azazel1024
Well-Known Member
I am rather new to brewing. I've read a lot of posts (basically every one) with people talking about controlling the temperature and mostly brewing in the high 60's with various different strains of ale yeasts.
So far I have 3 brews that have gotten to the bottle and 2 more fermenting (one done and aging, one finishing primary).
Just how important is temperature control, or is this very much a yeast strain specific thing?
My basement in the heat of the summer typically runs to about 72-73F (or what the temp on my fermenting bucket says, sitting on the bare concrete). In the winter it is probably more like 65F or a couple cooler (I'll find out this winter, air temp is 66-67F in the basement in the winter).
My very first batch was a pale ale that was okay at first, but the last few bottles taste a little off (it was decent after 2 weeks of aging, seemed to peak at about 5 weeks and a couple of bottles have tasted off now that it is about 2 months since bottling). I did a lot of things wrong with the first brew.
My second brew has been tasting awesome. Brew kit like the first, Red ale that I dry hopped and added chicory to the secondary and gave it a few extra days in primary and secondary.
My Third brew I came up with the recipe. Extract, Caramel Oak Porter. Best brew yet and better than most porters I have ever had (IMHO) and I got great reviews at my local brew club on it (people liked the Chicory Red and loved the Porter).
All three were fermented at 72-73F as that was the temp in the basement. 2 of the 3 seem to have turned out great. The porter had some whicked high Krausen looking in the bucket (it could have maybe been because I used leaf instead of pellet though and didn't strain out all of the hops when dumping to primary?)
The first two used Nottingham, the Porter used Windsor. I currently have two fermenting/aging. The first is an attempt at butter beer (per my wife's request, don't ask) that used Windsor and Middle English Honey Brown ale that used BRY-97 American West Coast Ale.
The butterbeer started at 72-73, but the weather has cooled the last few days and both the butterbeer has been finishing and the Honey Brown started at more like 68F.
Is temperature something I am going to have to control a lot more finely for most of my brewing? Or is it more typically something you'll experience big differences with when you are talking 10+F differences?
At some point I want to either rig my current minifridge so I can temp control batches and/or get a second mini-fridge to do this with (or do it with two!).
Is there a difference between the dry and liquid yeast strains for temperature tolerance and/or impacts on flavor/attenuation/flocculance?
So far I have 3 brews that have gotten to the bottle and 2 more fermenting (one done and aging, one finishing primary).
Just how important is temperature control, or is this very much a yeast strain specific thing?
My basement in the heat of the summer typically runs to about 72-73F (or what the temp on my fermenting bucket says, sitting on the bare concrete). In the winter it is probably more like 65F or a couple cooler (I'll find out this winter, air temp is 66-67F in the basement in the winter).
My very first batch was a pale ale that was okay at first, but the last few bottles taste a little off (it was decent after 2 weeks of aging, seemed to peak at about 5 weeks and a couple of bottles have tasted off now that it is about 2 months since bottling). I did a lot of things wrong with the first brew.
My second brew has been tasting awesome. Brew kit like the first, Red ale that I dry hopped and added chicory to the secondary and gave it a few extra days in primary and secondary.
My Third brew I came up with the recipe. Extract, Caramel Oak Porter. Best brew yet and better than most porters I have ever had (IMHO) and I got great reviews at my local brew club on it (people liked the Chicory Red and loved the Porter).
All three were fermented at 72-73F as that was the temp in the basement. 2 of the 3 seem to have turned out great. The porter had some whicked high Krausen looking in the bucket (it could have maybe been because I used leaf instead of pellet though and didn't strain out all of the hops when dumping to primary?)
The first two used Nottingham, the Porter used Windsor. I currently have two fermenting/aging. The first is an attempt at butter beer (per my wife's request, don't ask) that used Windsor and Middle English Honey Brown ale that used BRY-97 American West Coast Ale.
The butterbeer started at 72-73, but the weather has cooled the last few days and both the butterbeer has been finishing and the Honey Brown started at more like 68F.
Is temperature something I am going to have to control a lot more finely for most of my brewing? Or is it more typically something you'll experience big differences with when you are talking 10+F differences?
At some point I want to either rig my current minifridge so I can temp control batches and/or get a second mini-fridge to do this with (or do it with two!).
Is there a difference between the dry and liquid yeast strains for temperature tolerance and/or impacts on flavor/attenuation/flocculance?
) is a swamp cooler - a 20 gallon drum filled with ice-water. From what I've experienced and read, the higher temperatures will produce a sweeter tasting beer. Depending on the style you're brewing, this might not be a problem at all. I would LOVE to ferment all my beers between 62 and 68 degrees, but realistically, all my beers ferment at 72 degrees. The rule of thumb for me is to keep it below 75.
