Temp Control and Advice

[JNOYES88]

Hello Masters of Homebrewtalk.com

I'm new to brewing. Last night I started my first home brew consisting of: 5 gallons organic apple juice (no preservation), half a bag of brown sugar, 1 pint of raw honey, lil nutmeg, 1 oz ginger root, 1 oz cinnamon sticks, and I'm using WYEAST activator Belgian Strong Ale hoping it goes good with the fruity and spice filled taste.

DILEMMA: I live in the midwest. It is hot as a crotch outside and inside my brick, black tarred roof, above a bakery, apartment. The yeast is recommended between 64-80 degrees to ferment at. When I pitched the yeast in the fermenter it was 82 n now is around +86. MY apt is about 86 even with the small A/C Ive got going.
I called midwest supplies they said put the fermenter in my 20 gallon tub fill 2/3 up with water n soak towels and drape around and over fermenter. This lowered the temp at the time but I have not been home to see where its at now. I did put a fan blowing medium on the damp towels. I also havent seen it bubble yet, but it maybe when i get home in 2 hrs.

QUESTION: Did I eff myself? Plus a small amount of sanitizer may have made it from the airlock into the fermentation. Wil this kill my $80 ingredient project?

ADVICE OF ALL SORTS IS WELCOMED AND APPRECIATED! THANKS!!!! :rockin:

 

[jguy898]

Hello Masters of Homebrewtalk.com

I'm new to brewing. Last night I started my first home brew consisting of: 5 gallons organic apple juice (no preservation), half a bag of brown sugar, 1 pint of raw honey, lil nutmeg, 1 oz ginger root, 1 oz cinnamon sticks, and I'm using WYEAST activator Belgian Strong Ale hoping it goes good with the fruity and spice filled taste.

DILEMMA: I live in the midwest. It is hot as a crotch outside and inside my brick, black tarred roof, above a bakery, apartment. The yeast is recommended between 64-80 degrees to ferment at. When I pitched the yeast in the fermenter it was 82 n now is around +86. MY apt is about 86 even with the small A/C Ive got going.
I called midwest supplies they said put the fermenter in my 20 gallon tub fill 2/3 up with water n soak towels and drape around and over fermenter. This lowered the temp at the time but I have not been home to see where its at now. I did put a fan blowing medium on the damp towels. I also havent seen it bubble yet, but it maybe when i get home in 2 hrs.

QUESTION: Did I eff myself? Plus a small amount of sanitizer may have made it from the airlock into the fermentation. Wil this kill my $80 ingredient project?

ADVICE OF ALL SORTS IS WELCOMED AND APPRECIATED! THANKS!!!!

You have not effed yourself with the sanitizer 'Suck-Back' from the airlock, it happens almost every time I am tampering with a brew, unless it is inside of a glass carboy. If your using Star-San than you have no worries, and if your using Vodka in the airlock then you've just boosted your ABV. :cross:
Also, the 'S' type (or double-bubble) airlocks are much better at preventing suck back than the three piece 'primary fermenter' types. I use the s type almost exclusively now because of this.

I do not know much in the way of keeping your fermenter cool, other than a chest freezer with a temp. controller like the set-up that I use. I can tell you, a small chest freezer with a temp controller on it is perfect for 5 gallon batch sizes.
I have read that many people fill the same tub of water 2/3's and then float a couple of Frozen water bottles (adjust # of bottles to temp. desired) and rotate four frozen bottles (two in the freezer, two in the tub).

 

[JNOYES88]

I just got home. The fan, tub, towel plan of attack is keeping it about 78 right now. Ironically my apartment is currently 87. Sorry for the ignorance of the terms used to describe things, im a noob. I am also using star-san. From what I can see its starting to ferment. im averaging 1-2 big bubbles a minute and it will be a full 24 hrs that the yeast was pitched in, in another 3 hours (6:30 pm now, 9:30 pm today = 24 hrs, introduced 9:30 pm yesterday). Does this seem slow or is it me bein anxious? Thank You by the way.

 

[jguy898]

24 hours sounds about right, and at that temperature the ferment should Begin to pick up fairly well, soon. It takes a few fermentations to be totally comfortable with the process but soon you'll begin to discover the normal, and abnormal, signs of fermentation. Be sure to look and most importantly, imo, smell the ferment as it progresses. Fermentation happens in stages and the more you familiarize yourself with it the better you will understand, and the better you will be able to properly manage your fermentations. My first ferments I would pull up a chair and just watch it, listen to it, and smell it for as long as I could, I learned to manage my ferments very quickly this way.

Just remember not to rely solely on the airlock for signs of life, there could be loads of activity in there but if they happen to not be producing much co2 at the time then your airlock's just not going to be bubbling very much at all. Some may say that after 48 hours if there is no visible activity then you may need to re-pitch and double check your numbers, but remember to smell for the slightest variations before you give up on your poor little guys. On one particular fermentation (a traditional Mead) I had no visible signs of yeast activity for a long time, everyone told me to re pitch but I could smell these slight differences in the must every couple of hours or so, and after 72 hours it began to ferment. Vigorously.

 

[JNOYES88]

ITS 1230 am n me n my girlfriend just got home to find the airlock going ape sh@t. Before i read this i sat there and smelled it, checked the temp, n watched it bubble 2-3 times a second. I assume thats what you meant by "vigorously". Thanks again. I may contact you if you dont mind when it comes to bottling and carbing.