Ferment temp and ideas?

[underground_brewer]

Hey there!

I'm sort of new to brewing, have done about 10 or 15 batches and have started doing my own recipes! It's been great fun so far!

Anyway, I've heard about too-high of fermentation temps causing off-flavors in your brew. An recent IPA I made, didn't really taste like I expected. I don't really know how to describe the strange flavors, I'd have to crack another. But unfortunately I think it was around 75 to 80 F for most of the primary :/ So I guess my main question is this: will that temp really affect the flavor? And what are the off-flavors you'd taste?

My apartment unfortunately doesn't have AC so this summer I'm even more worried about fermenting here. I have an old wine cooler that I thought I could ferment in (so I could set it very precisely around 65 F). Otherwise I've heard of putting ice packs around the carboy, but the thing is I'm not here all day to keep switching them. Any of you guys and gals ever had this problem, what did you do to solve it?

Thanks in advance, looking forward to these boards

 

[cvstrat]

Everyone has this problem. Some beers are better a tad warmer. For example stouts do decent in the mid 70s. Belgians typically thrive in the temp range you quoted. Some yeast strains however just don't like to give it their best at those temps.

Hefeweizens are the style that always own me. If your pale ale gets anywhere near 80 you're going to get some bad tasting esters up on that beer. Even if it's not super hot when you ferment you might not get the perfectly "to style" flavor you are looking for.

The single best improvement a new brewer can do to his/her beer is regular ferm temps. I have an article about it on my blog if you care to read:

Fermentation Tips


Good luck!

 

[underground_brewer]

Cool thanks for the link! It was an interesting read. I realized that my fermentation temps will vary from day to day, or even within the day. I'm going to try out my old wine cooler to see how it works. I am currently doing this recipe based on a slightly-hopped blonde ale that I've brewed a few times with variations, basically so I can get an idea of different hop profiles as well as malt characteristics. So next ferment I'll do in the cooler!

So when you talk about these bad-tasting esters, could you describe what their flavor is like? Is it kind of tart? Or are these the 'buttered-popcorn' flavors I've heard people talk about?

Cheers!