Fermentating around 40 Degrees

[BStewie]

I have been busy the past couple of months and have not been able to brew, now my Kegs are pretty much empty. Since I have an empty kegerator for the first time, I was thinking of brewing a beer that can be fermented around 40 degrees. I do not want to go out and buy one of those $100 temp controls for one beer, since once I keg this, I will have no room in my fridge for a carboy. This is a one and done thing.

Any suggestions? I am trying to get my 3 kegs full of fall beer. I have an IPA going already, so I was looking for something that can ferment in around 4 weeks or less.

 

[beersk]

Would have to be a lager with a boat load of yeast pitched and aerated VERY well with pure O2. 40F is pushing it...45F you could do for sure.

 

[jungatheart]

You can get a "build it yourself" controller from Amazon or Ebay. About $20

I really like that I can control the ferment temp for all my beers.

"one and done" Right..............A month from now I'll be answering your post asking what is the best chest freezer to convert to a fermenter.

 

[jungatheart]

You can get a "build it yourself" controller from Amazon or Ebay. About $20

I really like that I can control the ferment temp for all my beers.

"one and done" Right..............A month from now I'll be answering your post asking what is the best chest freezer to convert to a fermenter.

 

[stpug]

40F feels like you're pushing the lower boundaries. ___maybe___ if you wrap your fermenter in a blanket/coat/sleepingbag in the fridge to keep in some of the exothermic heat produced by the yeast you can get into the proper range (40 + exothermic heat = 42-52F???) but it'll be a fluctuating range rather than stable. You'll definitely want a diacetyl rest when fermentation is compete. Kind of like ghetto lagering in the summer using a fridge

 

[Smellyglove]

Why 40?

Maybe someone here has a cheap solution to how you can overcome this if you tell us your situation.

And like others have stated, you can get a temp controller for $20 delivered. But then again, you probably neet to get some cables, heaters, bells and whistles to get it running.

 

[mcspanner]

Why 40?

Maybe someone here has a cheap solution to how you can overcome this if you tell us your situation.

And like others have stated, you can get a temp controller for $20 delivered. But then again, you probably neet to get some cables, heaters, bells and whistles to get it running.

I imagine that's the max temp on his setup and as he's not planning on using the keggerator as a fermentation chamber once this batch is done then he probably doesn't want to spend anything on a temp controller that he doesn't see a need for in the future.

Personally I'd put an ice bucket/packs/bottles of frozen water in the keggerator and see what temp it holds with the power off. It might lower it enough from ambient to ferment without dropping below the yeast's happy zone. Just use it as a big insulated box.

 

[daksin]

Yea, 40 really just isn't happening even with lager yeast. You've got to get it warmer.

 

[BigFloyd]

If you can do basic household-type wiring, you can build an STC-1000 controller box and plug the kegerator into it. The actual STC-1000 is around $19 on Amazon.

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