How long can you wait

[LLBrewer]

to bring the temperature of beer up without producing a lot of esters or other off flavors? I'm making an IPA (US-05), it's been bubbling away since Wednesday. My problem is that my fermenter fridge also doubles as my serving fridge and I have an american wheat in the Keg at 68*. I'd like to take the IPA out of the fridge and leave it at room temp (can fluctuate from 70-73ish) so that I can drop the fridge back to serving temps. When can I safely do this?

 

[bthedlin]

Should look for when fermentation is slowing down and the krausen has drops out. You want primary to be mostly completed, after most of the fermentable sugars have been consumed.

Find a cooler place to put it or place it in a shallow bucket of water with a towel draped over hanging in the water. This time of year (depending on where you live), this should be enough to keep it down a few degrees. Also have to remember that even though room temp is 70-72, fermentation creates a decent amount of heat and it could easily get higher.

Or man up and turn off the heat and put on a sweatshirt.

 

[LLBrewer]

Should look for when fermentation is slowing down and the krausen has drops out. You want primary to be mostly completed, after most of the fermentable sugars have been consumed.

Find a cooler place to put it or place it in a shallow bucket of water with a towel draped over hanging in the water. This time of year (depending on where you live), this should be enough to keep it down a few degrees. Also have to remember that even though room temp is 70-72, fermentation creates a decent amount of heat and it could easily get higher.

Or man up and turn off the heat and put on a sweatshirt.

We turned the heater off a while ago, it's getting warm during the day here in New Mexico. I don't want to mess with a water bath, I guess I'll just wait until airlock activity stops then pull it out.

 

[djfriesen]

I seem to recall that if your temp control and pitch rates are on point, you can start to ramp up temps after 4-5 days, but I can't be sure where I heard/read that.

 

[AnOldUR]

If the krausen is no longer growing, you're pretty safe to do a gradual increase. Wrap it in blankets or a sleeping bag to insulate it and slow the rate down.