Secondary fermentation temperature

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stosh

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I had a belgian dubbel fermenting in my primary for 4 weeks until the SG got down to 1.010. I had a heating pad around the bucket and wrapped two towels around it to hold heat steady around 74 degress.

Today I racked to a secondary. Should I continue using the heating pad?

What are the possible outcomes of using/not using the heating pad?
 
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So, what actual beer temperature have you been holding all this time?

Traditionally, aging is done between 50-55°F (aka "cellar temperature").
I don't do much in the way of aging beers so I presume that range came from practicality combined with results...

Cheers!

[OP's edit noted.] 74°F seems way high for aging.
 
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I had a belgian dubbel fermenting in my primary for 4 weeks until the SG got down to 1.010. I had a heating pad around the bucket and wrapped two towels around it to hold heat steady around 74 degress.

Today I racked to a secondary. Should I continue using the heating pad?

What are the possible outcomes of using/not using the heating pad?

You keep this beer warm as the yeast ferment it to give the beer a particular flavor profile. At 4 weeks the ferment is well over so the temperature doesn't matter much. What you are doing in secondary is settling out the inactive yeast that has clumped up (flocculated) and letting the beer mature. For that the temperature isn't critical. I'd probably try to keep the beer between 65 and 75 for that.
 
It depends what you are actually trying to do with the secondary. Usually it is just extended bulk aging and clearing the beer. The cooler the temp the better, but as noted previously, temp control is not critical.
 
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