Fermenting in basement. 14c?

[pjmartin]

Hi! I just started out brewing and have my first extract batch here in my living room. The temperature is between 21-24c.

I was thinking about doing the next batch in the basement where it is 14c. Is it too cold for us-05 or t-58? I've read that the fermenter will be a bit warmer then the actual room temperature so I reckon it will be almost perfect?

I was thinking if I should build some case for it so it can keep the heat up a little bit since there is no electricity in the basement.


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[RM-MN]

I think that's just a bit cool for the yeasts you mention and if your wort is that cool to start with, the yeast activity will be so sluggish that they won't be able to warm it up. I start my ferment at about 17c and at the peak of activity the temperature of the fermenter will only rise a bit less than 2c above that. You could use a tub of water to set the fermenter in and control the temperature by adding ice if in the upper part of the house or hot water if in the basement.

 

[pjmartin]

I put my gallon brew in a coolingbag and the temperaturen is now 16 but i will try to build some kind of cooling box with a termostat, frozen bottles and a fan that I can have in the apartment.


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[markto]

I ferment with Danstar Nottingham and White Labs Cry Havoc at those temps and get very clean, well attenuated beer. Both can be used like lager yeasts, so fermenting on the low end of the ale spectrum works just fine. Once you get near FG, bring the fermentor up to the 21-24 c part of the house for a few days to a week so that the yeast can clean up things like diacetyl.

I feel like it is a lot easier to match your yeast to your ambient temperature, and not the other way around. Artificial heating or cooling can result in ambient temperature swings, which if you are doing 1 gallon batches can lead to your wort temp changing rapidly (due to the smaller thermal mass), which leads to off-flavors and unhappy yeast.

That cool basement will sure be nice for summer brewing!

 

[krenshaw]

wintertime i have to ferment upstairs.. got the go-ahead from SWMBO just to stick the BBs on the dining room table (it has a glass topper so easy to clean) .. just as long as i use a blowoff tube.. must have rubbed off on her for her knowing it would be best to use that