76 degree basement

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Ernie3

Ernie3

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2008
Messages
161
Reaction score
1
Sorry if I am being repetitive. I know that there are alot of people posting about fermenting temps because it is summer time and all.
My basement is about 76 degrees pretty consistent right now, so If I was to brew a batch and let it ferment in the basement do you think a swamp cooler is nessesary? I am wondering because from what I have read the temp. in the pail will actually rise......... but will it rise enough to effect the batch? I guess the ambient temp. in my basement may rise a degree or two in the next few weeks as well depending on the weather.

I just really have the itch to get a batch or two going, and I work all kinds of wierd hours so tending to a swamp cooler could prove to be a real pain.:mug:
 
Yeah if it is 76 in the basement I would definitely use a swamp cooler...You only need to keep it in the 60's in the earlies days of fermentation, first 72 hours if it takes off right away, an week if not. THe water bath, after the fact will cushion the beer from any suddent temp shifts as well....it's a good insulator.

I would in a basement add some bleach or starsan to the water just to insure everything is sanitiary.
 
+1 on the cooler. 76 ambient is too warm for most styles IMO. The swamp cooler method really doesn't need much tending, as Revvy said because of the extra water it doesn't change temperature as quickly as the fermenter can in the open air. Even in the hot weather, I might add an ice bottle in the morning and another 2-3 in the late afternoon/evening. If it's really hot I might add another couple before I hit the rack. Once I get the temperature stabilized under 70 it only needs attention a couple times a day to keep it between 66-68 degrees. After the first week I don't worry about it as much.
 
Wooo.....76 degrees. I sometimes think I don't appreciate our basement enough. It'll get down into the mid-50's in the Winter, up to maybe 62-63 in Summer.
 
Well thanks guys, I guess it's either a swamp cooler or wait until fall when the temp drops a bit. The problem for me is the amount of time I am away at work, ussually 13 hours at a clip, which would make temp control pretty tricky.

Maybe I will look into a fridge. Can you adjust them that warm though?
 
rico567 said:
Wooo.....76 degrees. I sometimes think I don't appreciate our basement enough. It'll get down into the mid-50's in the Winter, up to maybe 62-63 in Summer.
Click to expand...

When I finished off our basement I insulated the walls, I think what is happening is that it is just holding the warmth down here at night and not cooling back down.
Same thing happens in the winter, once it gets cold down here it doesn't warm back up. I think Heat and A.C. might be in order.
 
rico567 said:
Wooo.....76 degrees. I sometimes think I don't appreciate our basement enough. It'll get down into the mid-50's in the Winter, up to maybe 62-63 in Summer.
Click to expand...

Just rub it in for us SE dwellers with no basements in our house and can't imagine the power bill for ACing the whole space down to 63! :p:D

As to temp control....you could be amazed how cool the waterbath will stay if you use the wet shirt/have frozen bottles of water exchanging. But if you want to "set it and forget it", you can get a temperature controller for a fridge (it cycles the fridge on and off to keep a proper fermentation temp).
 
Ernie3 said:
Maybe I will look into a fridge. Can you adjust them that warm though?
Click to expand...

Many of us run freezers as fridges with an external temperature controller. Ranco and Johnson are two the more popular ones. They're simple thermostats that switch your AC on and off to the appliance.
 
Ernie - if the basement keeps a steady 76, the swamp cooler is fairly low maintenance. Get a big enough cooler, keep enough frozen bottles to just cycle them, and you'll be fine.
My garage gets about 90, so my maintenance (swapping ice jugs) is a bit more frequent, but at 76 you'll be fine over a 13 hr shift.
Just parking the carboy/bucket in that ambient temp without a swamp cooler set-up and your beer will ferment closer to 82F - too hot.

Look into the fridge option whenever you want, but that's additional expense and you can make beer NOW!
 
Hang Glider said:
Ernie - if the basement keeps a steady 76, the swamp cooler is fairly low maintenance. Get a big enough cooler, keep enough frozen bottles to just cycle them, and you'll be fine.
My garage gets about 90, so my maintenance (swapping ice jugs) is a bit more frequent, but at 76 you'll be fine over a 13 hr shift.
Just parking the carboy/bucket in that ambient temp without a swamp cooler set-up and your beer will ferment closer to 82F - too hot.

Look into the fridge option whenever you want, but that's additional expense and you can make beer NOW!
Click to expand...

I will have to give it a shot, before I spend the cash on a fridge, my wife probably would also shoot that idea down too:mad:....I guess I will be freezing up some bottles.................Should I use a fan and wet shirt as well?
 
To forego a fan, I have my swamp cooler right near an AC vent so that it's getting some air blown on to it. But an ambient temp of 76 doesn't require extreme procedures.
 
Ernie3 said:
When I finished off our basement I insulated the walls, I think what is happening is that it is just holding the warmth down here at night and not cooling back down.
Same thing happens in the winter, once it gets cold down here it doesn't warm back up. I think Heat and A.C. might be in order.
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to us. After I finished it and got the ceiling installed it warmed up a little. A year later I added a 29 gallon fish tank and after adding the tank it warmed up the basement 5 degrees. Nothing else changed so I can only point to the fish as the reason. The tank is at 78 degrees and about one gallon a week evaporates. I don't quite believe it myself but I'm not sure why the basement is no longer the place to cool off except the tank.
 
You could try the water bath trick... My laundry room gets into the upper 70s, but I stick my carboy into the laundry sink and fill it with water. My ground water is about 68, which is pretty close to ale temp. I add ice to maintain a steady temp, but it takes a while for any significant change to occur.

I've heard of people using bath tubs as well. Good luck!
 
