Temp Question...Help?

[brewagentjay]

So I have been using my bar off my man cave as my ferment room basically cause I can limit the amount of light and since it's in my room I can do what I please.....

For the first 3 days temp on bucket stick on was 63 to 64 degrees. My man cave tends to be a little cooler than rest of house.

I noticed today on day 4 no bubbles coming out of airlock and the temp was 59 to 61 on the bucket stick on.....

So worried I moved the beer to beside me in my office to heat it up a bit.....

What is the right temp I should read on the stick on?

 

[rwing7486]

what yeast did you use and what temperature was your wort when you pitched it??

 

[brewagentjay]

Question 2:

I have my first beer batch in primary which is the one from the first quesiton. I also have a 1 gallon batch of apfelwein.

My beer airlock seems to be gaining water while my apfelwein airlock seems to be loosing water. Why? (note both in same man cave room up till now) I moved the apfelwein to the top of my book case in man cave near vent so it would stay a little warmer.

 

[brewagentjay]

what yeast did you use and what temperature was your wort when you pitched it??

80 degrees pitch temp per instructions on kit & I used vial of white labs irish ale yeast wlp004.

 

[kidsmakeyoucrazy]

It depends on the yeast from what I gather. Also, some here have said that the stick on thermometer can read lower than the actual wort temp...but (putting my flame suit on now), I listened to a podcast from Jamil Z that basically said that was complete bs. He done testing and cited testing by others that showed the temp of a probe or sticky thermometer on the outside of the fermenter was within 1/2 degree of a probe stuck directly into the outside of the wort. When the beer is fermenting it's wort is rising and falling as the yeast do their thing so the temperature is fairly consistent within the wort...or so he says. Not that I have any way to verify it but then again I haven't brewed any award winning beer either.

 

[brewagentjay]

Question 3:

So I was told by kit 5 -7 days in primary. I see on here people say 2 weeks on avg. I asked LHBS and he says 7 days max in primary. So which is the right way or is this one of those preference things?

 

[brewagentjay]

Back to question 1: I want to know what is the preferred temp I should read on the stick on......... So I can keep it right by moving it's location or what not. I'm very worried this is my first batch, so it's my baby.

 

[kidsmakeyoucrazy]

80 degrees pitch temp per instructions on kit & I used vial of white labs irish ale yeast wlp004.

80 is a bit warm I think, but I'm sure someone else will chime in on that. It should still make beer though. As for your other question, if you pitched at 80 and stored in the 60's, unless fermentation has started you will get "suck back" in the airlock. It's sealed up, now it cools down, pressure decreases and eventually creates a vacuum. Nothing to worry about for now.

 

[PT Ray]

Sounds like your fermentation has slowed down, which is the time to bump up the temp. I shoot for starting out in the low 60's and after it slows down then up to 70 for a few days. After that it's back to a cool spot for a couple weeks or whenever I decide to something with it.

 

[kidsmakeyoucrazy]

What's the type of beer? Is it an irish ale, english ale? Not that I can help on that but if you can tell us the style someone here can tell you where the temps should be....I'm going to guess somewhere around 65-68F

 

[brewagentjay]

it's an Irish Stout Ale kit said 65 to 70 degrees so I aimed for 63 to 65 cause i didn't want it to ferment to fast. I just noticed the temp dropped today on the bucket stick on.

Right now it's in my office and has warmed up to 63 to 64 ish.... So I'll put it here for now but only issues is that I have to cover it to keep sun light out.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Question 1: In the future, pitch at a lower temperature. The kit lies. Although the optimum temperature is a matter of the yeast's preference, for most ales you're going to want to be in the mid-60s.

Question 2: You may have had some blow off or a lot of CO2 from the apfelwine that sprayed water out of the airlock. You may have had some blow off liquids get in the beer airlock. Or, you may just be imagining it. Either way, likely nothing to worry about.

Question 3: Your LHBS lies. You can leave it in the primary for 3-4 weeks and be just fine.