Fermentation temperature question.

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seafordbrewingcompany

Seaford Brewing Company
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New member and first post here. I've brewed a few batches of beer and I've had some issues with off flavors due to fermentation temperatures.
I brewed a batch of beer today, a blonde ale. The temperature where I live is about 70 degrees today. I was able to chill my wort to about 74 degrees using a copper immersion chiller. I pitched my yeast at the same temperature. I have the carboy in an air conditioned room set to 65 degrees.
I know that the fermentation process increases the temperature by up to 8 degrees. My concern is that the temperature in the carboy will possibly increase into the high 70's before the AC is able to lower the wort temperature.
Is this common? If the suggested fermentation temperature is 65 degrees and the wort is only chilled to 70 degrees, how are home brewers able to lower the temperature to say 60 degrees, to account for the temperature increase during fermentation?
I'm worried that my wort temperature is going to climb to the high 70's or low 80's and produce off flavors.
Any advice, help or suggestions would be appreciated!
Thanks! 🍻
 
New member and first post here. I've brewed a few batches of beer and I've had some issues with off flavors due to fermentation temperatures.
I brewed a batch of beer today, a blonde ale. The temperature where I live is about 70 degrees today. I was able to chill my wort to about 74 degrees using a copper immersion chiller. I pitched my yeast at the same temperature. I have the carboy in an air conditioned room set to 65 degrees.
I know that the fermentation process increases the temperature by up to 8 degrees. My concern is that the temperature in the carboy will possibly increase into the high 70's before the AC is able to lower the wort temperature.
Is this common? If the suggested fermentation temperature is 65 degrees and the wort is only chilled to 70 degrees, how are home brewers able to lower the temperature to say 60 degrees, to account for the temperature increase during fermentation?
I'm worried that my wort temperature is going to climb to the high 70's or low 80's and produce off flavors.
Any advice, help or suggestions would be appreciated!
Thanks! 🍻

Can someone else please correct me if I am wrong...

One thing I try to do is place the carboy in a bigger bucket of water, both to lower the temp of the wort inside the carboy but also to draw off some of that extra heat produced from the main phase of fermentation. Other then that I think your on a good track. I'm no expert compared to other guys on this thread but have spent a ton of time dealing with temps in my house as I have no chamber to ferment in (can taste a big difference from playing around with set ups.)

I would let it spend a few extra days (1-2) of fermenting to allow yeast to clean up whatever byproducts are produced (depends what yeast strain you used) from pitching the yeast at a little above optimal temps.

Again I'm not an expert but I think your on the right track here. Good Luck dude
 
Do some searches here for "swamp cooler."

Here's what I do; I put my fermenter in a turkey pan ($1 at the dollar store), fill it with water, then drape an old t-shirt over it. The water wicks up and evaporates cooling the fermenter. You can accelerate it a bit by putting some ice in the water. When I start I usually get the entire t-shirt wet so it accelerates the process a bit.

My ambient temp in my basement is about 65-67; fermenting yeast will bump the temp to 70-71, but the swamp cooler will keep it at 65 or so. I'm using an Inkbird in the photo to monitor temp; you'll see the swamp cooler has pulled the temps down to 64.2 degrees.

threeamigos.jpg
 
Do some searches here for "swamp cooler."

Here's what I do; I put my fermenter in a turkey pan ($1 at the dollar store), fill it with water, then drape an old t-shirt over it. The water wicks up and evaporates cooling the fermenter. You can accelerate it a bit by putting some ice in the water. When I start I usually get the entire t-shirt wet so it accelerates the process a bit.

My ambient temp in my basement is about 65-67; fermenting yeast will bump the temp to 70-71, but the swamp cooler will keep it at 65 or so. I'm using an Inkbird in the photo to monitor temp; you'll see the swamp cooler has pulled the temps down to 64.2 degrees.

View attachment 373783



Ive done this too and its funny how rigged it looks but its very effective. I agree with the mongoose. Dude I think your brew will come out great. If it doesn't you can always brew again and improve.
 
Ive done this too and its funny how rigged it looks but its very effective. I agree with the mongoose. Dude I think your brew will come out great. If it doesn't you can always brew again and improve.

It is surprising it works as well as it does. I also have a refrigerator as a ferm chamber but I mostly don't use it--the swamp cooler gets the fermenter almost exactly where i want it. I use the refrigerator to cold crash, and right now I have an extra keg with beer in it which is living in that refrigerator, served with a picnic tap.

