Second brew - temperature control woes!

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hazzie_fozz

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My first brew turned out badly - as a result of a series of rooky mistakes. :oops:

I'm now brewing a Coopers Original Stout in an attempt to get back on the horse and I'm worrying about temperature control. This time I used a thermometer(!) and it turns out my flat is like a sauna - even with a fan and wet towel over the FV the wort was at 35c.

So I moved the FV to the cellar to pitch the yeast, did manage to get it down to 24c for pitching but I did have to wait several hours, which I understand is not good.

The cellar is around 19 - 20c at the moment, much better for primary fermentation than the flat which can get up to 26c room temp. I'm worried about how to go about bottling, though. I don't have an auto siphon so was going to use running water to siphon into a priming bucket - but there's no running water in the cellar...

If I bring the FV back up to the flat that would mean carrying it up two flights of stairs - I'm worried that moving the brew at this stage might disturb sediment?

Also, even if I do find a workaround like getting a turkey baster or an auto siphon, by the time I'm due to bottle I think the temp in the cellar may be below 18c which I'm given to understand is too low for bottle conditioning?

In which case, I'd still have to move the bottles up two flights of stairs - would this be likely to harm the brew?

Any nudges in the right direction would be very much appreciated
 
I've waited a few hours before pitching yeast. I wouldn't worry about it.

Where the FV is now sounds ideal.

I brew and bottle my beer in the garage and I don't have running water there.
Does your FV have a tap?
I just run a syphonig tube from my FV to the priming bucket.
If you don't have a tap or a syphon how were you going to get from the FV to the priming bucket?
Sorry I don't understand about the running water bit.
Bottle it where it is now. I wouldn't try carrying that upstairs.

As you say 18C is just a tad too cool for secondary fermentation. Once the beer is bottled there's no problem moving them.

If your FV has a tap get a syphon tube if you already don't. If there's no tap you'll need an syphon or auto syphon
sooner or later so might as well buy one now.
 
Hi Pirate Pete, thanks for your reply!

Unfortunately my FV doesn't have a tap. Last time I simply tipped everything from the FV into the priming bucket - that was the biggest of the rookie mistakes that I mentioned! :oops:

This time I have a syphon, but it's not an auto syphon - it's just a tube. I've practiced by filling it with running water from the tap and that worked, but I have read that you can do the same thing with a turkey baster.
 
If you have a syphon with an airtight tap you can submerge it in cooled boiled water with the tap open, shake so air disappears and tube is full of water and close the tap. If the tap is air tight then the water will hold in the tube when you remove it (just like if you put your thumb over a straw in a drink and pull it out). You can then take it anywhere, put the syphon in the wort and turn the tap on. When the water comes out the tap it creates a vacuum and pulls the wort through. You can do the same by putting your thumb over the end but that's more likely to go wrong by releasing it at the wrong time.
 
Hi Mark and Pirate,

Thanks for helping! I now feel a bit more confident with bottling day logistics, and I've got a fortnight to practice syphoning things :D
 
Beer is pretty robust stuff and I've done alot of things that should have resulted in a bad brew but never did so, relax, have a home brew!

Even fermenting around 32 degrees in the tropics stouts for me turn out great.
 
My first brew turned out badly - as a result of a series of rooky mistakes. :oops:

I'm now brewing a Coopers Original Stout in an attempt to get back on the horse and I'm worrying about temperature control. This time I used a thermometer(!) and it turns out my flat is like a sauna - even with a fan and wet towel over the FV the wort was at 35c.

So I moved the FV to the cellar to pitch the yeast, did manage to get it down to 24c for pitching but I did have to wait several hours, which I understand is not good.

The cellar is around 19 - 20c at the moment, much better for primary fermentation than the flat which can get up to 26c room temp. I'm worried about how to go about bottling, though. I don't have an auto siphon so was going to use running water to siphon into a priming bucket - but there's no running water in the cellar...

If I bring the FV back up to the flat that would mean carrying it up two flights of stairs - I'm worried that moving the brew at this stage might disturb sediment?

Also, even if I do find a workaround like getting a turkey baster or an auto siphon, by the time I'm due to bottle I think the temp in the cellar may be below 18c which I'm given to understand is too low for bottle conditioning?

In which case, I'd still have to move the bottles up two flights of stairs - would this be likely to harm the brew?

Any nudges in the right direction would be very much appreciated

I would get a king keg with a top tap and floating siphon :)

Best investment in the world, that and your brew will condition faster and is 'safer' then in bottles but is not too safe as it's easier for you to 'sample' your brew omnomnomomomom :whistle:
 
Hello!

I'm pleased to report I bottled the Cooper's Stout a few days ago, it was fermented in the cellar at a pretty constant 19c and I did manage to bottle it in the cellar using an ordinary siphon as Mark Bowie suggested above. Samples all tasted great and I'm really looking forward to drinking it! Thanks so much for all the help I've been given

I'm now approaching brew #3 - a Woodefords Wherry. I'm going to brew as per kit instructions but substituting Gervin Ale Yeast instead of the kit yeast.

Now, for Temperature Control Woes Part II... it's going to be October soon and I'm in the West Midlands - the flat is cooling down (thank goodness!) and so is the cellar. Here are my options for where I could do primary fermentation.

1. My cellar - ambient temp 17c and likely to get cooler during the next 2 weeks. No electricity down there so I can't change the temp.
2. My flat - 22c
3. Pitch yeast in cellar and bring the FV up to the flat after a day or two.

So it's a bit of a Goldilocks situation! The flat is too warm, the cellar is too cold. I'm seriously considering option number three - to pitch the yeast then move it. This would involve carrying the FV up two flights of stairs - would it be such a bad thing to move it at this stage?
 
Got power in the cellar? Use a fish tank heater and a water bath to maintain a stable temp.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 

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