Fermenting room temperature

[Gopher40]

I will soon be starting my first batch of beer (excited). My question is regarding the temperature for the room that the primary will be placed in. I don't want to use my garage because it is already pretty warm in there on nice days. Not a lot of room in my upstairs in my house (small house). So that leaves the basement, which I have to believe is used my many homebrewers.. The temp seems to run between 56-65 degrees. Does this present a problem, or will it just need to ferment a little longer?

 

[iron_city_ap]

That should be fine. The beer will warm a little as it ferments, so the slightly cool temperatures down there are actually to your advantage.

 

[ChshreCat]

You're going to want to stabilize the temp if you can. That wide of a swing can cause you some issues in fermentation. One easy way is to get a large tub (like one of those plastic tubs you can get cheap to put ice and beer/pop in for parties) and put your fermenter in it, then fill the tub with water. You can go alomost as high with the water as the level of your beer in the fermenter. This added mass will buffer the temperature swings alone. If you want to make it even better, you can toss a frozen water bottle into the water in the tub as you head into the warmer part of the day to keep the temp lower.

 

[EricT]

If I had a basement like yours I wouldn't have had to make a SOF. I have Basement envy We don't have basements in Socal. But yah, those temps should be good.

 

[bosox]

56-65 is stuck right in the middle of the warm end of lagering and the cold side of ales. I'm sure if your temperature is constantly around 58 or 60 then you'll be fine, but just want to make sure it's stable and doesn't drop too low and hurt the ale yeasties.

 

[Chuck_Swillery]

You'll be fine... keep it on the warm end of your basement's range if possible. You may run into a few challenges depending upon the yeast you use but you'll get the job down. I use my basement but have he benefit of having a gas fireplace that I can set and keep the area pretty consistent. I've turned out some good beer so far.

 

[RCCOLA]

You're going to want to stabilize the temp if you can. That wide of a swing can cause you some issues in fermentation. One easy way is to get a large tub (like one of those plastic tubs you can get cheap to put ice and beer/pop in for parties) and put your fermenter in it, then fill the tub with water. You can go alomost as high with the water as the level of your beer in the fermenter. This added mass will buffer the temperature swings alone. If you want to make it even better, you can toss a frozen water bottle into the water in the tub as you head into the warmer part of the day to keep the temp lower.

 

[ChshreCat]

:rockin:
12345

 

[Gopher40]

Thanks for all the responses. I actually think that once our lovely Michigan weather settles into a consistant temperature pattern my basement will hang in the mid to upper 60s, which I think will be okay.

 

[rico567]

Our basement doesn't have quite that much swing in the temperatures, but it's basically the same (Central IL). I'm going into my third year of brewing and have had nothing but good luck fermenting down there. If it's a style wanting a bit warmer fermentation, such as a Belgian, I have one of the "brew belt" electric heaters I put around the bucket after it has fermented a few days.