Fermenting Temp question

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.

Grinder12000

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2008
Messages
2,996
Reaction score
50
Location
Columbus WI
I'm doing my first recipe a Taddy Porter and it calls for fermenting at 67 degrees.

My basement is 68 degrees - I assume they are talking about the actual brew and not room temp.

I have heard about a t-shirt/towel fan technique - how many degrees will that drop a brew???

My current beer is a kit and I paid no attention to the temp (which was 71 degrees). Learning as I go!

Plus - is the the entire time in the carboy or just the first week when it's really going???
 
The wet t-shirt and fan will probably get you 5-6 degrees, which should be just about perfect for when fermentation is really going (will compensate for the heate generated by the yeast).

After the first few days when the ferment settles down, you can just go with the ambient 68 in the basement and it should be good.
 
With my t-shirt/icebath in a rubbermade tub setup I can get the temp strip outisde of the fermenter down to the high 50's with enough frozen ice bottles...I figure in the exothermic increase during fermentation of the inside of my fermenter being about 6 degrees. There's several pics of my setup in my gallery

Temp is only crucial in the first few days/first phases of fermentation...after that and after fermentation is complete, letting the temp creep up a few degrees is actualy good, as it will act as a diacetyl rest....there's a good thread on that from last week....I think it was called "hold the butter."
 
If you don't already have one,get a stick-on thermometer (called a "fermometer") so you can keep track of the temp inside the carboy.
 
Got the stick on.

diacetyl - it was reading that thread that really got my brain cells going.

I want to learn EVERYTHING all at once but as we all know it's one step at a time.

It's funny - I was so pumped to start I got the equipment - got a Extract kit and started my first brew - now I'm learning what I did, why I'm doing it and what I SHOULD have done.

So my next brew ( a recipe) I can start all over - by next week I'll be thinking - RATS - I should have done this or that!!


Fascinating!

Thanks!
 
If you don't already have one,get a stick-on thermometer (called a "fermometer") so you can keep track of the temp inside the carboy.

I bought a couple of those the other week from my LHBS and they immediately de-laminated from water exposure when I had my carboys in a water bath.....WTF I'm going to have to inquire w/ my LHBS on this??
 
I bought a couple of those the other week from my LHBS and they immediately de-laminated from water exposure when I had my carboys in a water bath.....WTF I'm going to have to inquire w/ my LHBS on this??

They can't be submerged in water very long. They should be ok if there is a wet t-shirt over it, or they are soaked for a day. But I have had two fall apart from keeping them in coolers full of water for a couple weeks.
 
They can't be submerged in water very long. They should be ok if there is a wet t-shirt over it, or they are soaked for a day. But I have had two fall apart from keeping them in coolers full of water for a couple weeks.

yeah, it didn't take long....shame they use water soluble glue on them.
 
I want to learn EVERYTHING all at once but as we all know it's one step at a time.

It's funny - I was so pumped to start I got the equipment - got a Extract kit and started my first brew - now I'm learning what I did, why I'm doing it and what I SHOULD have done.

So my next brew ( a recipe) I can start all over - by next week I'll be thinking - RATS - I should have done this or that!!

The problem is there's more to learn than can possibly be remembered, especially in such short time. ;) Those of us that have been here a while are still learning new stuff.

The basement sounds like a perfect place and the wet t-shirt comments are right on. They will drop the temp a few degrees. An ice water bath with a t-shirt and fan will drop the temp significantly, with very little equipment and cost.

As far as learning goes, I would recommend the following books:

How To Brew by John Palmer - Great for techniques beginning and advanced
Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels - Recipe Formulation
Brewing Classic Styles by John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff - Award winning recipes and guidelines and tips for every style

Also, besides this forum, there are some great podcasts out there. Jamil Zainasheff has an hour long podcast every two weeks covering a different style every show complete with recipes and how-to from start to finish for the style. Check out The Jamil Show on The Brewing Network
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks - have two of those books - will look into Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels - Recipe Formulation.

I love books - (37 poker books LOL).

I understand about never knowing everything - it's that base knowledge I want to absorb - I need a good foundation.
 
I bought a couple of those the other week from my LHBS and they immediately de-laminated from water exposure when I had my carboys in a water bath.....WTF I'm going to have to inquire w/ my LHBS on this??

I just keep the fermometers higher up on the carboy (usually around the 5 gallon mark and then keep the water below the fermometer. Problem solved!
 
Then check out the following books as well. :D

Classic Beer Styles Series:
Pale Ale
Porter
Stout
Brown Ale
Barleywine
Scotch Ale
Belgian Ale
Vienna Marzen Oktoberfest
German Wheat Beer
Smoked Beers
Continental Pilsner
Bavarian Helles
Altbier
Mild Ale
Kolsch
Bock

New Brewing Lager Beer by Greg Noonan - everything on lagers
Brew Like A Monk by Stan Heironymus - Belgian Beers
Beer Captured by Mark and Tess Szamatulski - Clone recipes, great for recipe development
Principles of Brewing Science by George Fix
 
Last edited by a moderator:
And just so you know as soon as i sample my second successful batch I will up my membership here!!

Quality info is worth $25 a year!
 
Back
Top