Are these temperatures consistent enough?

[cameronsto]

I've been brewing for over a year now (11 batches) but am still disappointed with my beers. I think I've worked through a few issues (using distilled water rather than my tap water, moving to a full boil, etc) but I my most recent brew failed miserably due to what I think was fluctuating and low temperatures for fermentation. I'm not sure exactly what the temperature was but it was definitely fluctuating and I know it got really cold; it was in the teens outside and I had my fermentation bucket in a closet in the garage with no heat.

Long story short I want to ensure a consistent fermentation temperature. I setup an arduino and temperature sensor and have been monitoring the temperature of my "brew closet". With a ceramic heater in the closet and outside temps below 60 degrees (for now) the temperature stays within about 5-8 degrees of my ideal temperature (60 degrees). Here is what the past week has looked like:

My question is, is this temperature swing small enough to ensure a consistent fermentation temperature?

Thanks.

Cameron

 

[scinerd3000]

personally i think this doesnt look bad at all. I have been using the swamp cooler method of a wet shirt over the carboy during ferment and i can guarantee you that my temp range swings more than yours. I doubt that this is the issue considering that with all my temp swings i have still managed a few awards in comps. I do notice that you use distilled water and im highly hoping that you are adding ions back into the water. Proper ferments need certain ions, for example calcium is important for yeast flocculation.

What specifically are your issues with the way the beer is turning out? That may help us to better figure out your problem.

 

[cameronsto]

My main issue has been off flavors in my brews though the last batch I know did not fully ferment out. The best way I can think to describe the off flavor is it is an "earthy" flavor.

As for the distilled water, I'm still doing all-extract brewing and after reading it seemed moving to distilled water might help this. My best batch so far was 2 batches ago and was a Terrapin Rye clone where I used distilled water.

Cameron

 

[dogbar]

If that's just the air temp of the closet, the beer itself is going to fluctuate even less.

 

[quizmastermikey]

seems to me like these are really low ale temperatures. I would suggest moving the beer to an area that is 68-70 degrees for 3 days before bottling or transferring. The yeast will clean up better at this temp. Based on my experience, I wouldn't be surprised if you are getting a lot of diacetyl flavors at these temps.

 

[cameronsto]

To clarify, the majority of my batches were fermented in my laundry room where the temperature would fluctuate from 60-75 degrees in the winter and 70-85 degrees in the summer.

From my reading I've gathered a consistent low 60 degrees is ideal. Given I have a space heater in the closet I can adjust it to get it more inline with what a particular strain might prefer.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Bobby_M]

60 is too low for ales. You may start at something like 64-65 but even then, you ought to ramp the temp up to near 70 at the end of fermentation. It really helps the yeast cleanup their mess.

 

[quizmastermikey]

Yea, I don't know what you have been reading but 60 degrees is far too low for ales. It depends on the yeast but you are telling me that you are getting off flavors, last batch didn't fully condition and you are fermenting in an area that is around 60 degrees and dips to 57 at times. No good. Get a spot that is 68-70 degrees or buy one of those handy heat bands to wrap around your primary fermenter.

 

[motobrewer]

thames valley and the american ales like low 60's.

other than that, high 60s low 70s.

 

[scinerd3000]

To clarify, the majority of my batches were fermented in my laundry room where the temperature would fluctuate from 60-75 degrees in the winter and 70-85 degrees in the summer.

From my reading I've gathered a consistent low 60 degrees is ideal. Given I have a space heater in the closet I can adjust it to get it more inline with what a particular strain might prefer.

Thanks for the replies.

60 as an ambient temperature is different than 60 for the beer temp. Lets say your fermenting at 60 degrees, the actual beer temp is going to be around 64-66. For most beers i try to ferment so the actual beer is around 67 and ive had very good results. Therefor you may want to aim your cabinet around 63 degrees and see if you will have better results. After around day 4 or so or whenever fermentation starts to wind down and the krausen becomes less, ramp the temperature up to around 67-70 so it will finish out just as bobby_m suggested.

Water also has a very high thermal mass and it takes alot to swing the temperatures of the beer so dont worry so much about the cabinet temperature swings. Varience is normal but realise the beer temperature is fluctuation much more slowly.

For the next batch i would suggest using bottled spring water instead of distilled so the yeast will have some additional ions to work with and consider a slightly warmer temperature and you should be fine. Also are you using a yeast starter? Also out of curiosity how long are you leaving it in primary and secondary before you rack off and bottle?

 

[cameronsto]

Thanks for all the replies. I was more concerned with the variation in temperatures rather than the specific temperature I had settled at. I'm going to brew this weekend and see how it goes.

 

[cameronsto]

I brewed a Scottish 70 ale on Saturday and have been able to keep the fermentation temperature at a consistent 66-67 degrees since Sunday evening. The first 24 hours started out pretty low, around 60 degrees, but I pulled it up to 66. I figure another day at this temperature and then I'll raise it to around 70 for 3 days.

At what point should I start testing FG to see if it has stopped? Before raising to 70 or after a couple days at 70?

Thanks again.

 

[dogbar]

At what point should I start testing FG to see if it has stopped? Before raising to 70 or after a couple days at 70?

Neither. Just let it be for a couple of weeks and test it then.

 

[cameronsto]

Ok, the fermenter (batch 1) was at 66-67 for a full 3 days, then I increased the temperature and it has been at 70 since yesterday morning (Thursday). How long should I keep it at this temperature? And more importantly, I want to brew on Sunday (batch 2) and would like to drop the temperature back to the 66 range for my new batch. Would 3 days at 70 be too short of time for batch 1 to finish? Would there be any ill effects to batch 1 to drop the temperature again so batch 2 can start at the lower temp?

Thanks for all the advice.

Cameron