Secondary Fermentation Temp (and general talk)

[Mike H]

So I'm still on my first batch and have not done enough research about what I was getting into. I know I haven't done enough for temp control and am trying to rectify that. Being in MN I know my basement is too cold so I kept it upstairs where it would stay in the 60's. I know I had good fermentation start but I'm not sure if it stalled or not. It would get in the lower 60's overnight. I just ordered a wrap around heater and controller I'll use on my next batch but for my current batch...

I transferred my first batch to secondary over the weekend and am wondering if temp matters as much at this stage? If so, is temp the same for secondary as primary? I don't want to do things on the cheap but I've already spent more than I expected up front and I'd rather not buy a second temp controller if I can help it. At least not right away. (Oh, and if it's me it's safe to assume I'm brewing IPA)

 

[Riverevir]

What was the yeast? If it was truly chugging along it would be a few degrees above the ambient temp. You're likely just fine on primary.

Most will tell you secondary isnt useful. With that said, it's not what you're really asking. Warming it up will likely lead to the yeast finishing off and taking care of some off flavors but if you had a way to warm it you'd have probably done so already. Don't let it stress you either way- you're likely in good shape!

 

[Mike H]

Thanks for the reply. The instructions said to secondary so I'm just going with that for now. Right now I'm just hoping to get through the steps and avoid disaster so I'm not stressing out too much. I'm not looking to make perfect beer yet but I also don't want to risk ruining a perfectly good batch in the future. Two brews from now I have a kit for a delicious sounding IIPA I'd like to get at least close to right.

I'm working off of a kit from Northern Brewer and used the Safale us-05 dry yeast. According to the package it can go up to 77 degrees so I'm not sure if it would have gotten too warm. I don't know how much over ambient it would have gotten though. I don't have a stick on thermometer and I didn't want to crack the lid on the bucket so I don't have any data to go off of. The airlock was bubbling over the first few days when it would have been producing the most heat but I didn't see any action after a few days so not sure what that means.

 

[Riverevir]

In my experience, it finishes quick enough to be largely done in a few days. I'm not lucky enough to have low 60s in the warmest room of my house! I've read some people get "peachy flavors" fermenting s05 in the low 60s, but not everyone does. I've had better luck with s05 (including with a stout) than I have had with s04.

Stick on thermometers may not be perfect, but I've been glad that I got one. I'm a bit neurotic and enjoy just knowing even if I can't change much about my ferm temps at this point.

 

[RM-MN]

Your beer is likely fine as the yeast doesn't take long to ferment beer. Once done, the temperature isn't critical as what is mostly happening is the yeast will begin to form clumps which then settle out. The longer you leave the beer without disturbing it, the more yeast settles. Here's a good read about what the yeast are doing at various stages.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html