My now normal approach is to leave the fermenter go for 4 or 5 days or until ferementation has slowed, then ramp the temp up to about 71 degrees for a couple days for the yeast to clean up, then back down to 65 for a couple more weeks at least.

Someone here suggested a while back that I just leave the beer in the ferementer for 4 weeks or so, instead of just waiting for it to condition in the keg. I need to track that down and give him credit, I just can't recall who said that. Well, that works too, and I've produced some darned good beer doing that. And now that I have a full beer pipeline I can stand to be more patient.

As I have learned how to do this, one thing that has guided me is continuous quality improvment. Every time I brew I try to do something better, control temp better, reduce exposure to oxygen post-fermentation better, package better, control the mash better, whatever. It's worked so well for me that I'd advise anyone who's new at this to do it.

And I suspect that the more seasoned brewers here, the ones with years and years of experience, did exactly the same thing.
 
Besides the swamp cooler method mentioned above another option is to place the fermentor in a large tub of water and use 2L bottles of water that are frozen to chill the water. Change out the melted bottles for frozen ones once or twice per day. With a large tub of water and 1-2 frozen bottles you can effectively keep fermentation temperature in check.
 
Pitching the yeast when the wort is still warmer than you want will let the yeast get started quicker and you may be faced with a runaway temperature. Next batch, chill as well as you can, then put the fermenter in that cooler room and wait for the temperature of the wort to drop, then pitch the yeast. The additional swamp cooler would still be a good idea but may not be necessary.
 
I agree with RM-MN. I never understood it when recipes say pitch your yeast at 74 or whatever yet ferment at 68.

I always cool my wort to the temp I want to ferment at and try and keep it there. Much more difficult to manage when you are 6-8 degrees over what you want.
 
Next batch, chill as well as you can, then put the fermenter in that cooler room and wait for the temperature of the wort to drop, then pitch the yeast.

Or chill as much as possible with the wort chiller, then put the kettle in the swamp cooler tub with ice to cool to pitching temps quicker. To me, pitching quickly is an advantage - the yeast gets a head start on any microbes that might be in there.
 
Or chill as much as possible with the wort chiller, then put the kettle in the swamp cooler tub with ice to cool to pitching temps quicker. To me, pitching quickly is an advantage - the yeast gets a head start on any microbes that might be in there.

It does take time for microbes that are present in the air to begin to multiply enough to be worrisome. Chilling in a fermentation chamber seems like a reasonable compromise. I've done some no chill batches where I poured the wort into the plastic fermenter bucket and let them sit in a cool room where it took up to 36 hours to cool to pitching temp without any noticeable off flavors or growth on my wort.
 
Any suggestions for those of us in warm climates? I have perpetual issues with off tastes and they almost certainly come from high fermentation temps. Where I live it is routinely in the high 80's and 90's for 9 months of the year and the coolest room in the house at best 76 degrees. I've used the swamp cooler before with some effectiveness but not with the addition of ice.

I don't have the room or budget for a cooled fermentation chamber or a standalone refrigerator. Any ideas how to work temperature control magic are appreciated!
 
I like to put a bungee cord around the fermenter and strap an ice pack or two to keep the temp at the fermentation temp I want. I tried the fermenter in a larger container or water method too and it works, but I find the bungee cord ice pack method easier, and uses less ice. I actually use blue ice and change them out of the freezer as needed. Works really well for me.
 
Any suggestions for those of us in warm climates? I have perpetual issues with off tastes and they almost certainly come from high fermentation temps. Where I live it is routinely in the high 80's and 90's for 9 months of the year and the coolest room in the house at best 76 degrees. I've used the swamp cooler before with some effectiveness but not with the addition of ice.

I don't have the room or budget for a cooled fermentation chamber or a standalone refrigerator. Any ideas how to work temperature control magic are appreciated!

Then try the ice method.
With a carboy in another 4-5 gallons of water and a couple of 2L bottles of ice I'll bet you can keep it under 65 in a 76 degree room easily.
 
I like to put a bungee cord around the fermenter and strap an ice pack or two to keep the temp at the fermentation temp I want. I tried the fermenter in a larger container or water method too and it works, but I find the bungee cord ice pack method easier, and uses less ice. I actually use blue ice and change them out of the freezer as needed. Works really well for me.
I should say when I use the blue ice bunjeed around the fermenter, I'm not fermenting lower than the 60s.

I'm sure a refrigerator is better, and you do need to keep changing out the blue ice especially when the fermenter is really cooking about day 2, but it works without too much hassle.
 
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