gunhaus
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- Mar 8, 2006
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You see a lot of posts/questions about fermenting at ambient room temps, and what can be expected without temp control. Allow me to relate some info about a ferment i have going right now that shows just what CAN happen in a good healthy ferment.
A few days ago, i brewed an old favorite stout - a brew i have made dozens of times. I put this to bed in a Spike CF5, attached my temp controller to the heat element, dumped the blow off tube into a bucket of star san, and went away. The garage where this sits is unheated and pretty much runs close to outside temps or a shade above. Much of this winter it has been a struggle to help the heater keep ferm temps UP to 62-64 degrees. (It has been handy for cold crashing though! Just unplug and walk away) But we had a little warm up, and the garage is/was sitting about 42-43 at the time i pitched. Pitch temp was 62. Controller is set at 62.
About 2 and a half days in, I went out to give it a quick check, and as expected the Notty fueled brew was bubbling away furiously. Room temp is still 44 degrees, and the temp on the controller reads 72.4!
Two more days in and the temp reads 72.8.
First, i could have hooked up the cooling coil and brought it down. But 55-60 hours into active ferment i did not see the point. Besides I have brewed this stout with Notty at 72-74 on purpose in the past, and i know that 3-4 weeks in the keg following two week on primary and it will be a very very tasty brew - so no harm no foul in this case.
BUT - there are brews/yeasts where this could have been a real issue. And that is the point i want to make. It is really hard to judge just where your ferment will go temp wise in relationship to ambient room temp. THIS is a bit extreme (Enough so I did check with a couple other temp controllers to be sure!) But it is an example of WHAT can happen inside a lively ferment. And it shows how difficult it really is to say, "my basement sits at 55. so . . . " "Or i have a closet that always holds 62 . . . " Etc. I am 30 degrees above room temp! Based on past experience I would expect the heat unit to run very little in a 44-45 degree room to maintain 62-62 in the fermenter during the first few days of a really active ferment. 16 -22 degrees ABOVE ambient room temp is not uncommon with my set up.
Just food for thought.
A few days ago, i brewed an old favorite stout - a brew i have made dozens of times. I put this to bed in a Spike CF5, attached my temp controller to the heat element, dumped the blow off tube into a bucket of star san, and went away. The garage where this sits is unheated and pretty much runs close to outside temps or a shade above. Much of this winter it has been a struggle to help the heater keep ferm temps UP to 62-64 degrees. (It has been handy for cold crashing though! Just unplug and walk away) But we had a little warm up, and the garage is/was sitting about 42-43 at the time i pitched. Pitch temp was 62. Controller is set at 62.
About 2 and a half days in, I went out to give it a quick check, and as expected the Notty fueled brew was bubbling away furiously. Room temp is still 44 degrees, and the temp on the controller reads 72.4!
Two more days in and the temp reads 72.8.
First, i could have hooked up the cooling coil and brought it down. But 55-60 hours into active ferment i did not see the point. Besides I have brewed this stout with Notty at 72-74 on purpose in the past, and i know that 3-4 weeks in the keg following two week on primary and it will be a very very tasty brew - so no harm no foul in this case.
BUT - there are brews/yeasts where this could have been a real issue. And that is the point i want to make. It is really hard to judge just where your ferment will go temp wise in relationship to ambient room temp. THIS is a bit extreme (Enough so I did check with a couple other temp controllers to be sure!) But it is an example of WHAT can happen inside a lively ferment. And it shows how difficult it really is to say, "my basement sits at 55. so . . . " "Or i have a closet that always holds 62 . . . " Etc. I am 30 degrees above room temp! Based on past experience I would expect the heat unit to run very little in a 44-45 degree room to maintain 62-62 in the fermenter during the first few days of a really active ferment. 16 -22 degrees ABOVE ambient room temp is not uncommon with my set up.
Just food for thought.