Question About Fermentation Temp

[stjackson]

I'm going to be doing my first-ever batch of home brew tonight (an American Pale Ale kit I got from my local supply shop) and I had a question about fermentation temperature. It's been an especially hot summer here in NC, and to keep utilities costs down, my wife and I have been keeping our thermostat set at 78, which is about as cool as my apartment has been for the last few weeks. It's probably a little bit cooler in the darker areas of my bathrooms, but I'm still thinking it's going to be in the upper 70s. Everything I've read about ale-type yeasts says fermentation temps should be in the 63-75 range.

Do I have anything to worry about? Will my yeast still behave as I want it to?

 

[mojotele]

If you can keep your fermenter in a water bath and possibly add some ice every so often you have nothing to worry about. Just get a plastic bin from your local hardware store and sit the fermenter in that. People typically add the ice by freezing water in plastic bottles then just throwing the bottles in the water.

You do want to keep the temperature of the fermenting beer at 70 or below, though. High fermentation temperatures can result in things like fusel alcohols unless you're dealing with Belgian yeasts or similar. Fusel alcohols can give you a nasty headache fairly quickly. Just check in on it every so often and add ice when necessary.

 

[Zamial]

I suggest making a swamp cooler. It is a clean, preferabbly new, water tight trash can or large bucket that the fermentor will fit into with lots of room. Add in some water and freeze some bottles of water (like 1 liter soda pop bottles). then just swap in and out as many soda bottles as needed. super easy and your beer gets to ferment at the temps it likes...


Beat by mojo...

 

[stjackson]

I'm going to be placing my fermentation bucket in a bathtub, so putting some water in there won't be a problem. Thanks for the advice.