Fermenting location temps

[rmcgill]

Made my first brew ever last night IPA!

Currently fermenting in my basement. Its a cool 65F bucket is currently 70F.

We park cars in the basement and worried about a temperature variation. How much is safe? The bucket is on the floor so should stay fairly consistent even if temps temporarily rise do to a hot car in garage.

Would it be safe to move the bucket to a bathroom temporarily? (limited room in house)

Yeast was a "SAFALE US-05 AMERICAN ALE" this yeast looks to like cool temps?

Thanks for any input.. first timer and seemed to be hooked

 

[duboman]

Made my first brew ever last night IPA!

Currently fermenting in my basement. Its a cool 65F bucket is currently 70F.

We park cars in the basement and worried about a temperature variation. How much is safe? The bucket is on the floor so should stay fairly consistent even if temps temporarily rise do to a hot car in garage.

Would it be safe to move the bucket to a bathroom temporarily? (limited room in house)

Yeast was a "SAFALE US-05 AMERICAN ALE" this yeast looks to like cool temps?

Thanks for any input.. first timer and seemed to be hooked

You really want the fermentation to be about 65. After the first week of active fermentation the consistency becomes a lessor issue but big changes are not advised

 

[rmcgill]

So your saying fermentation temp @ 65F. That would mean I would need 62 or so deg air temp. This is not possible for me. You see any issues wit it being 65 air temp and 70 fermenting?

Think I can keep basement steady by not driving the car but the one outside

 

[TopherM]

The fluctuation of a hot car parking in a garage has to be pretty minimal due to the thermo mass of the garage air. I don't know for certain, but I can't imagine that the temp would fluctuate more than a degree or two for a very short period of time. You're good in that aspect.

I use US-05 for the majority of my ales, and typically set my temp to about 61F with a +/- 3F differential on my temperature controller. Colder fermentations are cleaner fermentations, so the closer you can get to the fermentation temp being on the 59F low side of the US-05's ideal range, the better. Remember that the fermentation temp is typically about 3-6F warmer than the ambient temp.

You should be good at 65F with minor fluccuations in your basement, but in the future, you may want to look into more precise temperature control. You can get a used chest freezer on Craigslist for around $50.00 and a good new Johnson A-419 temp controller for about $55.00, so about $105.00 solves all of your temperture control needs and improves the quality of your beer going forward. No brainer investment IMHO.

Good luck.

 

[dkennedy]

If you want a cheaper/potentially faster cooling option, then a swamp cooler may work well- tub of water which you can then cool with ice packs as needed. Would also help with any fluctuation concerns.