Winter Brewing

I live in the sometimes artic of Northern Illinois and my house is normally about 60 degrees. My question is whether the less than ideal temperture will affect my brews? The fermentation seems pretty normal, but I'm a little new to all this and wondered if I'm better off finding a way to bring up the temperature a few notches to help the yeast. Likewise, the beer ages in the basement around 58-60 degrees. Anybody think that will be a problem too?

By the way, I haven't posted yet, but reading everybody else's questions has helped a lot. Thanks a lot.

A lot depends on the yeast strain. Most of them will work at that temp but some will be slower than others. It has also been my experience that highly flocculate yeast tend to drop out early when it's cool leaving a high finished gravity.

you should be perfect. About the only problem you can get from low temps is stalled or slow ferments. If your beer looks like it's fermenting fine you probably are and getting a nice clean ferment too boot. If it looks like you might be stalled put a towel around your fermenters and warm them up a touch or try a small heating pad to do the same thing

I live in N. Illinois and my basement is around the same temps. After a day or two of fermentation I will shake the carboy a little to help the yeast kick back in if it has slowed at all. A 60 degree fermentation is a great temp and doesn't leave you with alot of off flavors.

I live in northern WI and I keep my house around 62. I get pour fermentation. I moved my beer to a closet with a space heater to 70. It works out way better and more control on the profile the yeast gives.

Not only should you be fine fermenting at cooler temps, but you should take advantage of them. You have the opportunity to brew cleaner crisper beers in cooler weather.

Try using German Ale Yeast (Wyeast 1007), Kolsh Yeast (Wyeast 2565), or even a warmer fermenting lager yeast, such as a California lager (steam beer) yeast.

Some of your ferments may take a little longer, but my experience is that you will be pleased with the results.

I agree with most everyone here. I think these temps are great for brewing. I'm doing just what mmditter suggested. I have a Kölsch sitting in the garage conditioning at a happy 42 degrees and I just brewed an Alt Bier yesterday and it is bubbling away at 60 degrees. I am also going to brew up a California Common while the temps are still favorable.

You beers are going to turn out great if you give them time. DON'T rush them out of the primary.

Basement temps at 58 60??? No-brainer. Perfect temps for fermenting lagers. Brew a Bock. Yummy.

Steam beer fermenting temps. Go for it.

The temp is just right you should be able to brew some great lagers and if conditioned in these temps for a while should come out awesome. Some ale yeast may be a bit slow at these temps but with a belt or pad heater you should be able to have good control on the fermentation temp.

You should take advantage of the cooler conditions.

My basement is about 58-60f most days this time of year, which, for my ales, leaves my fermentation temps about 62-64f after you figure in the natural heat from the fermentation. That works for most of my ales and leaves them with none of those stupid esters that I got during the summer. However, as fermentation slows down and the natural heat dissipates, they dip below 60f. It's about that time that I apply a heating pad and a blanket (I've got one on my Hop Beatdown right now as a matter of fact). This brings the carboy temp up to the mid-to-upper sixties, which helps to finish out fermentation and improve attenuation.

Thanks for this thread. Sounds like us northern IL brewers have the same issues. My first day on this forum and I've already jotted down a page of notes. My first brew is in its third day of fermentation sitting in my pantry (live in an apt. so no basement). Looks like temp is down to about 61 - 63 degrees. Hard to tell with the adhesive thermometer exactly. I used 11g Nottingham yeast packet on 5 gallons of IPA. Bubbling is getting pretty slow. I'm going to take a hydrometer reading tomorrow night and plan on bottling this weekend. Most advice I've been given says not to leave it in the fermenter for more than a week. I'm brewing in plastic with no plans for secondary right now. Any tips on what I should look for outside of the gravity reading at that temp?

Thanks!

jvh261 don't plan on bottling just yet. If you are not racking to a secondary for conditioning, then let it sit in primary for a total of 2 weeks before checking the sg. Then if the readings show a steady reading for 3 consective days then it is ok to bottle providing the fg is within accepted ranges.

Nottingham yeast, one of my favorites... loves the cool temps! 60F is perfect!

Brewpilot

My first few were stouts done with the Nottingham around those temps, and they came out great.

I did take a reading tonight just out of curiosity since bubbling is very slow and gravity is 1.020, trying to get in the neighborhood of 1.012 - 1.015, so its getting there. The good news is that so far it looks, smells and sorta tastes (had to sneak a little sip -- hey, its my first time) like beer. But as long as I have nothing to worry about leaving it in the plastic for more than a week I'll keep it going and leave it alone until next week. It's still around 63 degrees. Hearing that batches with this yeast and temp have turned out well gave my confidence a little boost. Thanks.

You guys are all "down south" from where I live. I've found that using cooler fermenting ale yeast does the trick, and I also am doing a lager in my basement. My house is around 60, except for the office where I have a space heater. That's around 64-65. I have my bottled beer carbonating in that area, and only move my fermenters in there if fermentation seems to stall. So far, I've made some of my best beers. (My basement pantry is 40 degrees, so I have a cooler that I modified, put the carboy in, and added water and a couple of frozen water bottles, and my beer is lagering right at 34 degrees).

The pacman yeast did well at 60, as did the 1056 American Ale yeast. Even though that's the ambient temperature, inside the carboy/bucket it's a bit warmer during fermentation. The "smack packs" took forever (like two or three days!) to swell, though. And I made sure I had nice starters before brewing. I'm brewing early next week, and I'm going to make my starter tomorrow and step it up for a day or two to make sure it's going well.

The cooler temperatures make better beer, IMHO.

Lorena