Temperature making me nervous

[user 29674]

Edit: this came out much longer than I intended... Cliff notes are: carboy is about 2* below what my WLP400 wants, should i leave it alone or get a brewbelt and try to position it so it doesnt heat too much and get out of range? Full story below./

So I have my AHBS Blue Moon clone in my 6 gallon better bottle fermenting away. It went in on Monday night. Had some nice tiny bubbles within a few hours, and my morning (racked at almost midnight) had a nice layer of Krausen and good airlock activity.

Two things that have me concerned:

1) I had a brain fart when I pitched, and threw my yeast in at about 85-90*F. Its white labs WLP400. The second I poured it in i thought "WTF ARE YOU DOING! NO!! but it was too late. It says to pitch below 75*F but since I have a pretty good fermentation going, I'm not too worried about this part.

2) My fermometer on my carboy is has both the 64 and 66 boxes "lit" so I assume that means its 65* in the carboy. WLP400 says temp range should be 67-74. Its only 1 or 2 degrees, and I have a decent ferm going on, but I'm worried about it not attenuating fully or the yeasties getting mad and going to sleep.

The carboy is currently in the tub of a spare bathroom sitting on a towel. Last night I rigged up an 80w lamp in the tub next to the carboy, and wrapped two thick towels around the carboy and pinned it with clothespins, and closed the door (its a very small bathroom that is never used - its my kids bathroom but they're 3 and 1) to try and trap in some heat. The temp on the carboy doesnt seem to have changed any.

Moving the carboy to somewhere else isnt an option, as anywhere else it will get messed with by the kids or jostled during normal household activity (not to mention fear of blowoff staining the carpet and getting brewing in the house banned).

I thought about getting a brewbelt from LHBS, but it says it provides a constant 75* and I'm worried that 75 + the 4 or 5* I'll get from fermentation itself will put my wort into the 80s, which is well outside of the 67-74 range for the yeast. I think 2* low is better than 6-7* high, but I don't know.

So here I am. Should I just RDWAHAHB and leave it alone or go get a brewbelt and try to adjust it high enough on the carboy as to warm up the wort but not let it get too high?

 

[double_e5]

RDWHAHB. Leave it alone. Remember the temp inside the fermenter is going to be a few degrees warmer than the outside. When fermentation starts to die down you can raise the temp a little to make sure it finishes off.

 

[Pappers_]

Wrapping it in towels as you did is exactly right - holds in the heat generated by the fermentation. Sounds to me that it will, with time and patience, be fine!

 

[BierMuncher]

Fortunately, wits can benefit from a warmer ferment. Some nice esters go well with a witbeer.

Don't sweat it.

 

[user 29674]

RDWHAHB. Leave it alone. Remember the temp inside the fermenter is going to be a few degrees warmer than the outside. When fermentation starts to die down you can raise the temp a little to make sure it finishes off.

I thought the point of the stick-on fermometers was to tell you the temp inside the carboy, by reading the temp from the sticky side (minus whatever difference the plastic/glass insulates out). That's what I assumed at least, otherwise how is it any different from just sitting a regular thermo on the table next to it.

 

[JesseRC]

if it makes you feel any better you can transfer some heat to said carboy by bringing the carboy with you to bed. Many a noob have been caught sleeping with their carboy. Its ok to talk to it as well.

 

[user 29674]

if it makes you feel any better you can transfer some heat to said carboy by bringing the carboy with you to bed. Many a noob have been caught sleeping with their carboy. Its ok to talk to it as well.

Tried that but I was too busy smelling the beer to sleep. The coriander + orange peel + citrusy cascade hops + yeast smell is delicious. Makes me want to skip the fermenting and just drink straight from the carboy...

 

[double_e5]

I thought the point of the stick-on fermometers was to tell you the temp inside the carboy, by reading the temp from the sticky side (minus whatever difference the plastic/glass insulates out). That's what I assumed at least, otherwise how is it any different from just sitting a regular thermo on the table next to it.

Exactly what they do. It is an ok indicator of the temp inside, but I am sure you are right in your window with the difference of the fermenter insulating some of the heat.

