Screw it..Im moving up!

andycr said:

I like to keep mine in a rubbermaid container with ice water and just exchange ice bottles, keeping an eye on the thermometer on the side of the fermenter.

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Do you have one of those stick on ones? Im wondering if they will work with the Mr. Beer LBK which is what m fermenting in. That thing is pretty thick. Think one of the stick ons will be fine?

I always use the stick-ons, not sure how thick that fermenter is so not sure if it'll work. If you do put one on, I use packing tape to cover the stick-on so water doesn't get to it and ruin it.

Worst case if it's too thick to read, I'd stick it in the basement with a thermometer reading ambient temp and assume it's about 5º higher in the fermenter. Most ale yeast tastes best in the low to mid 60s, and really funky tasting stuff usually happens in the mid 70s.

Worst case you'll have beer, and stout is good at covering the little off-flavors caused by higher temperatures.

Yay! Yeah, ill grab one of the stick ons tomorrow and head down to the basement with the LBK. Im so hyped up about this brew that I cant sleep!

Congrats on the partial mash! Sounds like you had fun. The LBK is a great little fermentor that can be used for all techniques of brewing. I still do small AG batches in mine to test out recipes. Good luck and keep using the LBK as a yeast playground!

OMG! Woke up this morning and took a look inside the LBK (from the outside, not through the lid) and Ive got a nice 2-3 inch head of foam in that puppy. The LBK is so dark, I cant see the yeast working inside the liquid (Beer is basically black, too...double whammy), but that foam on top tells me that she is movin on up!

Went down to the basement and it is the same temp as what is in the house (I think because the duct work for the furnace is there and my FIL cut some vents in it because my wifes sister lived down there for a while). So, I came back up with my thermapen and found that the coolest part of my house is actually my sunporch. It has only a little insulation and is basically a room that is built off of the side of the house. No heat out there at all, but we leave the door open and it stays around 60-61 out there. So, I took my lbk out there and let it settle into it's new home for the next 28 days. Gonna keep a close eye on it.

60-61 might be a little chilly but will probably be ok. I've had that issue with things being a little cold (56F-57F for example) throughout my whole house cuz it's old balls and I don't typically run the furnace til it gets real cold. I had a couple beers take longer to finish/carb, but they DID finish and carb so win.

Doctor_Wily said:

60-61 might be a little chilly but will probably be ok. I've had that issue with things being a little cold (56F-57F for example) throughout my whole house cuz it's old balls and I don't typically run the furnace til it gets real cold. I had a couple beers take longer to finish/carb, but they DID finish and carb so win.

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Well, the basement is around 65. But running at 65, wouldn't the beer that is fermenting be closer to 70? Now Im confused.

For the first few days it could be a little hotter yea. You'll surely be fine putting it on the sun porch as long as it's pretty steady temp.

Well, thats where Its gonna get tricky...if it gets COLD outside, then the porch (sunroom) will dip. Im not so sure that the temps in there are steady at all actually. Im pretty sure the temps in the basement are real steady...should I just move it on down there where its a steady 64-65?

Congrats on the brew. I would just use your best judgement. Once the yeast has started, I set my last brew out in the garage where it got down to 55 at night, then brought it in when the fermentation started to slow after a day or two. Keep in mind the liquid will take longer to move temperatures to match the outside and especially since it's heating up from the fermentation.

In my house I go basement but off the floor. This gets me a nice 65-68* while on the floor is more like 60-63*.

As was said, you should be fine during active fermentation when the action is most exothermic. After that, move it to the basement. Also, I'm guessing your sunroom gets some sun. Put something opaque but not insulating around it to minimize uv exposure.

Congrats on the partial mash, too. Seems like just days ago you were asking if a stout was too complicated for you.

freisste said:

Seems like just days ago you were asking if a stout was too complicated for you.

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It was just days ago. LOL. I thoroughly enjoyed brewing this and am already thinking about buying a bucket, an airlock, and what im gonna brew next. I think a bug has biten me right on my buttocks.

GeorgiaTiger said:

It was just days ago. LOL. I thoroughly enjoyed brewing this and am already thinking about buying a bucket, an airlock, and what im gonna brew next. I think a bug has biten me right on my buttocks.

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Yeah, I looked back to make sure it was only days ago.

Btw, that bug is going around.

GeorgiaTiger said:

It was just days ago. LOL. I thoroughly enjoyed brewing this and am already thinking about buying a bucket, an airlock, and what im gonna brew next. I think a bug has biten me right on my buttocks.

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That's not a bad bug to have!!

Rock on!

I have a new question and didnt want to start a new thread, because frankly if I start a new thread for every question, Ill take over the forum. LOL.

In my first batch (the Mr. Beer kit batch), I never smelled the beer until I opened the lid to bottle it. When I opened that lid, it smelled like beer. On this Oatmeal stout, if I get within a foot of it with my nose, im smelling beer. Not just ANY beer, but stout! Now this is less than 24 hours after pitching the yeast. I also have a LOT of nasty looking sudsy crud on top of the beer level (about an inch and bubbling up a lot more in some places). This tells me that the yeast is kicking the sugars ass, but me smelling the beer just by getting close to the LBK concerns me. Should it? Is it normal?

Now, there is no air lock in the LBK because it has the built in air lock, so am I smelling what the air lock would normally smell like?

No issue. The nasty looking sudsy crud is krausen (I probably spelled that wrong). It happens to every beer. Just make sure it doesn't plug whatever mechanism you have to release the CO2 being created.

I figured the crud was OK, but the strong smell is what I was wondering about.

You may be smelling more because it is actively off-gassing CO2. It is coming out of the solution, so it is sort of like being saturates with the smell.

well, its definitely off gassing...the other batch wasnt even CLOSE to this much gunk the whole process...and this one is less than 24 hours.

GeorgiaTiger said:

Do you have one of those stick on ones? Im wondering if they will work with the Mr. Beer LBK which is what m fermenting in. That thing is pretty thick. Think one of the stick ons will be fine?

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Mr beer used to come with a stick on therm. Check you kit mine was wedged in the bottom of the box in a small bag. The stick ons are designed to work with glass aquarium walls. They will work with all fermenters that are not insulated. I used them on plastic pales, PET carboys, the LBK, and my glass carboy. No issues.

Um...I brewed this Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout on a recommendation for this forum having never tried it. Well, I picked one up tonight and did a pour from it. OMG! This may very well be my new favorite! If mine is HALF as good as this one I just had, Ill be SO happy! SUCH an awesome brew!!

GeorgiaTiger said:

I figured the crud was OK, but the strong smell is what I was wondering about.

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This may simply be a result of using fresh grains instead of all extract. Way more aroma with grain. my first partial mash went in a lbk to. The whole house smelled of honey malt and cascade hops until a few days after the krausen fell. even one with just chocolate malt steeped did that (whole house was chocolaty). With a carboy +air lock i get the same smell but it only is really obvious when i open up the cabnet i keep the fermenters in. it would seem the positive pressure air lock in the lbk lets alot more out then a standard3 peiceair lock.