Temp Control

I'm as "noob" as they come. My first batch (of Mr Beer) is only 4 days in. But I just ordered some more ingredients and hope to start a second batch this weekend.

Just wondering what people do to control the temp during fermentation. I live in a drafty old house... and even with the thermostat set on 75, the warmest the house gets is high 60's. I have a space heater set up in the room I'm fermenting in. Its set to come on when the room dips below 70 (which is often). There must be a more efficient way to heat the space around the fermenter though. Maybe a heating pad on the lowest setting? Or some kind of directional space heater?

I dont want blistering heat... I know. Just trying to keep it in the sweet spot without killing my power bill. Thanks in advance for the advice.

Yes.

Edit: no fair changing the question after you post!
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/fermwrap-cheap-238652/

Let the room drop to 60 or even high 50's before you heat it. That wort needs to be below 65 while fermenting and at high krausen it will be up to 8 degrees warmer than the ambient air.

High 60s is a good temp. Especially at the start when the yeast creates it's own additional heat.

I'm a beginner, too. I have to do my fermenting in my basement which, during the winter doesn't get much warmer than 58 degrees.

I bought a Brew Belt from my local store before I started my first batch. I put the Brew Belt on the fermenter and wrapped it in an old sleeping bag when the temperature had dropped to about 64 degrees in the primary, about 24 hours into fermentation. That caused a krausen that bubbled out the top of the fermentation lock. Fortunately, having sampled the beer two weeks after bottling, it tastes great.

For my second brew I left off the sleeping bag and Brew Belt and waited until the high krausen had subsided. When the temperature dropped to about 62 I put the brew belt on, but no sleeping bag, and the temp has been maintaining around 64 to 66.

I would recommend the Brew Belt.

i wouldn't worry about temps in the high 50's to low 60's. it's perfect for fermenting most ales. check this out.

chumpsteak said:

Let the room drop to 60 or even high 50's before you heat it. That wort needs to be below 65 while fermenting and at high krausen it will be up to 8 degrees warmer than the ambient air.

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Yep! or more!
I can confirm 10F personally, and one fellow here reported 16F !

One thought if you are still concerned about temp is to build the STC-1000 digital controller and use a blue board box and duct tape. The STC-1000 has a multitude of threads and wiring diagrams here and on other sites. A 100 watt lamp would probably suffice as a heat soure for intermittent use. The lower temps in your brew room are pretty close to ideal temps so just using the heat side of the controller is an easy thing to do. Search STC-1000 on this forum and see if that won't address your issues 100%. Just my .02, I'm still a newby but learning fast.
Bob

NordeastBrewer77 said:

check this out.

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Excellent write-up. Still a little over my head (pitch rates? attenuation?), but something I'll keep in mind. Thanks.

Thanks for all the responses. I did some research after I posted this question (probably should have done that first... my bad). Found people using everything from light bulbs to heating pads to custom temp controllers and insulated fermenting cabinets. In short...people are passionate about their beer, and willing to experiment!

I didnt realize fermentation would raise the temp of the wort. Makes sense though. Chemical reactions tend to do that. I've been monitoring my temps with a table-top thermometer which only measures ambient air temp. I'll pick up a stick-on thermometer before I start my next batch.

Thanks again!

What about us that live in warm climates? I keep the windows and doors open during the day because I can't fathom (nor afford) running the A/C in February. It still gets all of 76-77 in my house. But of course dips to 70-72 inside during the night with the house closed up. I have tile in 75% of my house. Been keeping the fermenter on that in hopes to help with heat.

swamp cooler will work wonders put your primary in a tub with water and use frozen water bottles to cool the water switch them out as much as needed to get your temps where you want it

Yeah I've read that.... sounds like a huge pain in the ass to be honest with you.

If you want to have good consistent beer all year around you need to get serious and build a fermentation chamber. Here's what I did after my first 2 all grain batches came out chock full of fusels. Ferm chambers aren't cheep to build, but for a few hundred bucks you can control your temps and never worry about unintended off flavors again.

I agree that swamp coolers seem like a huge pain in the ass. That's why I decided to get serious and build a chamber in my garage.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-mini-fridge-fermentation-chamber-build-256068/

I personally think that ferm temp is the most important part of making beer.

firebirdude said:

Yeah I've read that.... sounds like a huge pain in the ass to be honest with you.

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It's a bit of hassle, but worth it to have a better tasting beer. If you can get lucky you might find a fridge on Craigslist for less than $100 and add a $25 Chinese temp control.

It's more expensive, but takes the hassle out of the equation.