Fermentation Temperature Hypothetical

[delvec28]

I just made a Rye IPA with harvested Pacman yeast, which has an optimal temperature range from 60-72 degrees F. Since it's summer, I decided to use a swamp cooler to stay within this range.

Thing is, I brew at my friend's house since I still live with my parents, so I'm not able to monitor it every single day.

The day after brewing I went there to swap ice packs and get it down to the low 60's, and I made sure he did this again that night. On day two, I was out all day and he only changed ice packs once, temperature was 71 at that time. Day three I went there and got it down to 60 with more ice packs, and by the next morning it was back to 70.

My question is this - what is better, having a very variable temperature within range, so literally going from 60-72, or having a steady temperature 2-3 degrees above what is recommended?

My friend's place gets up to 75 during the day while he is working. Usually down at 70-72 at night with the A/C on.

 

[delvec28]

I should also mention that my previous batch was a pale ale where I didn't use the swamp cooler.

This batch ended up having a really weird off-flavor, like some type of bad bitterness but not that astringency with a super mouth-puckering bite.

As a beginner, it's tough to put my finger on what caused it but something was off and my best guess is one of three things - partial boil with all of the extract added at the beginning of the boil, too high of a fermentation temperature, or not rinsing my bleach/vinegar sanitzer (I read this was not necessary).

For the Rye IPA, I used starsan, swamp cooler, bigger boil by a half gallon and adding the extract late to try and rid myself of this flavor!

 

[eastoak]

I should also mention that my previous batch was a pale ale where I didn't use the swamp cooler.

This batch ended up having a really weird off-flavor, like some type of bad bitterness but not that astringency with a super mouth-puckering bite.

As a beginner, it's tough to put my finger on what caused it but something was off and my best guess is one of three things - partial boil with all of the extract added at the beginning of the boil, too high of a fermentation temperature, or not rinsing my bleach/vinegar sanitzer (I read this was not necessary).

For the Rye IPA, I used starsan, swamp cooler, bigger boil by a half gallon and adding the extract late to try and rid myself of this flavor!

you may have misread that somewhere, you do not want bleach in your beer. there are no rinse sanitizers like star san but bleach is a definite rinse very well sanitizer.

 

[eastoak]

I just made a Rye IPA with harvested Pacman yeast, which has an optimal temperature range from 60-72 degrees F. Since it's summer, I decided to use a swamp cooler to stay within this range.

Thing is, I brew at my friend's house since I still live with my parents, so I'm not able to monitor it every single day.

The day after brewing I went there to swap ice packs and get it down to the low 60's, and I made sure he did this again that night. On day two, I was out all day and he only changed ice packs once, temperature was 71 at that time. Day three I went there and got it down to 60 with more ice packs, and by the next morning it was back to 70.

My question is this - what is better, having a very variable temperature within range, so literally going from 60-72, or having a steady temperature 2-3 degrees above what is recommended?

My friend's place gets up to 75 during the day while he is working. Usually down at 70-72 at night with the A/C on.

a steady temperature is best, a ten degree swing for yeast can be stressful.

 

[emjay]

That temp swing is ambient too... which could mean a possible fermentor temp swing of 20°

 

[emjay]

you may have misread that somewhere, you do not want bleach in your beer. there are no rinse sanitizers like star san but bleach is a definite rinse very well sanitizer.

I have never and will never use bleach, but properly diluted, it CAN be used as a no-rinse sanitizer.

 

[delvec28]

you may have misread that somewhere, you do not want bleach in your beer. there are no rinse sanitizers like star san but bleach is a definite rinse very well sanitizer.

Honestly, I think I heard/read it from a podcast with the owner of StarSan. I believe the ratio was 1 tbsp of each bleach & vinegar, and he said at that dilution you don't need to rinse.

However this is a moot point because I've made the switch to StarSan full time :rockin:

 

[delvec28]

That temp swing is ambient too... which could mean a possible fermentor temp swing of 20°

How is that possible? If the water bath that the carboy sits in only ranges from 60-72, I don't see how the beer could be outside that range (besides the beer being a couple degrees warmer while fermentation is strong). If anything, I would think the swamp cooler helps to reduce the quick temperature fluctuations, minus when you swap ice packs and the water is cooled about 5 degrees or so.


I just hope that this beer tastes better than my last, because it got to the point where I couldn't drink more than 1 due to that weird flavor, whatever it may have been.

 

[boo boo]

How is that possible? If the water bath that the carboy sits in only ranges from 60-72, I don't see how the beer could be outside that range (besides the beer being a couple degrees warmer while fermentation is strong). If anything, I would think the swamp cooler helps to reduce the quick temperature fluctuations, minus when you swap ice packs and the water is cooled about 5 degrees or so.
.

The water bath will help keep down the temperature swings, but keeping it as steady as you can would be in the best interest of the beer.

Also rinse bleach,vinegar really well with hot water. I use bleach as a cleaner for plastic parts and use really hot water to rinse off the bleach. I use Star-San to sanatize with..

 

[emjay]

How is that possible? If the water bath that the carboy sits in only ranges from 60-72, I don't see how the beer could be outside that range (besides the beer being a couple degrees warmer while fermentation is strong). If anything, I would think the swamp cooler helps to reduce the quick temperature fluctuations, minus when you swap ice packs and the water is cooled about 5 degrees or so.

I just hope that this beer tastes better than my last, because it got to the point where I couldn't drink more than 1 due to that weird flavor, whatever it may have been.

Oh whoops, you're right. Just skimmed over the posts and I guess I just tend to mentally associate the imprecise temp control of this method with simply putting the fermentors in a cold room.