Bottleneck - only one fridge for fermentation

[Leonie Hill]

Hi all,

I am new to home brewing, but this hoppy is growing on me and I want to brew more.

I live in Singapore hence I need a dedicated fridge for fermentation to keep the correct temperature needed for fermentation. My fridge (wine chiller) is rather small and can only store one carboy at the time hence the fridge is the bottleneck in my system. I normally keep the beer on the yeast for 14 days before I keg.

I have a dedicated Kegerator which can hold 3 corny kegs. I keep a temperature of 4 degrees C. in my Kegerator.

The only way I can brew more is by getting a second fridge or shorten the time my beer is on the yeast in the fridge.

I live in a small apartment so I prefer not to buy a second fridge.

I have a TILT ver. 2, so I have been playing with the thought of kegging my beer once the gravity hasn't changed for 3 days and then store it for another week in the Kegerator before consuming it. However the temperature in my Kegerator is 4 degrees which is much lower than the 16-18 degrees which is normally used for fermentation and conditioning.

So, I would appreciate feedback from you guys if there is any issue in transferring the beer to a keg and store it at 4 degrees C for the final part of the fermentation/conditioning process.

Thanks and with best regards

 

[thehaze]

14 days on the yeast is OK, but for some beers, it could be shorter. Anything under 7-8%, you can ferment for 9-12 days and transfer in the keg. Fermentation is finished in 3-5 days for most beers, so you only need 3-5 more days to raise the temperature to help the yeast finish and maybe do a diacetyl rest, which does not hurt any beer. at 10-11 days, you can easily transfer to keg, condition for a few days and drink.

 

[RM-MN]

Your beer does not need to be refrigerated for the entire time. It only needs refrigeration while the ferment is very active, usually 3 to 5 days. After that if can be brought to room temp until you are ready to keg it.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

 

[Leonie Hill]

Thanks for all the advice. Much appreciated.

I don’t like the idea of kegging my beer and keep it at room temperature as the average temp. inside our house is 30-32 deg C. (86-90 F.).

I’ll probably buy a chest freezer and a temperature controller. I’ll keep the temp at 18 C. (64 F.).

I’ll use part of the space for a fermentation vessel and part of it for kegged beer which need to be conditioned.

Which then leads to the next question - should i carbonate the beer while it’s in the freezer... and at 18 deg. C. (64 deg F.)? That would require another CO2 bottle and gas lines.

Cheers
Erik

 

[Pkrd]

Ideally you would carbonate at serving temperature but 18° is better than 32°.

You can get many beers into the keg in under 10 days, especially if you skip the cold crashing.

Are you really dinking a keg every two weeks? It does take a while to build up a pipeline when you get started but once it's full it's not hard to maintain. I rarely have 2 ferments going at the same time even though I just brew for 9.5l kegs (currently doing two because I've been slack).

 

[Leonie Hill]

Hi Pkrd

Nah, I don’t drink a lot. And agree, it’s part building up a pipeline, but also part conditioning/aging.

My very limited experience with home brewing has taught me that time from kegging to consuming it matters.

Maybe i’m overthinking the process. Perhaps i should just refrain from drinking any of my homebrew for a while so i build up a pipeline. My kegerator can accommodate three kegs which should be enough for having two kegs on tap and and one conditioning.

Cheers

 

[LudicrousLush]

A lot also depends on the yeast health and stress. Over pitching will mean less esthers & diacetyl to have to clean up. If you keep room temp at 64 degrees it will be fine. And if you have a small place I would not think cluttering it for the long term to answer this short term problem.

 

[Pkrd]

My kegerator can accommodate three kegs which should be enough for having two kegs on tap and and one conditioning.

I never understood having more kegs than taps in the kegerator.

 

[TheMadKing]

I never understood having more kegs than taps in the kegerator.

1 for star San, others for bulk aging, secondary, lagering, people's choice competitions

Lots of uses for extra kegs

 

[kh54s10]

I would opt for more fermentation refrigeration. But keeping the beer at your hot room temperature will not ruin your beer.

If you can brew regularly your 3 kegs should suffice. Try to drink more of one than the other so you will have an empty keg to fill and still have plenty in the other.

Get a third tap, you then have 3 beers you can drink. Keg, carbonate and drink average beers almost right away. They don't need a long period of conditioning. RIS, Barleywine and similar are another story and should be aged.

Another thought - Get some air conditioning in the house.

 

[verboten]

I never understood having more kegs than taps in the kegerator.

I never understand having less than at least half again extra.

1 for star San, others for bulk aging, secondary, lagering, people's choice competitions

Lots of uses for extra kegs

Exactly. I’m up to 13 as of today. Uniform size,shape and connectors, I can do many many things other than serve. But serving is the key thing

 

[zlimfur]

Get yourself kveik yeast. It will be happy to ferment at your room temperature..

 

[Matthew Nelson]

Are there door shelves in your kegerator? Are you using them? I ask because by removing them I was able to go from a three keg capacity to four in mine.