Fermentation Temperature Control Help

[BeerChef17]

Up to recently I haven't really worries about my fermentation temperature but the more and more I read I am realizing I am fermentation at too hot of a temp. My first 2 beers that have been bottled were fine and my dunkelwizen tasted fine when before bottling. Currently I have a pumpkin ale in the fermenter for just under 48 hours. As of this morning my wort temp - taken by a stick on thermometer - was 77F. All I had to cool it down was 2 frozen water bottles which I placed on top of the bucket. In the few hours since then my temp has dropped to 75F. I have a half gallon of water and another bottle in the freezer now.

What I am wondering is if there is a better way other than placing frozen bottles of water on and around my fermenter? I eventually want to get a mini fridge but dont have the cash right now and need something cheap.

Also would the 48 hours of hot fermentation likely have produced some off flavors? or will I just have to wait and see?

The yeast I pitched was WYeast1056 and has recommended temp of 60-72F.

 

[AnthonyC]

Controlling fermentation temperature is key to taking your beer from good to great. Check out Craigs List for a used freezer and pick up a temp controller off ebay or from your local brew shop. Until then, the swamp cooler method and/or frozen bottles may help a little. I never had much luck with it though.

Hot fermentation temps will likely produce off flavors. The question is how much and if they are even noticeable. You can't know until it's done. It's not like you were in the 80's or 90's though so I wouldn't stress about it too much.

 

[BeerChef17]

something like this for a temperature control? http://www.midwestsupplies.com/refrigerator-thermostat-control-analog.html

So to install an analog controller like that I just have to stick the probe in the freezer, set my temp, and that's it?

 

[BigTerp]

I use a small igloo cooler filled with water and frozen water bottles. The water bath temperature is within a degree (if not the same) as my fermenting wort. I'm ferementing an IPA currently, and I can keep my temperature at 67-68 by throwing in a frozen bottle before work, and one when I get home. Pretty simple actually. My previous batch I used a Wyeast yeast that called for fermentation temps in the low 60's. I could easily hold my temp at 62 by using this method.

 

[AnthonyC]

something like this for a temperature control? http://www.midwestsupplies.com/refrigerator-thermostat-control-analog.html

So to install an analog controller like that I just have to stick the probe in the freezer, set my temp, and that's it?

That's exactly what I use. You plug the controller into the wall, the freezer into the controller, put the probe in the freezer, set the temp and it handles the rest.

 

[BeerChef17]

@BigTerp - Nice to know...I have a cooler in my garage that is never used so that'll have to work for now until I can afford the temp controller and find a cheap freezer.

@Anthony - Sweet that sounds easy enough. Does it need to be a freezer or will a fridge cut it? I was thinking something along the lines of buying a fridge/freezer combo and converting the fridge portion so i could also easily store starters and the like as well as my primary then use the freezer for hops

 

[daksin]

I've had fantastic results with nothing but wet towels and a fan. I suspect that if you can't have a fan, wet towels by themselves would get you on your way, though.

Good luck!

 

[AnthonyC]

A fridge will work. It may be a little trickier fitting buckets/carboys in a small fridge. A chest freezer makes a fairly efficient use of space and they are pretty cheap so that is why I chose that, but either will work.

 

[BeerChef17]

good to know there are a lot of really cheap fridges around me that you would find in a kitchen so I figure I would be able to just remove the bottom shelves for my buckets then still have shelving above. Thanks for all the help everyone!! :rockin:

 

[Sardoman]

I've had fantastic results with nothing but wet towels and a fan. I suspect that if you can't have a fan, wet towels by themselves would get you on your way, though.

Good luck!

I'm told this works very well in the Southwest, but for those of us who live in a humid climate, evaporative cooling has no effect on the beer temperature.

Also, the swamp cooler works well if your ambient temps are under 70F, but if you have a hot apartment then you might as well get a minifridge because you will need a dedicated freezer just to keep enough water bottles frozen to stock the swamp cooler.

These are all good suggestions here, but consider the environment where you will be fermenting and decide what will reasonably work. Consider brewing styles that do well in hot conditions such as certain Belgian ales and weissbiers (if you like banana).

 

[BeerChef17]

Well got my cooler scrubbed out and sanitized and my temp is already down another 2degrees. I should be good to go now! I leave all of my fermenters in the backroom of my basement which stays in the 70s at all times during the summer...a few more months and it should be cool enough down their with the ambient temperature alone!!

 

[daksin]

I'm told this works very well in the Southwest, but for those of us who live in a humid climate, evaporative cooling has no effect on the beer temperature.

...

These are all good suggestions here, but consider the environment where you will be fermenting and decide what will reasonably work. Consider brewing styles that do well in hot conditions such as certain Belgian ales and weissbiers (if you like banana).

This is absolutely true- thanks for pointing this out. I'm going to have to start checking out where people are brewing before posting. The reason the wet towel method works so well for me is because I live on the coast where the air is super dry.

 

[BigTerp]

Well got my cooler scrubbed out and sanitized and my temp is already down another 2degrees. I should be good to go now! I leave all of my fermenters in the backroom of my basement which stays in the 70s at all times during the summer...a few more months and it should be cool enough down their with the ambient temperature alone!!

Good deal. The cooler setup is pretty simple. I have a spare bathtub that I'll be using instead of the cooler when I have 2 batches fermenting at the same time. I plan to eventually buy a small chest freezer for fermenting, but a keezer is my next big project, so the cooler and bathtub will have to work for awhile longer.

 

[DrBergeron]

This is absolutely true- thanks for pointing this out. I'm going to have to start checking out where people are brewing before posting. The reason the wet towel method works so well for me is because I live on the coast where the air is super dry.

I think this is true if you're fermenting in an area that's exposed to the outside air, like a garage or shed. However, if you're fermenting inside under A/C, the humidity should be much lower than outside no matter how humid it is.

I have a 100 gallon saltwater aquarium that I cool using evaporative cooling, and I can drop the temp by 5 degrees in a few hours using a small fan (and this is with the equivalent of tanning bed light bulbs heating it at the same time) and have a gallon+ of water evaporate out of it a day. I would imagine 5-10 degrees should be enough to get a beer into a solid fermentation temp for ales in most households.

You could also try running a dehumidifier in the room where your swamp cooler is and you'd maybe see an increase in cooling efficiency? (and you could recycle the water)

 

[BeerChef17]

Good deal. The cooler setup is pretty simple. I have a spare bathtub that I'll be using instead of the cooler when I have 2 batches fermenting at the same time. I plan to eventually buy a small chest freezer for fermenting, but a keezer is my next big project, so the cooler and bathtub will have to work for awhile longer.

Yeah the freezer is definitely on my lsit but the cooler is working great. Dropped in a frozen 1 gal jug before work this morning when I got home 12 hours later the jug was completely thawed but temp was down to 62...just using 3 water bottles tonight then another 1 gal jug for tomorrow...now I just need to keep an eye on my temp getting too low LOL