Is my fermentation temp ok?

[akthor]

I made a Nut Brown Ale true brew meastro kit. It is fermenting in my basement the strip thermometer on the side of the bucket has said 68 deg F since I put it down there. Is this ok?

 

[bknifefight]

68 should be fine but it really depends on the yeast you used. Different yeasts have different temperatures that they like. 68 is toward the higher end for most yeasts so I would try not to go much over that.

 

[Diver165]

That should be just fine for ales. Mine are between 66-68F

 

[Nate5700]

There are already a couple of threads going about fermentation temperature so I'll just post a question here, if that's OK, instead of starting a new thread.

I don't have a basement (and very few people do in this part of the country, something about the soil that can't support basements, which is ironic because of all the tornadoes we get). Anyway, outside temperatures have been 100+ here for probably the last month or so, and inside I have my thermostat set to 74º, but during the day it gets up to about 77º in the house with the AC running full time. This is all just a really long way of saying that my beer is warm, fermenting in the range of 76º-78º according to the strip thermometer. I'm using Wyeast American Ale yeast (1056?) for a Belgian amber ale. I'm curious as to what issues I can expect to encounter fermenting at this temperature, and maybe see if there are some suggestions as to how I can keep my fermenter cooler in the future. I think I read a thread that suggested keeping the fermenter in a tub of water or something like that. Do you just put the fermenter in there and leave it? What do you do as the water itself warms up? Change it? Add ice? And if you're adding ice how much do you add, keep it from getting too cold, etc.?

Wow. I think I asked a lot here.

 

[marubozo]

Yikes, fermenting up that close to 80 will lend some interesting flavors, even with the typically clean Wyeast 1056. It will certainly ferment and make beer, but you're going to have a lot of esters.

The best thing you can do to keep your beer cold in warm temps is to use a swamp cooler, which is basically what you mentioned about the tub of water. Search the forum for that and you get a lot of threads and pictures on the subject. But yes, putting your fermenter into a bucket of cold water and draping the fermenter with a water soaked t-shirt or towel or something will go a long way in helping keep temps down. You still have to change out the water or add ice regularly to keep it cooler than ambient temps, but that work is well worth it compared to making unwanted fruit beer IMO.

 

[Nate5700]

After doing some searching I'm starting to warm up to the idea of doing a dedicated refrigerator for fermenting. I found a thermostat that you can plug a fridge/freezer into with a temperature probe that goes inside for around $60. Have any of you done something like this? Is it worthwhile?

Edit: In the meantime, I guess it's a good thing I like fruity tasting beer...

 

[Tallmanbrewer]

There are already a couple of threads going about fermentation temperature so I'll just post a question here, if that's OK, instead of starting a new thread.

I don't have a basement (and very few people do in this part of the country, something about the soil that can't support basements, which is ironic because of all the tornadoes we get). Anyway, outside temperatures have been 100+ here for probably the last month or so, and inside I have my thermostat set to 74º, but during the day it gets up to about 77º in the house with the AC running full time. This is all just a really long way of saying that my beer is warm, fermenting in the range of 76º-78º according to the strip thermometer. I'm using Wyeast American Ale yeast (1056?) for a Belgian amber ale. I'm curious as to what issues I can expect to encounter fermenting at this temperature, and maybe see if there are some suggestions as to how I can keep my fermenter cooler in the future. I think I read a thread that suggested keeping the fermenter in a tub of water or something like that. Do you just put the fermenter in there and leave it? What do you do as the water itself warms up? Change it? Add ice? And if you're adding ice how much do you add, keep it from getting too cold, etc.?

Wow. I think I asked a lot here.

Many people use frozen bottles of water in the tub of water and change them out as necessary. Couple in the morning changed out with a couple in the evening...depends on your temps.

 

[Tallmanbrewer]

After doing some searching I'm starting to warm up to the idea of doing a dedicated refrigerator for fermenting. I found a thermostat that you can plug a fridge/freezer into with a temperature probe that goes inside for around $60. Have any of you done something like this? Is it worthwhile?

Edit: In the meantime, I guess it's a good thing I like fruity tasting beer...

Do a search for "fermentation chamber" and see if that will better suite you! Several different ways to custom fab your own chamber with great results.

The fridge and thermostat work great also...just depends on what you want!

 

[Nate5700]

Ok, an update. I bought a thermostat for about $70 at my local homebrew shop, and went to Lowe's and got an inexpensive chest freezer (7 cubic ft, enough to hold 2 fermenters and a couple of cases of bottles) for $189. So I completed my cooling setup for under $300, which I'm happy about. I've got the thing hooked up and it seems to be working. I noticed it was shut off a minute ago, so I opened it up and it was nice and cool inside, so I went ahead and put my fermenter in. I'm guessing it's probably too late to avoid some off flavors but hopefully this will prevent further damage, and I have it now so I can start my dunkelweizen tomorrow! Then I should be through spending money (knock on wood) on this new hobby until bottling time (then I'll have to buy bottles).

 

[Jewrican]

get bottles from your nearest bar. Just ask them to hold onto the bottles for you for a few nights and you will never need bottles again. That, or keep it in primary until you and all your friends can gather about 45 bottles.

As far as the temps, the first several days are the most important, but you will still make beer. make the same brew again and learn the difference between a high and normal fermentation

 

[arturo7]

Nate,, with the addition of that fermentation chamber your have taken a huge step on the way to high-quality home brew.

 

[LaurieGator]

Also, don't forget about picking up bottles at your local recycle center!

Be sure when you get bottles that you get beer bottles that are brown and that are NOT twist off caps. Beers like Bass Ale, Fat Tire, Sam Adams, etc. are great bottles to reuse. A little Oxyclean and a good soak will usually get rid of labels and a bottle brush gets anything out of the inside.