Fermenting Temperatures

[C-Rider]

I have a friend that does 10 gallon extract batches. Because of the size of the fermenter he doesn't control the temp and lets it go to whatever "room temp" is. Where he lives here on O`ahu at this time of the year it could be anywhere between low 80's during the day and mid 60's at night. He has a big 10 gallon conical that sits on a stand so the top is about 4' off the ground. No way he's gonna get that in any fridge he owns at this time.

Trying to prove temp makes a big difference we did a clone of S.N. Celebration ale. The recipe came from our LHBS and the only change we made was swapping the Cascade hops to Northern Brewer as we had a pound of them sitting in the fridge. I took 2 gallons home and fermented at say 64* for 3 weeks, dry hopped for a week and then cold crashed about 5 days at about 34*.

Yesterday we had a gathering and compared the 3....
S.N. Celebration
Celebration Clone 64* fermentation
Celebration Clone room temp fermentation.

Mine was chosen as the "better" of the 3...Wow better than the original... Not that anyone said the S.N. was bad, maybe the Northern Brewer hops made the difference.

Both extract brews were darker than the original and that was expected. My ferment and cold crash was a clear as the S.N. The other a bit cloudy w/a taste some called flowery what ever that is...LOL

I liked it so much I'm creating an All Grain recipe and will brew this one again as a BIAB 2 gallon batch.

Hope the picture posts w/the recipe:

 

[Kmeister]

I have a friend that does 10 gallon extract batches. Because of the size of the fermenter he doesn't control the temp and lets it go to whatever "room temp" is. Where he lives here on O`ahu at this time of the year it could be anywhere between low 80's during the day and mid 60's at night. He has a big 10 gallon conical that sits on a stand so the top is about 4' off the ground. No way he's gonna get that in any fridge he owns at this time.

Trying to prove temp makes a big difference we did a clone of S.N. Celebration ale. The recipe came from our LHBS and the only change we made was swapping the Cascade hops to Northern Brewer as we had a pound of them sitting in the fridge. I took 2 gallons home and fermented at say 64* for 3 weeks, dry hopped for a week and then cold crashed about 5 days at about 34*.

Yesterday we had a gathering and compared the 3....
S.N. Celebration
Celebration Clone 64* fermentation
Celebration Clone room temp fermentation.

Mine was chosen as the "better" of the 3...Wow better than the original... Not that anyone said the S.N. was bad, maybe the Northern Brewer hops made the difference.

Both extract brews were darker than the original and that was expected. My ferment and cold crash was a clear as the S.N. The other a bit cloudy w/a taste some called flowery what ever that is...LOL

I liked it so much I'm creating an All Grain recipe and will brew this one again as a BIAB 2 gallon batch.

Hope the picture posts w/the recipe:

Being that yours was chosen should be all the proof he needs that regulating fermenting temperature is ideal. Im sure his probably fermented out but the problem with swinging temperature like that is that the yeast gets over active when the temp is above the recommended temp and then when the temp drops the yeast get kind of shocked which can produce some undesirable flavors.

 

[Surly]

I brewed 10 gallon batches very happily in a temperature controlled refrigerator. I used two 5 gallon carboys that sat on a plywood platform about 18"s above the frig floor. Two sets of blow off tubes ran down through the platform into two one gallon plastic milk jugs. Sweet tasting beer.

 

[C-Rider]

I brewed 10 gallon batches very happily in a temperature controlled refrigerator. I used two 5 gallon carboys that sat on a plywood platform about 18"s above the frig floor. Two sets of blow off tubes ran down through the platform into two one gallon plastic milk jugs. Sweet tasting beer.

I can see how that works. But he likes his conicals. LOL And of course he drinks most of his beer so he's happy. LOL

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

If he can afford a 4' tall conical, surely he can afford an immersion-chilling glycol recirculation system, right? ;-)

 

[j1n]

If i had no way of controlling my fermentation temps, i wouldn't even bother to brew.

 

[Darwin18]

I agree. Control of my fermentation temperatures is crucial. It's nice that he has conicals but he's not making the best beer that he could. That would really bother me.

 

[BigFloyd]

If i had no way of controlling my fermentation temps, i wouldn't even bother to brew.

Me neither. It's especially crucial for us who live in warmer climates. IMO, that also includes wort temp when yeast is pitched.

It's a no brainer that I'd much rather have a brew done in a 6.5-gallon plastic bucket inside a STC1000-controlled fridge than one fermented in a beautiful stainless conical at room temp in Hawaii.