I'm currently brewing a Wild Hogge Amber Ale and tomorrow will be Day 3 of fermenting. My temp was up to 70 degree when I checked it after work and through some 2 liter frozen ice bottles in the tub and now the temp is showing 60. Is this ok? Or should I try for a little warmer? Just want to make sure I have a nice clean taste.
Ferment Temp
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Potamus
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After three days active fermentation should be mostly finished, which means heat generation should have subsided. I'd just let it sit at ambient (which sounds like it's between 60-70*) until you're ready to bottle.
Wide temperature swings aren't good. IIRC the temp shouldn't vary more than 4 deg F during a day. Try to keep the changes gradual. Good luck.
Thanks_Yeasties
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The temp in your fermenter will be 5-10 degrees higher than the surrounding temperature due to the heat generated by the fermentation activity. If you put the bucket/carboy in water and submerge it up to the beer level then the water temp is a good indicator of how warm the beer is. That will also allow you to do the water bottles of ice to keep the temp right around where you want it. (I do one in the morning, one in the evening).
Each yeast thrives in a different range so check your specific strand's package out for its recommended range but between 60-65 is generally the range for ales.
One of my first brews fermented very warm and I ended up with a fusel alcohol taste that subsided after a couple of weeks in the bottle and turned out drinkable!
Each yeast thrives in a different range so check your specific strand's package out for its recommended range but between 60-65 is generally the range for ales.
One of my first brews fermented very warm and I ended up with a fusel alcohol taste that subsided after a couple of weeks in the bottle and turned out drinkable!
I fill the swamp cooler tub to about 2/3 of the beer level. During the lag phase, I find that the beer temp (indicated by the fermometer) is up to 8 deg higher than the bath water temp. So I like using a fermometer for measuring the beer temp. YMMV
Thanks_Yeasties
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Thats a good point. To be fair I dont have a way to probe the temp inside my bucket. I do fill the outside tub just about to the beer line and the way I understood it was the temps would pretty much equalize, similar to the ice filled bottle melting and the water inside it eventually equalizing in temp with the water in the tub. Or using an ice bath to cool your wort after the boil.
With active fermentation providing a constant internal heat source I could definitely see there could/would be some lag between the two though. With the fermenter keeping a higher temp than the surrounding water. For that reason I usually try to keep my water temp around 58-60 instead of nearing the higher end of the range.
I would think by the end of vigorous fermentation its still important to keep the surrounding water in the range as the yeast may not be producing a lot of heat but they would still be cleaning up by products.
With active fermentation providing a constant internal heat source I could definitely see there could/would be some lag between the two though. With the fermenter keeping a higher temp than the surrounding water. For that reason I usually try to keep my water temp around 58-60 instead of nearing the higher end of the range.
I would think by the end of vigorous fermentation its still important to keep the surrounding water in the range as the yeast may not be producing a lot of heat but they would still be cleaning up by products.
boydster
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What kind of yeast did you use? It sounds like you dropped the temp fairly quickly, is that right? In general, on day 3 of fermentation I wouldn't want to drop my temp by 10 degrees in a short period of time, simply because the yeast will usually be done with the easiest-to-metabolize sugars at that point and I would be concerned about causing the yeast to drop out early. It all depends on the yeast and what your fermentation was like, though.
If activity had already peaked, you probably could have left it at ambient temp without issue. If things were still building and getting stronger, lowering the temp was a good idea (but 10° in a short period is still a lot).
boydster
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The first 3-4 days are when the yeast make the vast majority of the flavors that they will contribute. It's during the really active growth phase that temps are crucial. Once it slows down, you don't have to worry nearly as much, because there won't be enough additional yeast growth to make a big impact on your beer. Instead, the yeast that is already there is going back and metabolizing the more complex sugars and fermentation byproducts before dropping out.
boydster
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This is a good read: http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html
fartinmartin
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This terrific hobby can be easily spoilt by striving for the ideal in every thing . All my fermentation temperature control is by virtue of the weather, and it always will be. So I may have some flavours that shouldn't be there, but it's still my beer, and it's still better than commercial, week, thin, low alcohol purchased beer. All my home brew over so many years has made me really dissatisfied with any purchased brews, my homebrews are always more satisfying. That's why I do homebrew.
