Ambient Temp

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Phitz

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About to brew my first homebrew in almost 25 years. I am brewing th Chinook IPA from Northern Brewer. I have 2 spots in mind for fermenting. I can either put in kitchen cabinet the temp is about 60 degrees. I can also put at the top of my basement stairs which is about 67 degrees. Any guidance is appreciated thanks!!
 
For most ale yeast strains, 60F ambient is better than 67F ambient. But, if I had no means of temperature control, I'd probably move the fermenter to the warmer spot toward the end of fermentation (depending on the yeast strain). What yeast are you using?
 
I seem to get better results for most of my beers fermenting cooler, especially hop-forward types.
As importaqnt as the temp is to make sure that it's dark there - you want to keep as much light away from the beer-in-process as you can.

Edit to add: It will take longer for the beer to ferment at 60, but speaking for myself, I'm in no rush to get things done. I don't need to push it through grain-to-glass under a week or whatever.
 
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Either would work, but it may go slowly at 60. Is your kitchen really that cold? I'd go with the stairs. I ferment my extract brews in my basement at about 64 to 68 ambient with good results. My summer ale uses US05, and one time I used Chinook hops instead Centennial and Cascades.
 
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I'd do what Vikeman said if you're going for a clean ferment which I'll assume you are since you're using 05. Start it cooler and then move to the warmer spot for a couple days at the end. Beer temp is usually much warmer than ambient due to all the heat created by the yeast activity, so in the 67 ambient area it's likely your beer will be going over 70 which isn't ideal for a lot of yeasts.
 
It took me a minute to read this correctly. 60F ambient would be better; the actual beer temperature will be several degrees warmer than that. Ambient temperature of 67F would likely result in some fruity esters. For an IPA, you want it cleaner. I'd go with the 60F location.
 
i'd put it in the cabinet where it's 60 degrees. The beer will warm up at bit by peak fermentation so it might get up to 64 degrees or so with sa05. As others have said, be sure to warm it up to the 67 degree area after a week or so or once the krausen has fallen, then package.
Are you going to bottle or keg?
Cheers and welcome back to brewing again!
 
It took me a minute to read this correctly. 60F ambient would be better; the actual beer temperature will be several degrees warmer than that. Ambient temperature of 67F would likely result in some fruity esters. For an IPA, you want it cleaner. I'd go with the 60F location.

+1. Ambient temp of 60 will not mean a fermentation temp of 60, so I would not worry about it being too cool.
 
I plan on bottling. Will go with the 60 degree location then will move for the last couple days. Will let you know how it turned out. Super excited to get back into this and to have this awesome group of knowledgable folks is fantastic!
 
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