Fermentation Temp

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samnorfolk

samnorfolk

Landlord.
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So ideally I've been fermenting about 21 degrees, with this warmer weather we are having my brew space seems to have gone up to 23/24 deg C.
Any advice
 
Well there are a couple of options, first start brewing some belgian style beers, that's a decent temperature for saison yeast for example, or secondly if you can't find somewhere cooler get yourself some temperature control in the form of an old fridge.
 
As SS say a brew fridge is the best option but at the other end of the scale damp towels, a cold water bath or both can help, some members also use a fan blowing on the damp towels but I don't know how much difference it makes.
 
Chippy_Tea said:
Aa SS say a brew fridge is the best option but at the other end of the scale damp towels, a cold water bath or both can help, some members also use a fan blowing on the damp towels but I don't know how much difference it makes.
Click to expand...

Ive found a fan that blows cold air, its taken the room temp down to 21
 
samnorfolk said:
Thanks! Also just read that the british ale yeast is tolerant up to 23.3 so i maybe alright, if not I'm trying the workhorse next!!!
Click to expand...

I'd be a bit wary of the British Ale yeast in these temps. The stated 23C is in your FV not ambient temp. If your ambient temp is 23C it can get up to several degrees warmer than ambient in the FV due to the exothermic reaction of the yeast
 
MyQul said:
Another option is to use some temp tolerant yeast. Mauribrew 514 or Mangrove jacks Workhorse yeast have tolerance up to 30C

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Mauribrew_Ale_514_Yeast.html

http://www.geterbrewed.com/workhorse-beer-yeast-m10/
Click to expand...

MyQul said:
I'd be a bit wary of the British Ale yeast in these temps. The stated 23C is in your FV not ambient temp. If your ambient temp is 23C it can get up to several degrees warmer than ambient in the FV due to the exothermic reaction of the yeast
Click to expand...

Yeah id just read that! doh! hopefully it will be ok, but will use the workhorse next for sure
 
my first few brews were all around the 22/23 degrees however am now at the 17/18 range despite the hot weather and not having a brew fridge I have a cool spot in my house that's ideal..
 
I use the damp towel and fan method. It seems to cool the whole room down, my brew room is at 20C while the rest of the house is at least 23C.
The towels do dry out quite quickly though, so I'm having to wet it every 3-4 hours if I can; and of course it can't be dripping wet.
The house cools down overnight, so I wet it before I go to work and this lasts till swmbo gets home.
It works well enough for me, although I didn't brew anything in the recent hot spell; I think that may have been asking too much.
 
Get a thermometer and try to find the coolest place in your house. I move my brews between different rooms depending on the time of year.

When we have really hot temps and the house gets heated up, I stop brewing then resume when things cool down.
 
I'm tempted to try moving the fermentor into the bathtub with wet towels, fan, and the immersion heater just incase it gets too cool!

It's not an economic option but saw some stainless steel fermentors advertised in the states with immersion cooling coils mounted to the lid. You'd need a water chiller (or just waste fresh cold water through the coil and down the drain) but seemed within the reach of a determined hacker/tinkerer! Doesn't have to be a stainless steel fermemtor, the plastic buckets would be fine with a bit of support.
 
Chippy_Tea said:
...some members also use a fan blowing on the damp towels but I don't know how much difference it makes.
Click to expand...

That would make sense in the same way that clothes on the line dry faster on a windy day or if you lick your finger and stick it in the air you can feel which way the wind is blowing.

What would be really interesting would be to run the calcs to see what sort of cooling capacity it could offer. It's certinally less fiddly than an immersion coil or chilled water jacket.

Probably to lower capacity to warrent PID control but a simple bang bang controler would work fine.
 
Last edited:
Wet towel and fan can really aid cooling.. I do it sometimes in the summer to get the final few degrees down on my cooling wort.

Luckily I have a space in the house which is generally cool and dark.

Another option would be to get a brew cool bag where you put the FV in and add bottles of Ice
 
A friend has just pointed me to this inkbird temperature controller.

That would be perfect for controlling the immersion heater and fan and making sure the two didn't argue with each other.

The fan assisted wet towels methods effectiveness would be dependant on room temperature and humidity so more fancy control of this would be very overkill.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Just to clarify are we talking actual fermenting wort temperature or room temperature?

At a room temp of 23°C your fermenting wort could easily be +2°C on top of that.

One of the brews that I currently have on is in an outside shed who's only heat source is a freezer pumping out warm air.

The ambient air temp was 16°C, the fermentation temp was sitting at 18-19°C.
 
DocTrucker said:
A friend has just pointed me to this inkbird temperature controller.

That would be perfect for controlling the immersion heater and fan and making sure the two didn't argue with each other.

The fan assisted wet towels methods effectiveness would be dependant on room temperature and humidity so more fancy control of this would be very overkill.
Click to expand...

Have a look over in the sponsors forum (http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64435), member discount available. :thumb:
 
Last edited by a moderator:

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