Fridge temp for fermentation

I bought a fridge to use for fermenting . I am trying to figure out the best temp to set it at for using US05 or Notty . Normally I ferment at room temp of about 68 to 72 . good beer but I think it could be better if lower temp .
I was thinking about temp of 60 to make wort temp about 65 maybe ?

I am going to do an experiment . I have some cream of three crops that i did at room temp of about 68 and I am going to do the next in the fridge and see how the taste differs .

MarcusKillion said:

I bought a fridge to use for fermenting . I am trying to figure out the best temp to set it at for using US05 or Notty . Normally I ferment at room temp of about 68 to 72 . good beer but I think it could be better if lower temp .
I was thinking about temp of 60 to make wort temp about 65 maybe ?

I am going to do an experiment . I have some cream of three crops that i did at room temp of about 68 and I am going to do the next in the fridge and see how the taste differs .

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For me about 68 seems to be a sweet spot for 05. Assuming you have an external temp control for your fridge, try attaching the temp probe directly to the carboy of bucket and insulating over the top. This will help keep the internal temp closer to your set point regardless of amount of fermentation activity.

Thanks for the info guys.
Wish I would have known about that controller before I spent 80 bucks on a Johnson .
As of now I have not used a controller . It is on the way . My fridge is at about 64 degrees with my centennial and nut brown in it . I actually fermented these beers in 68 to 70 degree room and then put them in the fridge to set for a few weeks . I just bought this fridge last week . got lucky and the guy dropped price from 250 to 80 because he dropped it off the truck during a delivery . just dented the door a some and scuffed it up .

so I take it that a good temp for the beer is 68 and if I attach probe to bucket and set controller at 68 I should get that .

thanks again

MarcusKillion said:

so I take it that a good temp for the beer is 68 and if I attach probe to bucket and set controller at 68 I should get that .

thanks again

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Definitely keep Nottingham under 68*F (as measured on the fermenter). Any warmer and it tends to throw some off-flavors that get funkier the warmer it gets. That yeast actually does quite well down into the mid-upper 50's. I've fermented with it as low as 55*F and it was very active with a nice clean (lager-like) result.

US-05 seems to like 64-66*F.

Once you get your temp controller set up, it's a very good practice to "ramp up" your fermentations. Pitch and start them toward the lower end of the optimal range for the yeast used, hold it there 5-7 days and then let it come up slowly until it gets to 68*F. Let it finish there. You will like the results.

Another nice thing you can do with what you've bought is to cold crash. After ferment is done, drop the temp to about 35-36*F and keep it there 4-5 days before racking to the bottling bucket. This will really help to clarify your beer and compact the trub/yeast in the bottom of the fermenter.

Controller is off by about 3 degrees I think . Not sure since I have none that are actually correct. It read boiling water about right but I think on lower temps it is wrong .
Should have bought a good thermometer to begin with . I spent about a 90 bucks so far on cheap ones .

MarcusKillion said:

Controller is off by about 3 degrees I think . Not sure since I have none that are actually correct. It read boiling water about right but I think on lower temps it is wrong .
Should have bought a good thermometer to begin with . I spent about a 90 bucks so far on cheap ones .

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Yep, some lessons it seems we all seem to learn the hard way - that's one of many. As for checking the low temp however, try crushed ice in water. It should be just above 32.

Here's a thread that explores your question in depth:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/another-us-05-experiment-temperature-fluctuations-403882/

Personally I like to ferment 05 at 65. My temp probe from the regulator sits in a plastic bag with water in it taped right up to the side of the fermenter. Then I insulate with bubble wrap. I want the temperature of the water in the bag to be 62 to 63. I also have an aquarium sticker thermometer on the fermenter to double check my accuracy.

I like that temp control system that BigFolyd posted! I'm gonna have to look into that for my second fermentation chamber.

MarcusKillion said:

Controller is off by about 3 degrees I think . Not sure since I have none that are actually correct. It read boiling water about right but I think on lower temps it is wrong .
Should have bought a good thermometer to begin with . I spent about a 90 bucks so far on cheap ones .

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What sort of controller are we talking about?

johnson A419ABG-3C .

I really think I need to buy a good thermometer and check it . I have a wall , a couple digital cooking and a dial cooking and all are a bit different on different temps but for the most part it is close . I just set my fridge to 66 dif 2 and fermenting is going but slow . I suspect that is due to colder than I am used to temps . I usually have it in a room that is 70 - 72 .

edit : I thought about buying a people thermometer to check against the others . i figure that one would be accurate around them temps

BigFloyd said:

How are you measuring and controlling the temperature in your fermenter fridge? If you haven't already done so, time to take the guess work out of the process by putting together a digital controller box using an STC-1000 (about 20 bucks on Amazon) to go with that fridge. I use three of them and am extremely pleased.

It's a dual temperature controller. You wire it into a standard 2-plug outlet that you mount in some kind of project box (either homemade or bought at Radio Shack). One (cool) outlet is for the freezer/fridge. Into the other (warm) outlet, you plug some kind of small heater and then put that heater inside the freezer.

