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?