New brewer advice (temp control)

[joehelsing]

I started my first ever brew yesterday and the first problem I came across was temperature. The ideal range for brewing the bitter is aparently between 20-25 degrees celcius. However 15-20 degrees will work but at a much slower rate. I have a thermo strip stuck on the side of the bucket and I cant find anywhere warmer than 16 degrees which im not happy about.

I bought a larger container and a 50 Watt aquarium heater and put some water in the container, the bucket in the container and also the heater.

I've set the heater to 23 degrees, however it is struggling to get past 20 degrees. 20 degrees I am happy with but if the water in the container is 20, will the brew in the bucket also be 20 or could it be lower? It has been about 20 hours since I set this up and there is no sign of fermentation yet.

 

[aiptasia]

Those little cheap 10 gallon tank aquarium heaters would definitely struggle in the winter time to keep the bath water warm. What's cool is, you can use more than one of them. Pick another one up and hook it up on the opposite side of the container.

Once the wort warms up, you should begin to see some activity. Don't be afraid to roust the yeast by shaking up the fermenter a little bit to get the yeast back into suspension and aerate the wort. Aeration is fine when you're dealing with wort (not beer), as yeasts need the air to replicate themselves and begin the feeding process.

 

[Queequeg]

The thermal mass of water is pretty high so the temperature between fermentor and the bath should be quite close. Initially the heater will take some time but once its at temp it should keep it pretty stable. I have the same setup and I get only 0.5C variation.

However 20-25C seems to high temperature to me, I ferment most ales at 18-19C and steep up the temperature only after the fermentation slows. I think Camra recommend a maximum of 22C.


BYO has an article on Bitter here it is
http://byo.com/stories/item/1214-ordinary-bitter-style-profile

 

[joehelsing]

Thanks for the help and advice. If the inside of the bucket is 20 degrees I am happy and I will just leave it for a couple of weeks.

Another quick one. Does the bath water level need to be the same water level as the brew? The bath level is currently about 2/3 the way up the barrel level.

 

[Queequeg]

It will work better if they are level. I fill my bath roughly 2 litres below the level in the fermenter so that is dosn't lift off the bottom.

Also it a good idea to put an aquarium pump in the water bath to help water maintain a even temp.

I also would recommend putting a sanitizer in the water as the water in the bath will collect biofilms otherwise and don't forget to empty the water bath before you rack to the priming bucket otherwise as the fermentor water level lowers it will rise off the bottom.