Differences in Temperature for Primary Stage US \ UK

Hi - I've read a lot on here about temperature problems and I realise many parts of the USA are a lot hotter in Summer than Summers are in England. Also - I believe the lighter coloured beers and lagers need a much cooler brewing temperature to dark English Ales. I am wondering if anyone can summarise the brewing tempertaures. Just to confuse the issue even more, we use Celcius which is the same as Centigrade in the UK and not degrees Farenheight.

I am thinking of getting a small pad heater which sits under the bucket and raises the temperature by 5 degrees C, but with all the talk on here of trying to lower the temperature, I just thought I would ask about it. I'm trying to get the brew up to 22 degrees C?

 

What temperatures are you fermenting at right now? 19-20 degress celsius (66-68deg F) is more optimum for most brews. 22deg celsius is on the warm side. Keep in mind that fermenting beer is always warmer than room temperature, so as long as your room is in the low-mid 60's you shouldn't need to worry too much about temperature control unless you are having issues with fermentation.

 

Well, I would say that this (my first) batch is brewing round 19 - 20 C as you say but it's in part of the house that is not heated in winter, and I'm thinking my next batch might get as low as 10 degrees C at certain times of the day or even lower. I was thinking that the initial fermenting may not take place at all at that temperature which is why I was thinking about a heating mat.

 

Here's a handy tool for converting between the two:

Fahrenheit to Celsius Converter

If you want to do it yourself, here are the formulas.

to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius:

C=(5/9)*(F-32)

to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit:

F=(9/5*C)+32

 

Fermentation temperatures are determined by the yeast. I always shoot for the lower half of the recommended range. I would definitely get a heating pad and start using in once the temperatures get down to 13-15C. Any lower than that and the fermentation will stall with most yeast.

On the other hand, 10C is ideal for fermenting lagers.

 

Hi Ballistic. Depending on where you are in the UK, this time of year is an ideal temp for brewing, but yeah, in winter you'd need some kind of heating. I have a small electric oil-filled radiator that I put near my fermenter when brewing in winter. I got it from B&Q for around £20. As I keep my fermenter in a small cupboard, there's very little space to heat, so it works pretty well - just put a thermometer somewhere near the fermenter and keep an eye on it. TBH, the only temp problems I've had with beers was one where it fermented much too warm (that ended fairly undrinkable). With cooler temps, you don't get off-flavours, you get a stalled fermentation, and though it's not a good thing, it's rescueable.

 

Hi, well, yes I'm in Bournemouth which is one of the warmer areas of the UK but I don't qualify for any of the government incentives for improving the household winter insulation (because it's an apartment), and it gets quite cold. If I go for the heating mat option, would you say that heating for dark ales is just necessary for the first 2 weeks in the primary bucket \ pail? What about the secondary stage, would 10 degrees celcius be ok for that stage?

 

Yeah, once primary fermentation is done (which it almost certainly should be after two weeks) you can let the secondary go as cold as you like. A lot of people even put their secondaries in a fridge for a few days before bottling, as the cooler temps help drop a lot of particulate matter out of the beer, making the final product a lot clearer. So as you say, keep the yeasties warm when they're fermenting, and after they're done, there's no need to heat them. In fact, as long as you don't let the beer actually freeze, cooler temps may be better.