Drastic change in fermenting temperature – Will quality be affected?

[schia]

Hello all,

In order to “maintain” an ideal fermenting temperature for my lager using Saflager S-23 yeast I plan to ON my fridge for 2-4 hours everyday but mostly OFF when I’m at work. I’ve been taking lots of reading lately before I start fermenting and the highest my temperature it will go using this method is 20C/68F and when it is ON it drops to 5C/41F. My concern here is that will such a drastic change in daily temperature affect the yeast and also the quality of my beer?

 

[kegtoe]

i think you might be pushing a lager yeast at 68 F. not saying that your beer will turn out bad or off quality but many homebrewers (myself included) have noted a marked imporvement when being able to control fermentation to ideal temperature ranges and avoiding big temp swings.

you MIGHT se some slight off flavors in this beer if the yeast get stressed. brewing yeast create certain flavors at "optimal" temps but can produce other flavors if they get stressed. It depends on your individual process and the yeast strain you use.

I bet your beer will be perfectly drinkable though. Maybe you could invest in a Johnson or Ranco temperature controll that automatically shuts your fridge off when it gets too cool and turns it on when you get too warm.

keep us posted on how the beer turns out.

 

[schia]

Is this it?

 

[kegtoe]

I've never seen that. I have the digital contoller from johnson.

Is this it?
QUOTE]

 

[Pommy]

buy yourself a simple plug in timer, the sort that clicks round and allows you to set on/off at every 5-15 minute increment. That's how I do mine and it works fantastic, at least until I get a thermostat but tbh that's no longer high on the list using this method. That much of a fluctuation on temperature will definitely effect your beer for the worse, how much so is hard to say from strain to strain.

 

[Pommy]

I am currently using my timer to turn the fridge on for 15mins every 4 hours to keep my hefe between 70F-72F, I've got an old style heavy fridge though so you might want to check your temps at different times to make sure you are getting steady temps if you decide to go with the timer method.

 

[schia]

buy yourself a simple plug in timer, the sort that clicks round and allows you to set on/off at every 5-15 minute increment. That's how I do mine and it works fantastic, at least until I get a thermostat but tbh that's no longer high on the list using this method. That much of a fluctuation on temperature will definitely effect your beer for the worse, how much so is hard to say from strain to strain.

Thanks for the timer tip... I'm using an old fridge as well, close to 25 years and if i were to use this method I'll have to do a few days of testing. troublesome but cheap nevertheless.

 

[schia]

Presume you talking about this...

 

[Homebrewtastic]

That big of temperature fluctuations puts a lot of stress on your yeast. Stress on your yeast can result in unhealthy fermentation.

 

[mabrungard]

The new book on Yeast indicates that 'heat-stress proteins' can leak from the yeast cells if their temperature changes to quickly (up or down). They recommend a maximum temperature change rate of 2F per day.

 

[Pommy]

Presume you talking about this...

thats the one

It doesnt take too much effort tbh, start with maybe 15 mins every 3 hours then check it after a day, make an adjustment as necessary.