 

[user 29674]

RDWAHAHB it is then

 

[user 29674]

Gah, the temp on the fermometer is down to 61 (still bubbling away though) so I've put a space heater in the bathroom with it, wrapped it in more towels/blankets and put the heater on low to gently get it back up into its ideal range. Also gave it a swirl to rouse the yeasties back up. Last night I had to put a blowoff tube on it because I went to check on it and my airlock water was brown from krausen so I figured an explosion would happen overnight if I didn't correct. WLP400 sure has a personality...


PS: Stupid Georgia weather... 20 at night 60 during the day... what the hell?

 

[user 29674]

Well, this morning it was only up to 62 and bubbling has slowed dramatically (yea yea I know the airlock is not a gauge). This puzzled me so i broke out a thermo and realized that the carboy sitting down in the tub was being quite effectively insulated from the ambient temp. The temp in the room measured just above the top of the carboy was about 70, but down in the actual tub it was a solid 10* lower! So I snuck one of the extra dining room chairs down and put it in the tub, put a towel on it, and sat the fermentor on that to get it up into the room air. Its been 10 minutes and already up 2 degrees, so I turned off the heater and opened the door to let some cooler air in there to slow the temp rise so I don't anger my little buddies. When I lifted it up, the lamp I had in there to help hold temp was shining right through the carboy and I could see the yeasties swirling around in there, so I didn't swirl it or anything. I turned the lamp off and wrapped it back up in the towels. I'll check back later and see how its doing.

I'm definately going to need to experiment with temperature control.

 

[Chadwell]

Well, this morning it was only up to 62 and bubbling has slowed dramatically (yea yea I know the airlock is not a gauge). This puzzled me so i broke out a thermo and realized that the carboy sitting down in the tub was being quite effectively insulated from the ambient temp. The temp in the room measured just above the top of the carboy was about 70, but down in the actual tub it was a solid 10* lower! So I snuck one of the extra dining room chairs down and put it in the tub, put a towel on it, and sat the fermentor on that to get it up into the room air. Its been 10 minutes and already up 2 degrees, so I turned off the heater and opened the door to let some cooler air in there to slow the temp rise so I don't anger my little buddies. When I lifted it up, the lamp I had in there to help hold temp was shining right through the carboy and I could see the yeasties swirling around in there, so I didn't swirl it or anything. I turned the lamp off and wrapped it back up in the towels. I'll check back later and see how its doing.

I'm definately going to need to experiment with temperature control.

haha, I am right there with you. I feel your worrying pain. I have been obsessing over my carboy the past few days too. I am using a cheap heating pad from Walgreens currently. My stick-on thermometers are in the mail being shipped with ingredients for a Belgian Wit I am going to fire up next weekend. I think we both need to relax.

 

[tmoney1224]

Step away from the carboy

Every once and awhile I would go flip on the heater if you are feeling that it is too cold. It's been 3 days so the fermentation probably is slowing down a bit. If you want, take a gravity reading to see where it is at so that you can calm down about whether or not it is fermenting correcting.

 

[user 29674]

I took a reading Thursday night and it was at 1.035 (OG was 1.047). I know its fermenting correctly, but the temp has been steadily falling and is not at its lowest temp ever (well, was) and I'm just trying to keep the yeast near its ideal ferm temp rather than 7-8* below it.

 

[tmoney1224]

I was just teasing you a bit.

So when did you actually brew this? I thought it had only been a couple of days? As long as it is still fermenting you probably will be okay, but I have never used that kind of yeast before so I don't know what kind of flavors you get at the lower end of the spectrum. I use Wyeast 3068 on my Hefeweizens and the lower temp gives me the more distinct clover flavor. Maybe someone could chime in that has used this yeast.

In the mean time I would still keep the heater going.

 

[user 29674]

I brewed it on Monday night (2/16). I just took another grav sample and its at 1.029 now so its still chugging along. Temp is also up to 66 so sitting the carboy up on a chair instead of down in the tub made a huge difference. I'll have to keep that in mind when I *need* it to be colder.

So is 18 points in 4.5 days good? bad? fast? slow? itdependsshutupanddrinksomebeer?