Sigh... Temperature Issues....

[Sanjuro]

Ok. I'm new to brewing and I'm having temperature control issues.. The Wort is either too warm (over 75) or too cold (below 62) with the majority of time being spent in that range.. My beers are coming off a little too boozy at the beginning but quite tasty in the middle. I need a way to level out the temperature but can't afford, or much less have the space for, a fridge or hack job cooling/warming device.. If I just keg/bottle my beer and leave it for months will it improve? I'm at a loss.. Need some advise and I'm open to it. I love listening to the advice of others. Thanks for taking the time to read and post if you do.

(I do have a brew belt.)

Cheers!

 

[Goolsbymd]

Put the primary into a water bucket and fill the container with water, add frozen bottles when it gets to warm again.

 

[Sanjuro]

Thanks man.. Only issue is. I have no idea where to get a bucket bigger than the 7.8 gallon one I currently have.

 

[bobby4]

+1. I also wonder if you could rig a temperature controller with the brew belt?
You might find your beer does improve with age, give it a few weeks and see.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[MarathonMurse]

Thanks man.. Only issue is. I have no idea where to get a bucket bigger than the 7.8 gallon one I currently have.

You don't need a bucket. Head to the Dollar Store and pick up a large tote. you can submerge about a foot and a half of your fermentor, and drape a wet towel over the rest.

 

[Sanjuro]

Should I remove the brew belt? Or just leave it alone?

 

[flars]

Swamp cooler with fan.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/photo/swamp-cooler-61314.html

 

[Yooper]

Should I remove the brew belt? Or just leave it alone?

You have a brewbelt? Is that because your room is under 62 degrees? I'm trying to picture your set up in order to help. It's a rare case where a brewbelt is helpful- like if your basement is in the 50s I guess.

 

[insanim8er]

my first temp controlled fermentation chamber was a wine cooler that fit a carboy. I Hooked it up to an STC1000 temp controller.

Wine coolers are cheap on craigs list.

 

[beergolf]

If your ambient temp is 62, That is a very good temp for most ale yeasts. My basement is about 60 degrees all winter and it is perfect for fermenting most ales.

 

[Sanjuro]

If your ambient temp is 62, That is a very good temp for most ale yeasts. My basement is about 60 degrees all winter and it is perfect for fermenting most ales.

Well .. Sucks to be me... I just turned off the brew belt. The temperature was at 79.. This WAS going to be a Black IPA..

I live in San Antonio. Temperature in the house right now is 71. So where it sits is about 69-70 downstairs.. Should I dump this batch?

 

[Sanjuro]

You have a brewbelt? Is that because your room is under 62 degrees? I'm trying to picture your set up in order to help. It's a rare case where a brewbelt is helpful- like if your basement is in the 50s I guess.

Quite over that temp.. I live in San Antonio. But we'd gotten cold snaps that took my beers below 60 degrees, so i bought the brew belt. But I just removed it and my fermenter said 79.

It's been in primary for almost a month too.

Should I dump it?

 

[Yooper]

Well .. Sucks to be me... I just turned off the brew belt. The temperature was at 79.. This WAS going to be a Black IPA..

I live in San Antonio. Temperature in the house right now is 71. So where it sits is about 69-70 downstairs.. Should I dump this batch?

No, don't dump it. But it probably won't be the best beer in the world.

Texas is a tough place to brew- you generally want an ambient temperature (or a fermentation chamber) of about 62 degrees for ales. You can use the 71 degree room temperature, if you buy a bin or cooler and put your fermenter in there with a water bath and change out frozen water bottles every 12 hours or so (whatever it takes) to keep the water bath and the beer at 65-66 degrees. Most ale yeast strains can go up to 68 or so and still produce good flavor. A few can go warmer- but an ambient of 71 is generally too warm as fermentation itself produces heat and often is 10 degrees higher than ambient temperature.

The brewbelt for south Texas is a terrible idea, unless you're trying to ferment a saison outside in the winter, or have your air conditioning at 58 degrees in the summer. (We live in S. Texas on the coast in the winter).

 

[Jupapabear]

I live in houston. I use a kitty litter box and cups of ice to control temps. That bucket stays in the small linen closet so it isn't in the way. I have upgraded to a fridge from CL and a $20 stc thermostat, yet I still find myself needing the litter box ferm cooler when my fridge is full.

The litter box was new and never used... btw.

Jupapabear

 

[Sanjuro]

No, don't dump it. But it probably won't be the best beer in the world.

Texas is a tough place to brew- you generally want an ambient temperature (or a fermentation chamber) of about 62 degrees for ales. You can use the 71 degree room temperature, if you buy a bin or cooler and put your fermenter in there with a water bath and change out frozen water bottles every 12 hours or so (whatever it takes) to keep the water bath and the beer at 65-66 degrees. Most ale yeast strains can go up to 68 or so and still produce good flavor. A few can go warmer- but an ambient of 71 is generally too warm as fermentation itself produces heat and often is 10 degrees higher than ambient temperature.

The brewbelt for south Texas is a terrible idea, unless you're trying to ferment a saison outside in the winter, or have your air conditioning at 58 degrees in the summer. (We live in S. Texas on the coast in the winter).

Are you saying this batch is lost?

