Ferment in refrigerator

[dropjaw83]

I'm still fairly new to brewing and had a question about fermenting in a refrigerator. I'm making an Oktoberfest that requires fermentation at 65 degrees or cooler. Is it okay to put the entire fermenting bucket in my refrigerator? It's obviously cooler than the required 65 degrees, but I didn't know if it was too cold.

I know there are kits to install on a fridge for lager fermentation, but I'm not quite to that level yet. Thanks for any help or advice.

 

[lumpher]

most refrigerators are around 45 (personal preferences and settings, though). too cold for ale fermentation

 

[natureboy68]

Look up swamp cooler, works great, and dirt cheap...basically, you get a big container, put fermenter in, fill with cold water at least halfway up the fermenter, cover fermenter with an old t-shirt, with t-shirt in the water to provide a wicking effect, and rotate about 2-3 frozen water bottles one to two times a day, you should be able to keep it 65* degrees easily, of course depending on ambient temps...

 

[nasty_rabbit]

Check the temperature range for your yeast. You can do this by going to the manufacturers’ web site and look up the strain that you used. Try to target the lower end of that range because the yeast activity will generate some increase in temp. If you go too cold the yeast will be sluggish at best or may go completely dormant.

 

[dropjaw83]

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll look into everything you suggested.

 

[TopherM]

most refrigerators are around 45

I think most refridgerators are closer to 36F. The USDA recommends 40F or lower, and says that anything higher than 40F promotes bacteria growth, so I'd be wary of your 45F fridge.

Definitely way too cold for fermentation, either way.

A traditional Oktoberfest should have a lager yeast, and ideally should be fermented closer to 50-52. Any cooler than 46 or so and you WILL NOT have fermentation, as the yeast will hybernate and be inactive.

Have you already purchased all of the stuff for this Oktoberfest? It doesn't sound like you are going to have good means to ferment the lager yeast or to lager the beer. You may want to go pick up some ale yeast and just make this one with ale yeast. It won't be as crisp and clean as a lagered Oktoberfest, but it will taste very similar, and will be much better than an Oktoberfest that was not properly fermented at constant temps in the mid to low 50s.

Even with making this with an ale yeast, though, you still need to ferment it at a constant temp around 60-62F.

The bottom line is that temperature control is very important to brewing good beers, especially with lager yeast. You really need to look into some means of hitting and maintaining the proper temps.