i brewed a couple weeks ago 2 extract. Yesterday i brewed two more. The four fermenters are in the same room. I reed that we need to keep the ale around 66 .the problem is the 2 new batch ive made yesterday ferment now and their temp are much higher than the 2 old one. so if i set my room temp at 60 for the 2 new batch to be at 66, the old one gonna be around 60 because theyre pretty much done fermenting.is it ok to keep the old one at 60 or below?
Ale fermentation temperature
- Thread starter twistyboy
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I don't know what your space is like, but if it were me I would move the "old ones" to some other place in the house and control the "new ones to a precise temp. Chances are the old ones are done fermenting, or at least within a point or 2 of SG. The problem with leaving the old ones in a cooler room is that the yeast may slow significantly and floc out... The beer may not finish the way you want. Moving it somewhere else on the other hand will likely raise the temp and that's really not a major concern at this point. If anything it will ramp up yeast activity and they will finish out nicely (like a diacetyl rest of sorts)
What yeast?
the old ones : safale t-58 and safale us 05
the new ones : Danstar Windsor Dry Ale Yeast and safale us-05
AerationStation
Well-Known Member
I agree with moving the old ones to a different room, the cooler temps could prevent proper conditioning of those two (especially the Belgian, they like it warm)
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For what it's worth, a water bath will also minimize extra fermentation heat by conducting it away from the fermenter. That brings your beer temp down closer to your room temp.
But I would take your "old" beer and move it somewhere room temp while it finishes up so you can dedicate temperature control to the beer in early fermentation, because that is the key time for temperature to matter.
But I would take your "old" beer and move it somewhere room temp while it finishes up so you can dedicate temperature control to the beer in early fermentation, because that is the key time for temperature to matter.
I brewed an American ale this weekend. I decided to try out a swamp cooler to see if it would keep my temps towards the lower end of the fermentation scale. My wife keeps the house at 72 degrees and that's a little too high for my tastes. That probably puts my internal temps around 75-78 degrees. I pitched my yeast at about 75 degrees and then placed the fermenter in a large blue container with about 3 gallons of star san I had mixed up for my brew day. I took an old computer fan and a 12vdc power supply and rigged it to point into the container. I placed a t-shirt over the fermenter and let it soak up some water. I actually had to turn off the fan the day before yesterday as the temperature of the water was reading 58 degrees. It has since risen to 62 and holding steady. That should be about 65 to 68 degrees internal. I am really surprised how well it works.
I guess I should have saved the money I just spent on a 7 cu. ft. freezer and digital thermostat. Nah. Maybe I'll just turn it into a big kedgerator.
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I guess I should have saved the money I just spent on a 7 cu. ft. freezer and digital thermostat. Nah. Maybe I'll just turn it into a big kedgerator.
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Yeah, I dream of a fermentation fridge for lagering, but there's not much you can't do with a water bath for ales, I'm a big booster. If you can set one up in a cool basement and add an aquarium heater you have the best of both worlds.
If you're brewing that much, you really ought to invest in a freezer or fridge (both of mine were used off Craigslist) plugged into an STC-1000 controller outlet box. The ability to precisely control your ferment temps will take your beers to the next level.
Also, pitch cooler (like 60*F) which will slow things down a bit and help moderate the amount of heat being produced when things get going.
THE STC-1000 controller outlet box is like a thermostat? are you using to different freezer, one for the early fermentation and one for the conditioning?
Couldn't agree more! I have about $100 and some elbow grease wrapped up in my fermentation chamber and couldn't be more pleased. I brew it, aerate it, pitch the yeast, set the temp and forget about it for a couple of weeks.
if you check the instruction for safale the ideally temp for t-58 is cooler than the us-05
http://charlesfaram.co.uk/Portals/0/Docs/Fermentis/SFBT58.pdf
http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SFA_US05.pdf
your setup is nice!! waht is your temp controller and probe?
It's a Ranco ETC 111000. Not sure what you mean by probe, but it comes pre-wired with a temperature probe. But I had to wire the rest of the controller myself. It was super easy. I found a youtube video that explained it in less than two minutes. I also use a thermowell I picked up from more beer. It works great!
yeah thank i meant the thermometer probe!
The STC-1000 is a dual temperature controller. You wire it into a standard 2-plug outlet that you mount in some kind of project box (either homemade or bought at Radio Shack). One (cool) outlet is for the freezer/fridge. If your fermenter chamber is placed where it’s cold (like a garage in winter), you plug some kind of small heater into the warm outlet and then put that heater inside the freezer. Otherwise, just use the cold outlet.
Set the target temp (in Celsius) on the STC-1000. Set the tolerance (default is +/-0.5*C). When the temp (as read by the sensor) climbs 0.5*C above the target, it powers up the cool outlet and keeps it energized until the temp drops to the target and then turns it off. Likewise with the warm outlet if it gets 0.5*C too cool. You tape the sensor on the side of the fermenter and place some kind of insulation like bubble wrap over top of it so that it reads the bucket temp and not the air.
http://www.amazon.com/All-purpose-Temperature-Controller-STC-1000-sensor/dp/B00862G3TQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382149071&sr=8-1&keywords=stc-1000
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/stc-1000-setup-beginners-433985/#post5538096
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-fish-tank-controller-build-using-wal-mart-parts-261506/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/
http://brewstands.com/fermentation-heater.html
I use three of these. Two are wired with outlet boxes (one for the fermenter fridge, the other with the lagering freezer). The third is hard-wired into the power cord for my keezer.
Set the target temp (in Celsius) on the STC-1000. Set the tolerance (default is +/-0.5*C). When the temp (as read by the sensor) climbs 0.5*C above the target, it powers up the cool outlet and keeps it energized until the temp drops to the target and then turns it off. Likewise with the warm outlet if it gets 0.5*C too cool. You tape the sensor on the side of the fermenter and place some kind of insulation like bubble wrap over top of it so that it reads the bucket temp and not the air.
http://www.amazon.com/All-purpose-Temperature-Controller-STC-1000-sensor/dp/B00862G3TQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382149071&sr=8-1&keywords=stc-1000
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/stc-1000-setup-beginners-433985/#post5538096
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-fish-tank-controller-build-using-wal-mart-parts-261506/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/
http://brewstands.com/fermentation-heater.html
I use three of these. Two are wired with outlet boxes (one for the fermenter fridge, the other with the lagering freezer). The third is hard-wired into the power cord for my keezer.
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