Different yeasts... same fridge?

I want to start thinking about a fermenting fridge and collecting materials, controls, etc... so that I can be ready to build when the warmer months hit...

One question I have though.. Certain yeasts create more heat on their own than others.. and sometimes you want one beer to ferment a couple degrees cooler than another..

How do you guys handle this issue when fermenting more than one ale that has slightly different temp requirements in the same ferment fridge?

In my SoF chamber, I usually just put the temp probe on the most recently brewed beer. I've rarely brewed more than one beer a week. I figure that the beer that's been in there a week has reached it's FG, so I can probe the new carboy to maintain it's proper temperatures. A slight swing in conditioning temp shouldn't affect the conditioning process too much. Or at least I don't worry about it too much.

You can always regulate the temperature of the fridge to the cooler of the two beers, and then wrap the warmer beer in a fermwrap (and then ideal a carboy jacket on top of that for insulation). You'll need two temperature controllers of course. It seems strange to have a heater in the fridge, but if your warmer beer is insulated properly there's actually a lot less tug-of-war than you'd think.

I do the same as storunner and tape the probe to the most recent brew. Temps are critical the first few days when the majority of the fermentation is happening, and not all that important after that. Sometimes I'll be using two different yeasts at the same time, in which case I'll wedge the temp probe between the two fermenters.

MalFet said:

You can always regulate the temperature of the fridge to the cooler of the two beers, and then wrap the warmer beer in a fermwrap (and then ideal a carboy jacket on top of that for insulation). You'll need two temperature controllers of course. It seems strange to have a heater in the fridge, but if your warmer beer is insulated properly there's actually a lot less tug-of-war than you'd think.

Click to expand...

Thanks.. That's a good suggestion... Although, those blankets and controllers could get expensive with up to six batches fermenting at once... but over time, big expenses can be eaten at a bite at a time...