 

[insanim8er]

No she said don't dump it. It'll probably be drinkable just not the best.

 

[Sanjuro]

No she said don't dump it. It'll probably be drinkable just not the best.

I see that now.. And after reading this I feel much better:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

 

[schokie]

I used to live in San Antonio (actually, Schertz, but whatever) and I could never seem to make a quality bitter or IPA. The real problem was I had just started brewing and didn't know anything about temp control. So I have little advice to offer along that angle. I'm fortunate to have a cooler climate now.

However, all my hefeweizens turned out fantastic. That style likes the warmer temps. An ambient temp of 68-72 produced multiple delicious hefe's, which was great since that's my wife's favorite style.

So if you can't get the temps under control and aren't familiar with the saison, go for the hefe's!

 

[bford]

You can also do Saisons which seem to like higher ferm temps.... OR

You can get one of these.... Cool Brewing Bag

I live in Houston.... just bought one of these and I actually got it down to around 58... had to adjust how many water bottles I was putting inside... just checked and my red ale is now right at 62 degrees.

I bought mine from MoreBeer and got free shipping.

I may end up buying another one.... just the bag... your fermenter and some bottles of frozen water... I'm using all one liter bottles... two to three at the time. I change them out in the morning around 6am and at night around 8pm.

 

[BigFloyd]

Do you really lack the room for a used fridge? If so, look at the cool brewing bag or the tub with frozen bottles thing. Swamp coolers work best in less humid climates, so there are times it could be effective in SAT.

Considering how much the ingredients for a 5 gallon batch cost (especially extract kits), you can't afford to NOT take the steps needed to control temps so that you stop wasting them. If you check Craigslist regularly for a few weeks, in a large area like SAT you should be able to get completely set up with used fridge/freezer and STC-1000 for about $100, perhaps less. That way, you can brew in TX no matter what month it is.

 

[Jupapabear]

+1 I just picked up a deep freezer for $50 on Craigslist houston that will hold 4 buckets. There were smaller ones as well. And the stc1000 was down to 16 with Amazon Prime.

 

[Queequeg]

I use one one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008MXZTQ2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I place the fermenter inside and fill the outside with water to just below the line of the wort.

I place an aquarium heater and two aquarium water pump/powerheads in the water bath and place the whole thing in the larder. My larder is usally at 16C/60.8F.

This gives me good control over temp in the water bath as the air temp acts as a constant cool whilst the aquarium heater maintains the temp I want. Also because the water bath as such a high thermal mass its probably a very close temperature to the actual temp in the fermenter.

With this set up I get about 1 degree's variation on the temp and I can ramp the temp if need be towards the end of the fermentation.

It also converts to a swamp cooler you just need to put a towl over the fermenter and put a fan blowing on the setup. Although your'll need to monitor the temp of the fermenter and not the bath.

 

[ericbw]

Depending on how much room you have, a plastic tub with water and ice is probably your cheapest/easiest bet. With a fan blowing on it is even better. But that's a big tub of water, so it has to be out of the way since it will be hard to move around.

 

[Jupapabear]

I used a kitty litter tub for my first few batches, throwing in a cup of ice every moring. Worked well until I could upgrade.

 

[Foosier]

keg tubs are good to use for swamp coolers too. They are usually cheap at Home Despot or Loewes. I like to use frozen 2 liter bottles to maintain temps in a dead fridge I use as a fermentation chamber. works pretty well. the key is you just need to keep the temps down and steady for the first few days of your fermentation when the yeast is doing the heavy lifting and giving off heat. Once the Krausen starts to fall you can usually stop the ice bottles. this can actually help the yeast finish up.

Agreed on not dumping the batch. When folks say it won't be the best they just mean it likely wouldn't win awards. doesn't mean it won't taste good to you. Rarely would a beer be undrinkable. Very rarely....

 

[Keith_O]

I feel the pain of the OP. I am just a couple hours north, and have started a few of these threads myself. I am probably going to try a saisson until I get another fridge.
I have been using the spare bathtub, filled with water. Rotate in frozen 2 liter bottles.

 

[bluehende]

My basement has moved to 68 degrees. I like to ferment at 60 ambient. I bought a storage tote at Wally world for 7 bucks that is 31 gallons. My ale pale sits in that and I fill it to 3/4 of the height of the wort. I then have 10 small ice packs. The type that insulin is shipped with. I found these at a yard sale for a dollar total. I just cycle 5 at a time between freezer and bucket. This has kept the water at 58 to 60 degrees with a very vigorous fermentation. That is 10 degrees of cooling fairly easily. I imagine if I had 10 more of the ice pack things I could get 15 degrees or be able to ferment at 60 degrees all summer. The best thing is that the big volume of water is a huge heat sink that is very stable. I could take it up a notch also by using a towel to cover the rest or even a fan.

 

[kh54s10]

My basement is half finished and I use that for my "Man Cave". So it is heated and I have to cool my brews year round. I started with a large Sterilite tote box that is large enough to hold two Better Bottles. I have since made a fermentation chamber from scrounged plywood, 2x4's (culls at HD) and 2 inch insulation foam, a mini fridge and a Johnson controller. It will hold 3 fermenters and a blow off vessel.

To the OP, if your temperature rose after the fermentation had slowed you might have no issues at all. DON'T DUMP IT!!!!!!