Will too LOW of a temperature cause off flavors?

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GreenDragon

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So I passed around one of my beers at the local homebrew club meeting last month and pretty much everyone at the same time asked if I was using temp control. I wasn't.. just the hall closet which normally stays a constant 72F (I know that's too high but I can't swamp cool).

The beer I brewed tonight I just left in the garage. We're supposed to have a high around 65 for the next 2-3 days. The trouble is at night it drops down to the upper 30's.

I know too high of a ferment temp will cause off flavors, but other then possibly put the yeasties to sleep, will a low temp cause any issues? What about the beer going from 45-60F everyday, will the change in temps cause off-flavors?

When summer hits I'll be fine. I've got a johnson controller but it's useless in the winter here in KS.
 
Well if it goes down to below the yeasts dormancy temp then it can halt fermentation...Check out my ghetto lagering thread for some ideas on how to keep a fermenter warm. You might want to invest in and wire up a cheap ebay temp controller like I did.

Revvy, correct me if I'm wrong - to answer the OP's question, and add to your fix of the problem - lower temperatures can cause off flavors, depending on style and yeast. Hefeweizen yeast is said to produce Clove flavors when fermented closer to 60F, and more pronounced Banana at 70F and slightly higher. We might be splitting hairs here, but it does exist, no?

Edit: (Example) - If someone were going for a more Banana Hef, and could only ferment at 58-60 degrees, the Clove over-powerment could be an 'off-flavor'.
 
I've never heard of low temps causing off flavors. I don't brew hefs, so I can't comment on that. But generally, the cooler we can run most ale yeast within it's temp range, the LESS chance of off flavors you get.
 
This was Nottingham so I should be safe then, as long as it didn't go to sleep last night.
 
Why not wrap the fermenter in a sleeping bag every night and remove it during the day to minimize the temperature fluctuation?
 
You're looking for stable or slightly increasing temps. As Revvy said - static cool isn't a problem (to an extent), but a dropping temp is. Falling temps can put the yeast to sleep and they can drop out prematurely.

In my head I think of it like a one-way valve. I can always keep the temp the same or slightly increasing, but never falling until I crash cool. So +1 for insulation to keep it from dropping.

For hefe's, you still get plenty of banana at the lower end (62)...its just a much cleaner banana flavor and quite balanced with the clove. At the higher temps you get some other esters that may taste good, but aren't necessarily ideal. If you're getting "off" clove flavors it's not the temp...possibly chlorine/chloramines making chlorophenols that kinda resemble cloves. Bad, medicinal cloves.
 
I've never used a Johnson controller before - could you rig it up to a heating blanket and wrap that around your carboy with the temperature sensor stuck in between the blanket and the carboy? You could wrap the whole contraption in a sleeping bag in order to keep temps a little more constant during cold nights.

Personally, I use a 60 qt. Igloo Ice Cube cooler filled with water - it protects the beer against dramatic swings in temperature because it takes a while to change the temperature of that much water. I can add ice to cool it down or hot water from the tap to bring it up a bit.
 
Wide swings in temperature con affect the quality of your beer. Best to keep temp as stable as possible.

Yes, fluctuations in temperature can have as severe effect on off-flavors as fermenting too high in the first place.

Revvy, correct me if I'm wrong - to answer the OP's question, and add to your fix of the problem - lower temperatures can cause off flavors, depending on style and yeast. Hefeweizen yeast is said to produce Clove flavors when fermented closer to 60F, and more pronounced Banana at 70F and slightly higher. We might be splitting hairs here, but it does exist, no?

Edit: (Example) - If someone were going for a more Banana Hef, and could only ferment at 58-60 degrees, the Clove over-powerment could be an 'off-flavor'.

Ugh, again with the Hef stuff. Fermenting Hefs properly in the low 60s is going to be just fine producing a balance between clove and banana (with the 3068, that is) without all the ****ty off-flavors you're likely to get when you ferment them in the 70s. There was a whole seminar at this past year's NHC about this.
 
Ugh, again with the Hef stuff. Fermenting Hefs properly in the low 60s is going to be just fine producing a balance between clove and banana (with the 3068, that is) without all the ****ty off-flavors you're likely to get when you ferment them in the 70s. There was a whole seminar at this past year's NHC about this.

Right. You sound pretty perturbed about my inquiry to Revvy and theoretical example. It seems like when this question comes up, there are 1500 people who answer with "Nah, dude, the yeast just go to sleep. It's all good." Or they give a broad statement saying that the off-flavors can develop, but it's best to keep the beer at a constant temperature, as if that's a new concept. I believe the OP has heard of off-flavors from fermenting at too-high of a temperature based on the emphasis on "LOW", didn't need to be reminded of that, and wanted to know specifically if an off-flavor could develop at too low of a temperature.

Since I was the first person to mention Hef's in this thread - there's no "Ugh, again with this Hef stuff." I did not happen to catch a seminar on Hefs by NHC. It's comments like this that keep new folks from asking questions.
 
I'm just trying to list the correct information as I have cited it, so as to not confuse people (and because I figured not many people had seen the information about the presentation). I mention "again" because I have seen many instances of people saying, "more banana? Higher ferment temps!" on this site, not just as you stated it. Was my snark necessary? No, so I apologize for that.

If that's going to keep new folks from asking questions, then they must be quite new to the internet. I see extreme levels of snark and the "Use the search function" here all the time - I would personally find that more detrimental to being active than someone providing actual, tested, information from reputable sources.
 
The garage (it's an attached one) is doing a decent job of regulating temps. Between a 72F closet and a 50ish garage I think the garage was the better option. It's still actively bubbling away as I type this :)

I'll know more in 4-6 weeks.
 
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