Ferment too High or too Low?

if you had 2 choices:
1. primary at a temperature above the recomended ferm temp
2. primary at a temperature below the recomended ferm temp

i can't get my chest freezer to go up to 66-68 degrees because of the temp outside. the house is not going below 75 because of, well, the temp outside. at night it'll be 38-40, during the day it'll be 60-65.

what would you do ?

DeRoux's Broux said:

if you had 2 choices:
1. primary at a temperature above the recomended ferm temp
2. primary at a temperature below the recomended ferm temp

i can't get my cheswt freezer to go up to 66-68 degreesbecause of the temp outside. the house is not going below 75 because of, well, the temp outside. at night it'll be 38-40, during the day it'll be 60-65.

what would you do ?

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I'd definitely go below; it'll slow the fermintation but it shouldn't cause flavor problems. Too high can easily give you some off flavors. I speak from experience!

Lower is much safer. You'll still ferment though slower, you may have to rouse your yeast occasionally as they will want to settle out in lower temps.

The slower fermentation will yield less off flavors and a cleaner brew.

since you speak from exper. denovo, i'd like to know cause i've never heard about the off flavors. what kind of off flavors do you get if you ferment at too high of a temp??

Really, it depends on the yeast strain. Sometimes I'll use a yeast in the higher end of it's range becasue I want to esters in the beer. Some strains you do that and it tastes like bananas or strange chemicals.

I've been brewing in the 70-75 (mostly 70-72F) range lately because the garage is at lagering temperatures here right now and we haven't even hit winter yet.

I would not go above 80 deg! Under 78 pefered for sure. Though some yeast strains can work ok that high. You really should stick to the posted temp range the yeast strain states on the pack.

If you're worried about a slow (or no) start, I suppose you could get it going on the warm end, then move it to the cooler spot once it takes off.

You may also consider the fact that fermentation will raise the temperature of your fermenter too. I read that it can raise as much as 10deg F during initail fermentation. I have seen mine raise as much as 5 deg F.

If you put it in a tub of water when you set it outside it should help to maintain its current temp longer and keep it from dipping too fast.

good feedback guy's. just wanted to see what the majority would do ( if you only had one choice or the other). i put mine in the chest freezer. i accounted for the ferm generating heat, so i'll be around 65-67 degrees, which isn't too far below what i was shooting for.

Unless I was doing a Biere De Garde or Saisson style, I would keep it below.

Denny's Brew said:

Really, it depends on the yeast strain. Sometimes I'll use a yeast in the higher end of it's range becasue I want to esters in the beer. Some strains you do that and it tastes like bananas or strange chemicals. I would not go above 80 deg! Under 78 pefered for sure. Though some yeast strains can work ok that high. You really should stick to the posted temp range the yeast strain states on the pack.

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I agree with your comment that it depends on the yeast strain.

Since I brew mostly Hefe Weizens I would prefer the higher temp for them and lower temps for all the others brews.