Yeast temp range.

Hello there!
I brew in my apartment with two 2 gallon Mr. Beer fermenting kegs. Worried that the ambient air temp in my one story apartment is stalling the yeast (68-70F). I'm currently trying a warm water bath in a plastic tote with an aquarium heater set to 76 degrees. Is the upper 70's too high for the yeast?

Yes. You should not be concerned about not being warm enough but rather too warm. You will get decent beer at your ambient temps but a little funky at the 76 you intend to raise it.

I do not know what strain is in that Mr. Beer but I would be really surprised if 68F was cold enough to impede fermentation. I think 76F is more likely to be much too warm, and that can induce off flavors in your beer.

I agree with the rest, you should be looking at cooling the beer not making it warmer.
I ferment almost all of my beers at 66 degs. That is the temperature of the beer not ambient temp which is lower than that.

Cool. I turned the heater down to 72F. We'll see how that goes. I don't brew in high enough quantity yet to have patience, and I'm trying to cut corners......FOR SCIENCE!

You won't stall an ale yeast until in the 50's F. If anything you are fermenting too warm. Mid to low sixties is good.

I would expect that you should be experiencing very fast ferments. Yeast like high temperatures but at those high temperatures you could get bad off flavors.

It is hard, but patience really is a virtue in this. Don't turn up the heat.

The old saying holds true in brewing "good things come to those who wait"
give it time and don't cut corners, you will be rewarded with some tasty brew.

steve-apartmentbrew said:

Cool. I turned the heater down to 72F. We'll see how that goes. I don't brew in high enough quantity yet to have patience, and I'm trying to cut corners......FOR SCIENCE!

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Remember that fermentation creates additional temperatures (up to 10 degrees above ambient) and that is not good if too high. I suggest getting the temperature down to the mid sixties ASAP.

I ferment at room temp. I let it ferment for 2-3 weeks and do the taste/clarity test. When it tastes like flat beer I bottle. I was trying to carbonate at a higher temp to try to speed up the process.

steve-apartmentbrew said:

I ferment at room temp. I let it ferment for 2-3 weeks and do the taste/clarity test. When it tastes like flat beer I bottle. I was trying to carbonate at a higher temp to try to speed up the process.

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I don't understand what you are saying.
Are you done fermenting and trying to carbonate?
is it bottled?
carbonation happens in the bottles, anything you do prior to bottling is not going to speed anything up.

I ferment in the 2gal fermenters for 2-3 weeks. I'm having troubles with carbonation. I thought a warm water bath for the bottles would help speed the yeast through the additional sugar added for carbonation.

Hi Steve,

I brewed in an apartment and the lower the temp the better. You're lucky if you have get a steady 60's temperature for most ale yeast in an apt. I brewed 3 gallon batches so I'm right there with you. I'll continue to brew 3 gallon batches for a long time to come. For fermentation time, you are going to have to take a back seat. Let the bottles ferment at room temp for a few weeks. In the meantime, brew more or buy craft brews to get your mind off the young beer.

My wife gets pissed when I bring up buying some buckets. "We don't have the room!", to which I reply "I'll throw away clothes!" And around in a circle it goes.

I'd really like to brew 5 gallon batches of mead since it just needs time and carbonation is optional.

steve-apartmentbrew said:

My wife gets pissed when I bring up buying some buckets. "We don't have the room!", to which I reply "I'll throw away clothes!" And around in a circle it goes.

I'd really like to brew 5 gallon batches of mead since it just needs time and carbonation is optional.

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Yeah except beer is a lot better tasting than mead. Mead tastes like catpiss unless you are like.. mead chef extraordinaire 10+ years experience. Mead aficionados say even pro commercially available mead is too sweet and lacks je ne sais quoi.

Check out my old setup in tiny closet. Those are three gallon carboys. The only thing that cause me anxiety was the temps.