Temperature maintenance during fermentation

[rgarry]

Good call. You're gonna love it.

Now you can do stuff like stepped-up ale ferments where you start at the low end of the optimal range for the yeast being used, keep it there 5-7 days, and then bring it up 4-6*F to finish and clean up.

You can properly do lagers as well, but be mindful of the fact that they can tie up your chest freezer for several weeks. Best to brew a couple lager batches back-to-back and then ferment/d-rest/cold crash/lager them together if possible.

This is a man who talks from experience. Sometimes trying to coordinate everything is crazy. I use it to ferment, cold crash and when I get close to needing another keg, I chuck it in and carbonate so its already when the kegarator needs a new keg. Obviously, they all require different temps.

 

[124Spider]

What's "cold crash"?

 

[ICWiener]

Cold crashing is dropping the temp. in your fermenter down to the 33-39F range for a couple of days after fermentation is complete. It pulls a lot of yeast out of suspension, clarifies your beer. If you do it in conjunction with finings or gelatin, it will also coagulate and pull protien out of your beer, reducing chill haze and clarifying it even further.

 

[124Spider]

Sounds interesting; I'll have to read up on that!

 

[ICWiener]

Defintiely look into it. Some people swear by it.

I've done it a few times and found that it doesn't affect my beers enough for me to put forth the effort. But, to each his own.

 

[rgarry]

I find that it really drops everything out of the beer and I always do it on very lite colored beers and tend not to do it on darker beers. I don't think it effects the taste but really improves the clarity. Non Home Brewers like a clean beer without anything floating in it. Homebrewers understand and don't care.

 

[124Spider]

Given that I now have the equipment to easily do the cold crash, is there any reason not to do it? This seems especially relevant to me now, since I do not plan to secondary ferment. It's a brown ale.

 

[rgarry]

If you bottle, it takes a bit longer to carb up since a bunch of the yeast settle out. I just revived an old thread on this very subject. I never bottle but have a Belgian that I won't drink for 6 more months and recs here were to age in bottles. I should have an issue since it will be carved in my time frame.

 

[ICWiener]

Given that I now have the equipment to easily do the cold crash, is there any reason not to do it?

It all depends. Let's say you have a stout in there, there is not a lot of incentive to do it. The clarity issue doesn't apply and you'd be taking up that space for an additional day or two. If you're brewing frequently, you're going to want that space for new beers. If you're not brewing that often, I say crash 'em. It's easy with a temp controlled fridge. The only reason I don't do it is because my fermenter is also my long term storage for aging sour beers. I don't want to pull out 4 or 5 full carboys every time I need to crash an IPA.

As for the brown ale you've got now...if you want to, go for it. But like rgarry said, it doesn't make a ton of difference on darker beers.

 

[paulegli]

I just bought a chest freezer off craigslist for $60.00 and bought the STC-1000 from ebay. With the STC-1000, project box, plug & cover I spent about $35.00.

Make Magazine has step-by-step instructions showing how to wire up the STC-1000 in a junction box:

http://blog.makezine.com/projects/water-bath-thermostat/

I've used this controller connected to a mini fridge and heating wrap for both fermentation temperature control and cold crashing. It really comes in handy when you're brewing a recipe which calls for changing the temperature during fermentation. If you ferment in carboys, this carboy cap is a great way to place your temperature sensor in the middle of your fermenter so you get a more accurate temperature reading.

Happy brewing!

 

[124Spider]

Full and fair disclosure: It was a significant PITA to find the parts for wiring the STC-1000, and wire it up (and I am experienced at wielding a soldering iron). Radio Shack ain't what it used to be.

But it's now done, and seems to be working properly. The compressor delay is a bit disconcerting at first, but all seems good. I'll monitor the temperature (watching it doesn't make good spectator sport; I'll check it several times a day), but I'm pleased.

Thanks for your help!

 

[124Spider]

Follow-up: It worked perfectly for the following two weeks, never being more than half a degree this way or that from 19 (my set point).

I just bottled, and then put the bottles into the freezer, gave them a half hour to stabilize (and the temperature probe to be the temperature of a bottle, not the outsider air). When I turned it on, it showed a steady 20.9. Five minutes later (the delay time for the compressor), the freezer started, and it quickly lowered the temperature to 19.

I like this; thanks!

 

[BigFloyd]

Glad to hear that it's working well for you. Your brew life has headed in a better direction and I see many tasty brews in your future.

Just think, if you ever have to build another controller box, it'll be 10x easier than the first one.