Battling cold fermentation temps

[wesasmith]

Hey HBT,

My brothers and are new to the home brewing scene and have been running into some issues with cold fermentation temps. With the colder weather upon us in Northern California,(insert Winter is coming meme Here) our ideal fermentation location is dropping to around 60-62 degrees. I've scouted out other locations throughout our house and have found similar readings.
Lately I've been using a heating pad in combination with blankets to combat the colder weather. Not the most scientific/or effective I know.

I've done some looking into Fermwraps or possibly building a insulated water system via a fish tank heater. But before i breakdown and buy some more equipment, id like to see what HBT uses to fight this issue.

thanks and

 

[MindenMan]

I too use a heating pad w/o trouble. Since I already had one, I didn't have to buy a heater for my fermenter chamber. If you haven't already, get the fermenter up off the floor and put the heating pad on the bottom. Do you have a fermometer? You may get by with the heating pad on low 24/7 to keep your yeast happy based on how well you insulate it.

 

[Tombstone0]

60-62 is a great ambiant temperature. Active fermentation will add 5-10 degrees to your fermentation, so that's about perfect. Adding a little extra heat at the end of fermentation wouldn't be a bad idea. That would help it finish those last few gravity points.
You might need to heat up your bottles to get them to carbonate in a reasonable amount of time, though.

 

[RM-MN]

60-62 is a great ambiant temperature. Active fermentation will add 5-10 degrees to your fermentation, so that's about perfect. Adding a little extra heat at the end of fermentation wouldn't be a bad idea. That would help it finish those last few gravity points.
You might need to heat up your bottles to get them to carbonate in a reasonable amount of time, though.

I agree that 60 to 62 is a great temperature...for some yeasts but not all. I'd find a big tub, put water in it up to about the level of the beer in the fermenter when you have the fermenter in there and then use an aquarium heater to maintain the temperature. The big amount of water will damp out any variation in the temperature.

 

[wesasmith]

ok, thank you for the quick replies.
Starting out we have been brewing pales, IPA's and DIPAs to get our technique down. Does this temp range usually for these recipe types (generally speaking)?

 

[Yooper]

ok, thank you for the quick replies.
Starting out we have been brewing pales, IPA's and DIPAs to get our technique down. Does this temp range usually for these recipe types (generally speaking)?

Holding it (the fermenting temperature, not the ambient) at about 65 degrees would be ideal.

My ambient temperature is about 62, and when I want to ferment a bit warmer, I use a water bath for the fermenter. I put the fermenter in a cooler, and fill with water up to the level of the beer. Then I put in a $10 aquarium heater, and easily keep the water (and the beer) at 65 degrees. The water bath helps to insulate the fermenting beer from temperature fluctuations of 60 when we're not home to 64 when we are, as it takes a LONG time for both the beer and the water to change temperatures. The aquarium heater, when needed, keeps the temperature where I need it.