First time Brewer... Temperature question

[mhozlock]

Well from what I've been reading no one is too fond of the Mr beer kits but I got one for a Christmas gift. I would like to start my first brew but I'm concerned about temperature. We keep our house in the Winter months at about 68 on the dot. I've checked every room in the house with a thermometer and the temp seems to be consistent at 68. Is this too low for fermentation??? Just curious because the kit tells me that 68 is the minimum temp. I just don't want my first batch to be a bad one. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[miguy96b]

68 will be fine. Keep in mind fermentation is exothermic so the internal wort temp will be 6-8 degrees higher than ambient. Temp depends on which yeast you use but I try and keep most of my ale fermentations in a room with temps in the low 60s.

 

[Vigo_Carpathian]

68 ambient temp would be over 72 inside the fermenter which is pushing it on the hot side. Inside the fermenter will be at least 4 degrees higher than ambient during the active fermentation. You should aim for an internal temp in the 65-68 range( for most ales). This would be an ambient temp of maximum 64. If it gets too hot, the yeast will start to make off-flavors, which can, but not always result in a funny tasting beer. One thing you can do is set the fermenter in a bucket of water and place frozen water bottles as needed in the water to help cool it down. One thing I do when my fermentation chamber is full is to set the fermenter in a spare bedroom and leave the window halfway open to cool the room down ( making sure it doesn't get too cold). Also, I strongly recommend using a blow off tube or you might be cleaning beer off the ceiling the next day. There's quite a few threads here on the water bottle/bucket method and blow off tubes here for you to check out. Best of luck of your first brew!

 

[GibbyGibson]

I ferment in my basement and it ranges from 67-69 when my heat kicks on. 68 is a bit on the high side depending on your type of yeast but should be fine. As mentioned above, this process is exothermic. It will kick off heat raising the internal temp above your room temp. Check the yeast distributer's recommendation for appropriate temp ranges. You will be fine in the long run. My first batch turned out fine at 68.

 

[whoaru99]

Well from what I've been reading no one is too fond of the Mr beer kits but I got one for a Christmas gift. I would like to start my first brew but I'm concerned about temperature. We keep our house in the Winter months at about 68 on the dot. I've checked every room in the house with a thermometer and the temp seems to be consistent at 68. Is this too low for fermentation??? Just curious because the kit tells me that 68 is the minimum temp. I just don't want my first batch to be a bad one. Any advice would be appreciated.

Check temps closer to the floor, walls, Northwest corner, etc. where you may find it a bit cooler.

While 68 may not be the optimal temp it's not a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[miguy96b]

Since you are doing a mr beer kit you won't use a blow off tube and if you are using the yeast from under the cap the range is 68-76 so again 68 will probably be fine but like I said I tend to like to keep my ambient in the low 60s. Also be careful with the mr beer fermenter in a tub of water. You might need to cover the spigot if you go that route.

Also I agree if you ferment in a closet near an external wall it might be significantly cooler. Check various locations and try and find a place in the low 60s if you can.

 

[unionrdr]

Finding a spot at 64F,like a floor near an outside wall would do. My ferment temps usually only go up 3-4 degrees on average. But I do start of with a wort temp of 64-65F.

 

[mhozlock]

Wow I never even took that into consideration about the ambient temp vs the temp of the wort... Makes sense thanks for the heads up everyone

Sent from my HTC One using Home Brew mobile app

 

[DoWBrewer]

You should get a stick-on thermometer like this. Experiments show that they pretty accurately indicate the wort temp. You can then use a wet towel and a fan to drop the temp. Although with the low humidity in the winter you could probably just wrap it in a wet towel and the evaporation would lower the temp enough. You will have to experiment with it a bit.