end to drop sediment.

The only time I fluctuate temperatures during fermentation are during the first 3-4 days and then cold crashing.

The first few days of active primary fermentation can heat the fermenting wort a good 10 degrees higher than the ambient temperature. After that has passed ill finish fermentation at what's called for in the yeast description. Then after a few weeks I crash it to 40 for a week to clarify.

I keep my beer in an ambient temp of about ten degrees lower than the bottom end of the yeast's range in the beginning, and i slowly raise the temp up as fermentation progresses. I try to end near the middle/high end of the yeast temp range so that they are more active. Then i cold crash.

so you can keep the secondary a little warmer than the primary without worrying about off flavors (unless of course the secondary has more fermentables in it, then keep it cool)

If you lower the temperature after fermentation is completed you will get a cleaner beer. It's lagering an ale. Most of the time I don't do that, but I will cold crash it a couple days before bottling to clear it up a little.

Someone correct me on this if I am wrong, but:


I live in Texas, so I have high ambient temps (85 in my apt during the day right now to keep my electric bill down). I have a ferment fridge that only really fits one fermenter. Given those two things, I like to be able to take a beer out of temp control after a certain point. I have noticed a world of difference after switching to temp controlled primary, but I find that after fermentation is mostly done (2 weeks or so, around the time I'm brewing my next batch), I don't pick up any off flavors by taking the beer out of temp control. I let the yeast clean up at ambient temps and seem to be doing ok with that.

Although in most cases there is no reason to have different secondary temps. From what I have read, the off flavors are produced in the first few days of fermentation. In my case, I have to pay more attention to keeping the fermentation at the lower 65 or 66F than the houses 70 to 72F. Once I get into a secondary, or just past the first two weeks of fermentation, I am more lax on maintaining the lower temp.

I have also read that when making lagers you can allow the temp up to about 70 or so toward the later days of sitting in the fermenter, as an "acetyl rest" which, in essence, lowers acetyl concentrations. After a few days of this, the temp is brought back down.

DrVertebrae said:

I have also read that when making lagers you can allow the temp up to about 70 or so toward the later days of sitting in the fermenter, as an "acetyl rest" which, in essence, lowers acetyl concentrations. After a few days of this, the temp is brought back down.

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You can even do this with ales. Lots of brewers will allow their beer to sit at higher temps after initial fermentation, allowing the yeast to clean up their by-products.

I was unaware of that. For the ale, up to what temp and how long? I have a big Barley Wine ready to bottle but I might like to do something like that since its so big and probably more prone to off flavors.

You can ramp it up by a few degrees above your initial fermentation temps, as long as you're still in the optimal range for the yeast. For example, if I ferment in the mid 60s, I may let the secondary sit at 70-72 while I'm dry hopping. Seems to work fine, and I feel better avoiding any problems with diacetyl.

Sometimes, yeast need a good kick in the pants to achieve their best attenuation, and the higher temps will get you there, especially for some strains like Belgian Saison.

CastleHollow said:

You can ramp it up by a few degrees above your initial fermentation temps, as long as you're still in the optimal range for the yeast. For example, if I ferment in the mid 60s, I may let the secondary sit at 70-72 while I'm dry hopping. Seems to work fine, and I feel better avoiding any problems with diacetyl.

Sometimes, yeast need a good kick in the pants to achieve their best attenuation, and the higher temps will get you there, especially for some strains like Belgian Saison.

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I haven't noticed diacetyl problems. I'm just wondering: is there a reason to worry about optimum ferment range when fermentation is already done? I have found that secondary at ambient temps here has had no negative effect that I've noticed, and my beers clean up well, are very clear, and carb in 4-5 days. This seems to be so contrary to the conventional wisdom that I question whether there is something I'm missing, but I have had beers with high levels of fusels (I made them before I started temp controlling) and I have had beers with too much diacetyl, and I don't detect that in mine.

Good discussion here, thanks for the info guys~