First brew...and wow, higher temp than I expected!

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Saint Aardvark

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Hi everyone -- I did my first brew today after spending the last six months collecting Grolsch bottles and reading lots. (No, I don't obsess...) Things went pretty well, I think -- no boilovers, no obvious contamination (though I'll know for sure in a week or so), and no mess. Woot!

The recipe is for Strathcona Pale Ale, a recipe from my local HBS; I'm using Wyeast 1332 in hopes of getting some nice English Ale aroma -- I have very fond memories of Bass Ale on tap when I lived in England. The OG came out higher than it should have been -- 1.056 or so, instead of 1.046 -- but I'm letting that go.

The one thing I'm wondering about is the temperature of the fermenter. I'm using a plastic bucket as primary, and I'm keeping it in the parking garage of my townhouse, where I have a storage room. The temperature in the room is dead set at 19-20C (66-68F), so I figured that would be perfect for the yeast. What I didn't count on was the rise in temperature in the few hours since pitching: the thermometer on the side of the fermenter says 30C (86F)! And since this is one of those sticky, changes-colour-to-match-the-temp thermometers, it must be right. :D

I've read -- many times -- the thread about ruining beer, and I've read Revvy's advice about time healing all wounds^Wbeer...so I'm not too worried. I've got a wet t-shirt on the fermenter, and hopefully that'll get the temperature down a bit too.

What I'm wondering is whether I should continue to pay attention to this -- keep wetting the t-shirt, point a fan at it, whatever -- or if I'm worrying too much. Yes, I'm a newbie, so worrying too much is probably gonna happen anyway. Until my home brew is ready, I've got some microbrew stocked up to alleviate the anxiety. :tank:

Anyhow...that's it. Thanks for the great advice in all the forums, everyone, and glad to meetcha!
 
Saint Aardvark said:
Hi everyone -- I did my first brew today after spending the last six months collecting Grolsch bottles and reading lots. (No, I don't obsess...) Things went pretty well, I think -- no boilovers, no obvious contamination (though I'll know for sure in a week or so), and no mess. Woot!

The recipe is for Strathcona Pale Ale, a recipe from my local HBS; I'm using Wyeast 1332 in hopes of getting some nice English Ale aroma -- I have very fond memories of Bass Ale on tap when I lived in England. The OG came out higher than it should have been -- 1.056 or so, instead of 1.046 -- but I'm letting that go.

The one thing I'm wondering about is the temperature of the fermenter. I'm using a plastic bucket as primary, and I'm keeping it in the parking garage of my townhouse, where I have a storage room. The temperature in the room is dead set at 19-20C (66-68F), so I figured that would be perfect for the yeast. What I didn't count on was the rise in temperature in the few hours since pitching: the thermometer on the side of the fermenter says 30C (86F)! And since this is one of those sticky, changes-colour-to-match-the-temp thermometers, it must be right. :D

I've read -- many times -- the thread about ruining beer, and I've read Revvy's advice about time healing all wounds^Wbeer...so I'm not too worried. I've got a wet t-shirt on the fermenter, and hopefully that'll get the temperature down a bit too.

What I'm wondering is whether I should continue to pay attention to this -- keep wetting the t-shirt, point a fan at it, whatever -- or if I'm worrying too much. Yes, I'm a newbie, so worrying too much is probably gonna happen anyway. Until my home brew is ready, I've got some microbrew stocked up to alleviate the anxiety. :tank:

Anyhow...that's it. Thanks for the great advice in all the forums, everyone, and glad to meetcha!
Click to expand...

Welcome to HBT!
Yep, this is one of those things you should worry about. Controlling the fermentation temperature is probably one of the most important things in making the best beer you can. Those stick on thermometers are great- some would say they are not 100% accurate, but my feeling is that they are close. So, you're about 10-20 degrees too warm. Using the wet towel works great- can you blow a fan on it, too? That will really help. I use an Igloo cooler with some water and bottles of ice and put the fermenter in there.
 
Thanks for the reply and the advice! No outlet in the storage room, so a fan's out. But I just went down to check it, and with the wet t-shirt the temperature's already down to 24C (75F). I'll check in on it tomorrow, and maybe stick it in a big bucket of water with some ice.

Can't wait to meet this beer when it's done...
 
Pez said:
Brilliant! Use an igloo cooler, then use it later on when you convert to AG
Click to expand...

That was my plan- I bought an Igloo Ice cube with wheels. But I liked it so much for my "Yooper Lagerator" than I bought a different cooler when I went AG.

I have pictures of the cooler in my gallery. I made a different styrofoam lid for it, so just the airlock peaks out and I can lager it at 34 degrees in my basement. For ales, I just add less frozen water bottles, and keep it at 64 degrees or so in the summer.
 
YooperBrew said:
I have pictures of the cooler in my gallery. I made a different styrofoam lid for it, so just the airlock peaks out and I can lager it at 34 degrees in my basement. For ales, I just add less frozen water bottles, and keep it at 64 degrees or so in the summer.
Click to expand...

That's a pretty slick setup. Silly question, but do you put water in there too, or just frozen water bottles?
 
Saint Aardvark said:
That's a pretty slick setup. Silly question, but do you put water in there too, or just frozen water bottles?
Click to expand...

Water, up to the level of the beer. That's why the wheels are so great- that set up is HEAVY! The water insulates it, so that any temperature changes are incredibly gradual. That means, as the ice melts, that the temperature doesn't go up more than a couple of degrees, and when it is time, I just replace those melted water bottles.
 
Also, I forgot to mention that when my beer goes to the secondary fermenter, I keep it pretty cool, like 50-55F. Any thoughts on that?
 
telemarc said:
Also, I forgot to mention that when my beer goes to the secondary fermenter, I keep it pretty cool, like 50-55F. Any thoughts on that?
Click to expand...

As long as fermentation is completely over, that's fine. Beer conditions faster at warmer temperatures, so you may need to leave it longer at those cooler temps.
 
Thanks, Yoop. As usual, you have calmed my nerves. Actually, the Knuckle Ball Bock I'm sipping is quite calming as well.
 
Hey, I don't have anything much to add (I use the bin full of water and ice to cool my beer too), but it's nice to see someone else who goes to dan's shop (i recognized the recipe right away). I used to live in new west too.

BTW, the pub at the quay used to have grolsch bottles on special once a week, so they had a lot of empties. My buddy was able to talk to them and got them for the price of the deposit. It's worth looking into.
 
emoutal said:
BTW, the pub at the quay used to have grolsch bottles on special once a week, so they had a lot of empties. My buddy was able to talk to them and got them for the price of the deposit. It's worth looking into.
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks for the tip! I've been forcing myself to drink Grolsch...it's really not my thing...so if there's a way to get the bottles with less hassle, I'm all over it.
 
I learned a similar lesson in my first couple of batches, and later on read about it in Palmer's book. The fermentation process gives off way more heat than I expected it would. I also had one batch go up to around 85+ degrees. As you would expect, I found that the combination of higher gravity beer and fast-acting yeast gives off the most heat. But this was really only a problem during the first couple of days when it was bubbling really fast. After things slowed down, around the second or third day, it was not an issue anymore.
 

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