Fermenting at 64 degrees

[jackb128]

So my roommate/landlord has decided that he wants to be cheap with the heating. We usually have the house sitting at 68 degrees but now we are down to 64. Is this going to affect my fermenting? I've got a Scottish Ale sitting in secondary for another week. Also have a English Pale able in bottles. Thanks

 

[s4l]

I fermented an Irish Red keeping it down in the 62-66* range and it was fine. The bottle conditioning will take a tad longer though.

 

[user 108580]

64 is a pretty great temperature at first. Primary fermentation will raise the temperature inside the carboy a good 5 degrees or so above the ambient temperature in the room.

After primary is done I would move it to a warmer spot in the house like next to the water heater or something to help raise the temp.

You could always get a heating wrap from a homebrew store too.

 

[solbes]

The only thing that may not work as well is bottle conditioning. But I have had bottles that carbed perfectly fine at 65 (took 3 full weeks instead of normal 2 @ 70).

As far as primary and secondary, I would prefer 64 over 68 for most beer types. Some obvious exceptions of course if you wanted more esters: Saisons, Belgians, certain English brews, etc. For the Scottish ale I would try and get it as cool as you can in secondary, though 64 will be just fine too.

 

[Mojzis]

My house is 64 also. Good for fermenting I would guess but I have a chamber. I do suggest warming things up towards the end of fermentation to finish up. Bottle conditioning at 64 isn't an issue (think about the suggested ferm temps of most ale yeasts). However with gelatin, crash cooling and bottle conditioning at 64 it now takes me around 5-6 weeks to carb my beer. Just my own experiences.

 

[BansheeRider]

64 is a good sweet spot IMO (fermenting not ambient). Do that for 5 days then try to warm it up to the yeasts higher threshold.

 

[unionrdr]

A yeasts temp range dosen't apply to bottle carb/conditioning temp range. It may need to ferment at 64F,but carb & condition at 70F or a bit more to get them done in the normal 3-4 weeks. That's my experience thus far.

 

[bleme]

I keep my house at 61F in the winter. It works fine for my yeast but check the temperature range on yours to be sure.

If I need to warm up, I put the fermentor in a big tub of water with a $12 aquarium heater I got on eBay. I use a second thermometer to get to the temperature I want because the dial on the heater is way off.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,aquarium heaters don't go down as low as we need to for beer. They're meant to keep tropical zone fish happy.

 

[BansheeRider]

A yeasts temp range dosen't apply to bottle carb/conditioning temp range. It may need to ferment at 64F,but carb & condition at 70F or a bit more to get them done in the normal 3-4 weeks. That's my experience thus far.

I'm not talking about bottle conditioning. I'm talking about after primary fermentation (2-5 days) and raising the temp to help the yeast "clean up".

 

[unionrdr]

I'm not talking about bottle conditioning. I'm talking about after primary fermentation (2-5 days) and raising the temp to help the yeast "clean up".

I was refering back to the poster before you...

 

[bleme]

Yeah,aquarium heaters don't go down as low as we need to for beer. They're meant to keep tropical zone fish happy.

The one I found is good from 61F to 90F. Since I don't do lagers, it works pretty well for me.

Look at this on eBay:

200W Aquarium Heater Anti-Explosion Submersible Fish Tank Water Adjustable

http://bit.ly/ZzK6IK

 

[unionrdr]

That's good. They usually don't go that low. Too bad it was the last one...

 

[Ddubduder]

The only thing you want to pay attention to is how far into your fermenting you are. If you start at 64, great it will work perfectly. If you start at 68-70 and then after the main ferm time has passed switch it lower to 64, you might actually cause the yeast a little temp shock causing them to go dormant. It's always better to raise the temp days into fermentation than the other way around.
With that said, I lost power to my chest freezer this winter and temps climbed to 68-70 for a few days, not a big deal. Once I noticed I lowered it back down to 62-64 for the rest of fermentation. The beer came out just fine. My low temp range yeast had a slightly lower attenuation but the higher temp range yeast ended up a little lower FG than expected. Both tasted great. I think you'll be fine.

 

[Mojzis]

A yeasts temp range dosen't apply to bottle carb/conditioning temp range.

You do realize that at elevated temperatures you are just increasing the metabolism of the yeast. Raising means elevating above normal. If the strains suggested temp is 58-70 and you carb at 64 like you fermented at, this is entirely fine. If a yeasts temp range didn't apply, and you compared the conditioning periods and temperatures of a kolsch yeast and a Belgian strain at 60F, which do you think would condition faster? The point being that you don't need to condition at 70F. Keeping in mind the lower you go the longer it will take. Mid-low sixties will be fine since many ale yeasts have this as an optimal fermentation range, 70 would be preferable but not a necessity.

Just a few weeks ago you also said it wasn't possible to carb that low at all in your experience.

And to OP like a few others have said fermenting at 64 is great, but precautions may need to be taken so you know that the beer is fermenting at 64 instead of just going by ambient temps. Goodluck!

 

[unionrdr]

You're confusing BOTTLE carb & conditioning temps with PRIMARY temps I/we weren't discussing. Bottle carb/conditioning temps are a bit different than primary ferment temps. The beer in the bottles is coming under increasing pressure from gas in the head space. Not to mention being a closed environment versus a fermenter. And if my bottles get too cold,say 60F or lower,they don't carb much if any at all. It's been shown time & again on here that 70F for 3 weeks is the normal average temp & time to carbonate & condition the average gravity beer.