Here's a switch for So Cal - Too cold to ferment!

[Bruscar]

Raining like a mofo today so what better to do but brew?!
I'm all set to ferment in the garage which is usually in the mid-high 60's. Or in summer, the converted chest frezzer.
But it's only friggin' 52 degrees! Can you say "lager?"

Heh, so anyways, move it into the very imprecise bathroom, just like when I started. Whatever! No worries!

 

[Got Trub?]

Or hybrid beers...

GT

 

[5 Is Not Enough]

I ferment ales w/ dry yeast all the time at 52'. It may not produce an exact style, and it takes much longer to start and to ferment, but it does go eventually.
I put my carboy in a cardboard box, and the ferment will produce its own heat. I think you'd be ok to leave it outside.

 

[Soulive]

SWMBO's on a biz trip to La Jolla that she's been looking forward to for months. I feel bad for her, especially since back here will be 65-67F tomorrow!

 

[Bruscar]

I ferment ales w/ dry yeast all the time at 52'. It may not produce an exact style, and it takes much longer to start and to ferment, but it does go eventually.
I put my carboy in a cardboard box, and the ferment will produce its own heat. I think you'd be ok to leave it outside.

Interesting. I have the carboy wrapped in a towel to keep out light. Might help it with heat retention as well.
Goes back to my belief as to how un-exact beermaking can be. I always have to remind myself that people have been brewing WAY before they had digital thermometers!
Onward!

 

[BlindLemonLars]

I'm in the same boat here in Encino. I just bought a chest freezer so I could move fermentation from the house to the garage and have a nice stable temperature. I haven't brewed since I got it, but it's just as well...without turning it on, the freezer temp is in the mid-fifties!

I'm considering hanging a small incandescent shop light inside, plugging it into my Ranco and switching it to heat mode. The freezer keeps heat out, I'm guessing it will hold it in as well.

Don't worry, we'll soon be back to our unbearably hot weather!

 

[NitrouStang96]

I'm in San Diego and just brewed my first batch, and I was worried about the cold, too. However, my carboy in the tub with 3" cold water is holding at 69 degrees. It was trying to go above 74 degrees without the water.

 

[raceskier]

Yeah, I've moved my ale primary ferments indoors into a Ranco'd Sanyo mini fridge. Then into an interior closet for a diacetyl rest and out to the garage for cold conditioning. Now I just need the chest freezer to start doing some lagers.

 

[Bruscar]

"Now I just need the chest freezer to start doing some lagers."
Hey, you just reminded me that since the freezer is open, I can do my lager which I was going to do after this batch!

 

[david_42]

I lived in Fullerton in the '80s. Remember one year when I was running the AC in January & the furnace in July! Definitely the home of weird weather.