Fermenting in basement

[forallthesyn33]

Hello all, I am new to brewing and I have my first IPA fermenting in my basement at the moment, I just put the airlock on last night and I wanted to make sure my beer will ferment properly, I have no direct heat source in my basement, it can get pretty cold down there at night, I would say it could get down to 45 degrees on a cold winter night, should I store my beer in a warmer place?


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[fpweeks]

Thats a little too cold. Ideally you want in around 67 degrees....

 

[thaymond]

I'm currently using the basement, as the fermentation chamber in the garage can't get above 32 degrees due to Illinois uber winter. I have my fermentors in the basement bathroom, and I keep them off the floor. This keeps them at about 62 degrees. On the floor, they go down to about 55 degrees. The floor is tile. I'll close the door to the bathroom, and open the heat vent to warm it up. I can get the room itself up to 75 degrees, which keeps the beer around 66 degrees.

Before anyone is disgusted with my bathrooms set up, it is entirely consumed by my brewing stuff. The enclosed shower is my bottle carb chamber (in the event of a bottle bomb) and the bathroom itself is never used.

 

[forallthesyn33]

We'll noted, thanks


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[theck]

Surprised you get that low. Been in the minus zeros to 10s here and mine doesn't dip past 60... No heat just the furnace but that's even in a different area.

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[forallthesyn33]

I have just a box on the wall in my basement, absolutely no heat source, so I moved my jug upstairs where it's more like 60 degrees


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[DoWBrewer]

I use an electric blanket with another blanket wrapped around that. It has three settings and works pretty well in my basement (my basement stays between 50 and 60 in the winter). The first setting keeps it around 65, the second 68, and the third in the mid seventies during normal cold spells. I am fermenting with a 16 gallon Speidle fermenter so it takes a good amount of heat to warm it up. With a five gallon setup, it would take less power, but should still work fine.

 

[FB12]

I like the electric blanket idea. May have to try that. My basement is also only about 55 deg this time of year. I recently brewed an APA & used WY1007 German Ale. It seemed to ferment nicely @ that temp-even needed a blowoff tube for a day. Wife keeps the upstairs @ 67. That works well after initial ferment is over to clean it up.