temperature and fermantaiton

[didimcginty]

I was wondering when is temperature no longer an issue when fermenting. I live in a philly suburb, my basement keeps my beer at about 74 degrees. That being to hot to ferment an IPA, if I where to get a controller and mini fridge, put it in at a controlled temp for a week, then take it out to let it age a bit, also so i could use the fridge and controller to ferment another beer. Would this work?
I like my IPA's to stay in the primary fermenter for 3 weeks then I put them in a secondary to dry hop for a week, then keg. Would allowing the beer temp to raise up to the 74 degree mark affect the beer after it finishes fermentaion?

 

[day_trippr]

If you have the patience to allow each batch to fully ferment out before moving the fermenter to your "74°F or less" environment, you'll be doing just fine.

While colder storage has the advantage of slowing the aging process, 74°F isn't horrible - probably in the ball-park of the floor temperature in the typical retail shop for the stuff that isn't kept cold...

Cheers!

 

[didimcginty]

Thank you for your response, makes sense. I just wasn't sure at what point, if any, temperature no longer would be a big deal.

 

[day_trippr]

While you could narrow it down a bit with SG measurements, if you let each batch run a full two weeks under temperature control before kicking 'em out into the wild (so to speak ) you'll likely do well...

Cheers!

 

[didimcginty]

Even better, I can be patient, kind of. Thank you again for all your help, I don't like heat.

 

[iijakii]

I was wondering when is temperature no longer an issue when fermenting.

Once the bulk of the fermentation is over. There's no catch-all here, but a week is a fairly safe bet for most ales. Only way to tell for sure is by measuring gravity - if it's near your targeted FG then you're good to go.

 

[didimcginty]

So once FG is reached, then it would be safe to assume it is safe to pull out and let age in my 74 degree basement?

 

[catdaddy66]

I have been trading out frozen 2L bottles in the am and pm for my last 3-4 batches (in a swamp cooler) to maintain proper temps over 10-14 days. The temps in SC have been 99*-104* over the last two weeks! I hope the Scottish 80 is ok as it has been room temp during that period but that's after a month in the primary. Should be good.

 

[hopbrad]

your fine after a few days. to be safe, a week. I let mine go to room temp (80F+) after 5-7 days and never have an issue. I use s-05 for my pales/ipas. belgian strains sometimes ill let go after 2 days to get some more esters out of it.
its the first few days thats important to keep temps under control. if u dont want to spend the money on a freezer, give the cool-brewing bag a shot.

also no need to 2ndary to dry hop. unless your getting to the yeast to re-use. the one cool thing with a temp controlled freezer is its easier to cold crash it before kegging. you could simulate that with the cooler bag by putting a bunch of frozen bottles in there.

 

[didimcginty]

Thank you all for your help, I can't afford a freezer, but that is my goal. I figure if I can get a small fridge for now, I could ferment one bucket at a time. Thank you everyone again for your responses, it is much appreciated.