Set the target temp (in Celsius) on the STC-1000. Set the tolerance (default is +/-0.5*C). When the temp (as read by the sensor) climbs 0.5*C above the target, it powers up the cool outlet and keeps it energized until the temp drops to the target and then turns it off. Likewise with the warm outlet if it gets 0.5*C too cool. You tape the sensor on the side of the fermenter and place some kind of insulation like bubble wrap over top of it so that it reads the bucket temp and not the air.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-fish-tank-controller-build-using-wal-mart-parts-261506/


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I-iwFLykxs

http://brewstands.com/fermentation-heater.html

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Hi bud i have mine built now just a quick question.If i set the temperature to say 18c/64.4f with a 0.3 allowance the chiller kicks in at 18.3 but carry's on to about 18.5 with the excess heat it chills to 17.7 then the heater kicks in but continues down to 16.5 with the excess cold so it's fluctuating 2 degrees below my target how can i make it more stable i was thinking about adding a fan inside to move the air about.

excalibur1976 said:

Hi bud i have mine built now just a quick question.If i set the temperature to say 18c/64.4f with a 0.3 allowance the chiller kicks in at 18.3 but carry's on to about 18.5 with the excess heat it chills to 17.7 then the heater kicks in but continues down to 16.5 with the excess cold so it's fluctuating 2 degrees below my target how can i make it more stable i was thinking about adding a fan inside to move the air about.

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Where's your temp probe located?

So I have another question . More of a fermentation ? but about fridge .
I made some Cream of three crops . Put in fridge at 64 I think and instead of using the usual air lock I used a air lock with the end cut off and a hose attached to the top into a bucket of water in case it did a huge fermentation . No big one this time .
So it bubbled after a couple days but only a bubble maybe once a minute or so .
I raised the temp a degree and then on up a degree at a time to 67 . nothing changed .

So my question is , it has been a week in fridge and nothing much going on , is this just a normal fermentation that would normally be bubbling steadily in the air lock but is only bubbling now and then because it has not enough pressure built up to bubble rapidly through the big tube ?
My fist time at low temps , below 68 to 72 room temp . My beer was at 64 beer temp to start .

MarcusKillion said:

So my question is , it has been a week in fridge and nothing much going on , is this just a normal fermentation that would normally be bubbling steadily in the air lock but is only bubbling now and then because it has not enough pressure built up to bubble rapidly through the big tube ?
My fist time at low temps , below 68 to 72 room temp . My beer was at 64 beer temp to start .

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Your temps sound fine. What yeast are you using? For most ales, 64*F (beer temp, not air) is excellent.

As far as activity, you really can't go by airlock or blow-off tube bubbles. Yes, it does take more CO2 pressure to push through the tube vs. an airlock. What was your OG? What is the gravity now? That's how you can really tell.

BigFloyd said:

Where's your temp probe located?

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Hi bud thanks for you fast reply! At the moment it was just the empty fridge as i'v only just made it.I guess it will be better when i put it on the side of the fv.I did have it taped to the back,my bad thats where the cold comes from i think as it gets wet there so i put it on the floor of the fridge with a thermometer and now there is only 1 degree difference.I also changed the tolerance to 0.5.

excalibur1976 said:

Hi bud thanks for you fast reply! At the moment it was just the empty fridge as i'v only just made it.I guess it will be better when i put it on the side of the fv.I did have it taped to the back,my bad thats where the cold comes from i think as it gets wet there so i put it on the floor of the fridge with a thermometer and now there is only 1 degree difference.I also changed the tolerance to 0.5.

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The temp probe measuring the air tends to fluctuate quite a lot. It'll be much better taped to the side of the bucket/carboy and insulated.

If at all possible, pitch at a few degrees lower than your initial target ferment temp and let it come up. If you put 5 gallons of warmer wort in there, it will take some time to steady because the fridge/freezer has to get much colder to bring the wort temp down. It can overshoot the first few times before it settles down.

BigFloyd said:

The temp probe measuring the air tends to fluctuate quite a lot. It'll be much better taped to the side of the bucket/carboy and insulated.

If at all possible, pitch at a few degrees lower than your initial target ferment temp and let it come up. If you put 5 gallons of warmer wort in there, it will take some time to steady because the fridge/freezer has to get much colder to bring the wort temp down. It can overshoot the first few times before it settles down.

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O.k thats a good tip.Before i use it i'll fill the fv with water and put a external temp probe in it and see how it looks. thanks for your help mate.

BigFloyd said:

Your temps sound fine. What yeast are you using? For most ales, 64*F (beer temp, not air) is excellent.

As far as activity, you really can't go by airlock or blow-off tube bubbles. Yes, it does take more CO2 pressure to push through the tube vs. an airlock. What was your OG? What is the gravity now? That's how you can really tell.

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do not know the gravity yet . I will wait for another week and then check . Should be good . I used notty . I normally have real strong fermentations but also normally are in room at 70 or so degrees .
I raised it up to 67 a few days ago , beer temp according to johnson controller and about the same in air according to a wall thermometer . So one of them is probably off by a couple degrees . how ever I really do not think that will affect the quality any .

I saved two bottles of this that I fermented at a room temp of 68 to compare to the this one in fridge .

I think I will make one in future with some agave nectar in it . That blue moon agave nectar ale sure is good tasting stuff

MarcusKillion said:

I think I will make one in future with some agave nectar in it . That blue moon agave nectar ale sure is good tasting stuff

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They actually carry that at our local Walmart. I bought a sixer of it there to take to a dinner (at a BYOB restaurant) along with some of my homebrew just in case someone there wanted a commercial selection. My son gave me a taste of one that he had poured to try out. I must say that it's the best thing Blue Moon has ever made. Quite tasty.