Fermenting and Bottling Temperatures

[lcbjr77]

I was just wondering where you folks keep your primary/secondary fermentors to keep the temperature at a constant.

I have my primary fermentor (which has an IPA in it)in a office we don't use, the 6.5 gallon bucket is wrapped in a blanket and the thermometer stuck to it says 70*, I'm thinking of putting it in the basement for seconday which will probably be about 10* cooler.

As far as post bottling, how do you keep these between 70*-75*, there's probably no where in my house that gets anywhere near 75*... I'm thinking of keeping them in that same office then moving them to the basement after two weeks.

Any suggestions???

 

[unionrdr]

3 weeks @ 70F is the norm. Warmer is OK, but colder can cause problems with bottle carbonating.

 

[eadavis80]

3 @ 70 is ideal, but - like you - I don't keep my house at 70. In fact, it's only at 67 from 2 p.m. until 9 p.m. when I go to bed. The rest of the time it's only at 63. That being said, even in the winter, my beer will carbonate. It might take an extra week, but it gets there. I live in a tri-level, which is actually kind of nice being a home brewer because I can leave beers in the lower level when I need lower temps and bring my bottles upstairs. There can be as much as about an 8-degree difference between the first and third levels. You could wrap your beer bottles in blankets and/or put them a little closer to a heater to help warm up those filled beer bottles too.

 

[Phil_Ozzy_Fer]

I'll probably be (lovingly) criticized for this, but I don't really pay much attention to ambient temperature. I simply stick my primary/secondary in a closet/corner, where it's out of the way, and leave it be until it is ready to be bottled. I brew according to what the seasonal ambient temps might be, and never brew anything that requires strict controls, i.e., no lager. Ales, like your IPA however, are fairly forgiving. The range in my apartment is around 68F-70F/19C-20C during the cooler months and up to 72F-75F/22C-24C. (Possibly warmer in the summer, but this is a fair estimate) These temps are the same pre/post bottling. (And no, I haven't really had any issues with off flavors.) Hope that helps

 

[KWright_VT]

Both of my fermenters are in the basement, for good constant cool temps. Temp on the fermenters stay around 60-62*, which is working well for my yeasts. I have an aquarium thermometer in case I need to go up some, but both yeasts I've used have done well at this temp, though the BRY-97 was a bit slow. The Nottingham is loving it though, and started to show activity in about 6-8 hours.

Bottles are kept upstairs at around 70* for conditioning, to be moved to the basement for storage.

Cheers.

 

[MonsterBrew]

When fermenting most ales, the ideal range is in the 60-70 but most importantly for the first few days when fermentation is vigorous and will increase the internal temperature. For conditioning, 70 I think it'll work well in the room you have it in.

-Jeff