You could also brew Saisson or some Belgians, that are happy in the mid 70's.

One question for all though, what happens if you ferment too warm? I'm doing a Russian Imperial Stout now, and it's at 77. I can't seem to get it down lower. Fermentation started about 8 hours ago (it kicked off in 5 hours, full steam).

I'm wondering what happens if I can't bring it down and just let it ferment at 77. The yeast is WLP002, English Ale yeast, and it says to ferment at 68.

If the only issue is that more fruity flavor comes from the yeast...I can live with it...but if it's more, then maybe I can try to rig something between running back and forth from work or something.

thanks!
 
Too-hot fermentation will often give fruity flavors (bubble gum, bananas) but if it gets overly warm, you can get fusel alcohols as well. That's a "hot" alcohol flavor that can taste solvent-like (and is reputed to give wicked headaches).
 
davesrose said:
Just rub it in for us SE dwellers with no basements in our house and can't imagine the power bill for ACing the whole space down to 63! :p:D

As to temp control....you could be amazed how cool the waterbath will stay if you use the wet shirt/have frozen bottles of water exchanging. But if you want to "set it and forget it", you can get a temperature controller for a fridge (it cycles the fridge on and off to keep a proper fermentation temp).
Click to expand...

+1 for this. I would kill to have a basement! Stupid red clay and limestone caves.
 
Hang Glider said:
Smug, if you have access to limestone caves....you can ferment without temp control!:rockin:
Click to expand...

The extensive cave systems in this area are the primary reasons that basements are a no-go. I don't have access to any of them as they are all subterranean, but they are very shallow (about 10-20' below the surface). They actually have a height restriction on buildings in the downtown area. Had a house in our neighborhood that was almost swallowed by a sinkhole because the developer had read the land survey map incorrectly and built the house right on top of a shallow cave entrance. DOH!
 
Hang Glider said:
Ernie - if the basement keeps a steady 76, the swamp cooler is fairly low maintenance. Get a big enough cooler, keep enough frozen bottles to just cycle them, and you'll be fine.
My garage gets about 90, so my maintenance (swapping ice jugs) is a bit more frequent, but at 76 you'll be fine over a 13 hr shift.
Just parking the carboy/bucket in that ambient temp without a swamp cooler set-up and your beer will ferment closer to 82F - too hot.

Look into the fridge option whenever you want, but that's additional expense and you can make beer NOW!
Click to expand...

Hang Glider,
I have the same conditions in my garage. I have been keeping my fermenters inside my house, but I have realized that is not good enough especially with trying to cut back the ac to save money. SWMBO says if I need a swamp cooler it needs to go in the garage how often are you changing out bottles? and how log do you continue to use frozen bottles?

Thanks Doug
 
muenchk said:
You could also brew Saisson or some Belgians, that are happy in the mid 70's.

Now is that mid 70's in the pail fermenting or would that be ambient temp.?
If that's ambient temp. I am good to go. what actually is a Saisson comparable too? I never even heard of it before? Thanks:mug:
Click to expand...
 
bigdug said:
Hang Glider,
I have the same conditions in my garage. I have been keeping my fermenters inside my house, but I have realized that is not good enough especially with trying to cut back the ac to save money. SWMBO says if I need a swamp cooler it needs to go in the garage how often are you changing out bottles? and how log do you continue to use frozen bottles?

Thanks Doug
Click to expand...

I have a son of fermentation chiller in my garage. If the temp in the garage is below 80 then I can keep the thermostat set at about 63 for over 2 days without changing ice. However, if the temp gets into the 90s I have to change it in under 24 hours... at least while it is actively fermenting. I've only gotten to use it a couple of times, but typically when the air temp was 63 the beer inside the fermenter was about 68 during active fermentation.

There's some more information and pictures here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/son-fermentation-chiller-question-s-117095/
 
Ernie3...check out this link: it's White Labs yeast library and it tells you the temp ranges. And I'm pretty sure the temperature is PAIL, not ambient.

WLP550 Belgian ale yeast can ferment well up to 78, same goes for others. Check them out here. A saisson is a pretty light beer, they used to give it to farm workers in France to drink all day long. Typically, the alcohol is supposed to be under 4% or something, but the ones I've had have been up to 7%. I've never made one though, but they're good.

White Labs
 
Doug - I have (3) 3L bottles (formerly DeerPark water, on sale). In the morning, before work, one goes in. In the afternoon after work, one goes in, and just before I retire, one goes in. That pretty much takes care of it.
I do that for the first week, then after that if I miss, I don't panic. Still doesn't get above 70 with a miss. I hold it there until I'm ready to keg or bottle. If I secondary (dry hop) I still keep it about 70.
I could keep the whole assembly inside the house, in the AC, and probably swap less often, but the current tub has a leak and until I find/fix it, it's gotta stay in the garage.
 
Thanks Hang Glider and Knappster, what you listed is about what I had in mind. Some form of fermentation chiller is on the horizon Knappster but I am allready straining my 1 circuit I have in the Garage with my finished beer fridge and deep freezer for food. So a low tech version will have to make it this summer.
 

Similar threads

JohnSand
Oslo at Room Temperature?
Replies
2
Views
319
JohnSand
JohnSand
Zippy123
2565 at 76F?
Replies
7
Views
451
Bobo1898
B
Bilbo24
Wort cooldown temps and time????
Replies
17
Views
2K
marc1
marc1
Bilbo24
Bavarian Hefe not bubbling????
Replies
17
Views
1K
SFC Rudy
SFC Rudy
Burgbrew
This is getting old!
Replies
16
Views
2K
Burgbrew
Burgbrew
SSBrew 300

Latest posts

Back
Top