Refrigerated fermenting necessary?

[spjctim]

Hi,
I'm brand new to how brewing. I'm piecing together equipment now to start brewing after the holidays. I just ordered my Sanyo 4912 and when it arrives I plan on converting it to a kegerator. I'm going to skip bottling and go right to kegging.
My question right now is, I've noticed that a lot of people on the board talk about having keepin their fermenters in refirdgerators. Is this really necessary?Isn't a closet inside the house good enough for most beers? (I don't know how I can justify having a kegegerator AND a dedicated refridgerator just for fermenting).

Thanks! I'm sure this will be the first of many questions...

 

[phishfood]

My beers have definitely improved since I started fermenting them cooler.

I ferment in a plastic barrel with some water in it, wrapped in blankets. Then I change out frozen water bottles to keep the temperature down. Cheaper than a refrigerator, unless you can find a used one for real cheap.

 

[celticcolorado]

First off, welcome to HBT.

In regard to your question. It really depends on the temperature inside your house and the yeast that you are using. I see you live in FL. In the summer, it may be too hot and stress out the yeast causing off flavors. I have my equipment in the garage in CO. If I were to try to ferment, it would be far to cold and the yeast would go dormant.

There are also other factors such as when making lagers you need to control the temperature.

Basically it is not necessary if you can maintain the right temperature in your home. But the more we can control the fermentation, the better the beer. I hope this helps

 

[KevinM]

Up here, I keep my place somewher in the 60-70 degree range in both summer and winter, which is just about right for ales, and I've been tossing my beer in a closet. I'm not quite sure if I find it worthwhile for me to go the thermal cooling route to edge that down by just a few degrees yet.
For you, it might be worthwhile, it also depends on your ambient temperature. The lager thing is pretty much a yes. Even though it's winter, and with my heat as low as I can bear, the place is still 60-62 degrees ambient, which is still too high.
At the moment, I'm considering if I want to use a fridge kept at around 40, or a cooler that I can just toss snow into whenever I want to cool it down. At the moment, I'm only going to be doing 1 gallon test batches so it's easy and I have space in the fridge, but once I'm looking at the 5 gallon, I'm going to be having trouble too.
Thankfully, the lager tests are more for family, and that I like ales more than I like lagers.

Check your yeast and temperature. If you keep your place in the mid 60's, then ambient will be fine. If you keep it at 80-90, you'll probably be looking at some way to cool it, even if it just means frozen ice packs and an insulated cardboard box.

 

[maida7]

I think all brewers at some point in their development, come to the realization that temp control makes better beer. How much better depends on how off the temps are in your environment. If you had a spot in your house that stayed a steady 64F all day and night your could brew lots of ales with great results. Most people don't have a spot that stays that temp and those that do often lack the year round consistency.

Fridges are cheap you can find them super cheap or even free on craigslist. A fermentation fridge will not use much power at all because it will only run half the time or less.

 

[keon]

This time of year you probably can find a good place to ferment your beer in your house. I would recommend eventually getting one as in the summer there is nowhere in my house that is 64F. One of the disadvantages we have brewing in the sunshine state.

 

[joeldp144]

Just my opinion. If you keep your home in the low 70's and you plan to brew ales only, then I would suggest jumping in without worrying about a fridge. I have been brewing for several years now, and I have never fermented in a fridge. I have tried the ice in the bath tub trick a time or two, but I haven't noticed a remarkable difference. Everyone on the boards brags about maintaining temps in their fridge, and I don't doubt that makes a difference. I just haven't been disappointed in my AG brews yet, so I don't see a reason to change. After all, I keep my thermostat the same just about year round, and my closet brews are KILLER!

I have a buddy that got me into AG, and he has an extreme setup including fermentation cooler. I regularly make better beers than him.....based on many opinions besides just mine, and we often brew the same recipes. There are a lot of techniques that contribute to the final product.

In fact, if fermenting at controlled and cooler temps makes beer taste better, then I probably need to stay away from refrigerating my fermenter. The last thing that I need is for beer to taste even better. A man's gotta work for a living!