Temperature Variations/spikes during fermenting

[codyjp]

I've only done a handful of batches but I've not found a great way to regulate temperature. At first my garage was staying very cool but we had several hot days last week and that killed it.

I've got 2 still fermenting, a Russian Imperial Stout and a Pale Ale. For the most part they have been stable at 72 but there has been periods (half day maybe) where the temps reached 74-76. The RIP also climbed to 76 during the first day of fermenting.

I've now got them in a tub and I'm adding ice bottles to cool but I guess my question is what is worse:
1) Temperatures high than optimal by 2-4*
2) Temperature variations due to less than accurate ice additions?

Short of building a fermentation chamber is there any easy way to sort this and get stable temperatures?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I do the water and frozen bottle bath and can control temps pretty well that way. You just gotta stay on top of it so the temps don't spike. Try using a towel to wick up some water around the top of the FV, and train a fan on it. That helps alot too.

 

[Zixxer10R]

Just did this, and even though my house hits 80 when i'm not there the fermentation bucket stays around 65. At least for me.

For me, i've got an extra bathroom with a tub that i filled with about 2 inches of water so that the towel i have wrapped around the fermenter always has water being drawn up the sides. It's my first run at it but i think it will control temps pretty well.

Can anyone comment on the OP's "which is worse" questions? I'm interested to know the science behind the reason which one is technically worse as well.

codyj, either way your brew will probably be great.

 

[wonderbread23]

Can anyone comment on the OP's "which is worse" questions? I'm interested to know the science behind the reason which one is technically worse as well.

Which is worse is highly dependent on strain. Some strains can handle a little heat, others will throw some pretty funky flavors in the heat. Same goes for the temp swings. The biggest concern with temp swings is that some yeast are prone to floc out of solution if the temp drops before fermentation is finished.

 

[Zixxer10R]

Roger, thank you.

 

[boomtown25]

I have a room in the middle of my house that stays around 68-70 degrees and I simply stick my carboys in there. I had seen a lot on here about swamp coolers so I finally tried it. I found out that I have a cube style cooler that is big enough to stick my carboy in (I pulled the top off of it. I did this and filled it up with water until the water came to the level of my wort inside the carboy. I then added 2 frozen water bottles to it and it got down to 58 degrees. This was colder than I wanted so I did not replace the ice bottles again and the temp sat at 60 degrees. I think I am going to utilize this from now on.

 

[ultravista]

I was given a small GE refrigerator and bought a Johnson A419 digital controller. I keep it at 60 degrees for Pacman yeast with a 2 degree differential. The probe is taped to the carboy and once temps are reached, the refrigerator maintains temps pretty well.

Prior to this, I did the frozen water bottle rotation. This is much easier by a long shot.

 

[codyjp]

I was given a small GE refrigerator and bought a Johnson A419 digital controller. I keep it at 60 degrees for Pacman yeast with a 2 degree differential. The probe is taped to the carboy and once temps are reached, the refrigerator maintains temps pretty well.

Prior to this, I did the frozen water bottle rotation. This is much easier by a long shot.

Nice! Thanks for that!