Fermentation temperatures

[Agdarnell]

Ok so I am on my second batch and I have been reading alot about how youcant let your temperature get to hot during primary fermentation ( I think my first brew was way to hot ) but now I am leaving my bucket in my spare bathtub and putting my ice bin in the water every day and it is keeping it very cold but now I'm worried it may be a little to cold and I havnt fund anything on here about what happenes of it is to cold any help?

 

[jester5120]

if it's an ale and it's too cold it won't ferment or will ferment very slowly. the yeast just go dormant until they're warm enough

 

[rl1373]

The temperature needed for fermentation ranges depending on the yeast. If the yeast is to cold, it will go dormant and stop fermenting. If it's to warm you'll wind up with off flavors. If you look at the package it will tell you the ideal fermentation temperature.

 

[Agdarnell]

If I put a floating thermometer in the water I have it in how is that temperature going to relate to the actual fermentation temperature? I know that fermentation causes it to warm up but how much

 

[Dan]

I did something similar. I brewed 11 gallons of BeerMuncher's Centennial Blonde. Everything went perfectly. Hit the numbers dead on except the first 20 hours of fermenting temp. I brewed last night, beautiful night and temps around here have only been down to the upper 50F degree mark at night so I left the buckets outside. I should have watched the news, last night frost warning. When I woke up this morning it was 39F degrees outside.

After I got home from work today I brought the fermenters into a 66 degree house. 5 hours later there are some signs of fermentation going on. (Ok, bubbles in the airlock) Pretty sure this beer will turn out just fine, I believe I put the little yeasty critters to sleep for awhile but they'll warm up and wake up and get to the job at hand.

On another note, made 5.5 gallon batch of SNPA clone tonight. Pitched, numbers all turned out well again but this time cooled to 67, pitched yeast and it is sitting in the 66 degree, maybe cooler at night house.

Trying to get a pipeline re-built. Still have about 11 pounds of grain left and would brew tomorrow night, but no more fermenters available! Argh!

 

[gypsyhead]

If you're fermenting too cool for the yeast, you'll get some off flavors that you may not have been looking for. See the site below for a bit more info:
http://www.winning-homebrew.com/temperature-control.html

 

[944play]

If I put a floating thermometer in the water I have it in how is that temperature going to relate to the actual fermentation temperature?

The beer temp should be very close to the bath temp. Water provides a ridiculous amount of thermal mass, and homebrew fermenters have a lot of surface area (per unit volume vice commercial scale tanks) to transfer the heat of fermentation.