Brewing temperature (complete novice)

[Rob Sharpe]

I love beer but my brewing experience is limited to tea thus far!

My wife bought me a brewing kit and it says that it ought to be brewed about 20-22 degrees C.

Now I cannot imagine that beer only gets brewed in the height of summer.

I did some internet research and found that you can buy heaters etc etc. Since this is my first try I don't want to go too overboard with equipment. I found another website that said that the fermentation process will increase the temperature of the mixture by 4 to 6 degrees, but didn't really go on to detail whether that means you can brew when the air temperature is 4 to 6 degrees lower than the ideal temperature.

Would anyone be able to give me some advice please? Thanks

 

[An Ankoù]

At this time of year, provided you're in the northern hemisphere and not sitting on a glacier, you should just go ahead. I've brewed with yeasts around 12C ambient temperature and wrapped the fermenter in towels This stick on thermometer showed an internal temperature of 18C. A yeast with a recommended temperature of, say, 20C will usually ferment quite happily at 15 or a bit lower. It'll just take longer and give you a cleaner tasting beer.
So what are you brewing and what yeast are you using?

 

[Agentgonzo]

Most houses are kept close enough to 20 degrees to be plenty good enough for beer. Find a corner of a spare room, back of a cupboard etc and you'll be absolutely fine. Don't overthink it

 

[Rwilts]

Not to go crazy but temp control during fermentation is key to a good result. As stated Most yeast will operate over a range and may take longer then advertised at lower temps. But my advice is work out something that gets you as close to a steady 20 as you can. Aquarium heaters in a builders trub is something I did years ago. Now I use a heat belt attached to the temp controller .

Alternatively find a place in the house that retains a steady temp and wrap a sleeping bag or blanket around the fermenter and see how near that gets you when fermentation starts.

As to your point about increase temp , yes fermentation creates heat , but ideally you wan to start at 20 in this case and remove the heat to maintain that 20 when the self generated heat kicks in. This is why even more advanced fermentation temp control includes both heating and cooling

 

[jof]

If you have a house that's got central heating & some insulation you should be fine.

I wouldn't worry about it at the start of your home brew trajectory, as it's something you can fine tune or invest in later if you want to take the hobby further

 

[emmever]

As others said, just use your home (assuming it is somewhere about 19C - 20C) as temperature controller.

Specific yeast types require different temperatures, but it is not the case of yeast coming with the kit

 

[MashBag]

Yup. Find a spot that doesn't fluctuate too much a constant 18c is better than a 19-21c next to the radiator or in the kitchen.

 

[Cwrw666]

A lot depends on what type of house you live in. If you've central heating then you should have no problem, but contrary to popular belief there's still about 40% of households that don't have CH. I've never lived in a house with CH.
So Autumn winter and spring I brew in our airing cupboard, leaving the door open various amounts as a crude temperature control. Summer there's always some part of the house that's in the correct temperature range, even when it's like 30 degrees outside.
If it's an ale yeast try not to drop below 18C ambient or the fermentation could stall, and definitely don't go over 25C ambient as you'll get off flavours developing. Been there, done that.

 

[The Baron]

A lot depends on what type of house you live in. If you've central heating then you should have no problem, but contrary to popular belief there's still about 40% of households that don't have CH. I've never lived in a house with CH.
So Autumn winter and spring I brew in our airing cupboard, leaving the door open various amounts as a crude temperature control. Summer there's always some part of the house that's in the correct temperature range, even when it's like 30 degrees outside.
If it's an ale yeast try not to drop below 18C ambient or the fermentation could stall, and definitely don't go over 25C ambient as you'll get off flavours developing. Been there, done that.

So you have temperature control Cwrw666 the airing cupboard door.
I think us oldies all started in the airing cupboard in the 70's

 

[The Baron]

Answer to the OP I even after my many years of brewing do not have a brew fridge but use either the room or garage depending on the time of the year or most importantly to me I use specific yeasts at the room temps I have so Beoir for bitters/ales upto 21c Kveik for IPA's upto 35c and Novalager for Lagers upto 20c.
It is better to have temp control with a fridge but not everybody has the room or as you are just starting out and financial outlay needs to be kept low until you are grabbed by the bug and make it into a full hobby.
Yeast is your friend until you progress and it is surprising how well you can make a stable temperature in specific rooms/garages to suit the yeast.
good luck

 

[MashBag]

Answer to the OP I even after my many years of brewing do not have a brew fridge

Me too. Because of the various shapes and sizes I much prefer heating + insulation.

I have brew bags for mashing, fermentations (various) and a brew bag for 3 crates conditioning.

 

[The Baron]

Yes MB forgot to mention insulation, marvellous what you can do with a old duvet etc or build a insulated box eventually that can be taken apart when not in use

 

[Agentgonzo]

Sleeping bags are ideally sized for most homebrew fermenters

 

[Agentgonzo]

but contrary to popular belief there's still about 40% of households that don't have CH

Where did you get this figure?

https://commonslibrary.parliament.u...olds in England and,1% had no central heating.

The latest census found that around 74% of households used mains gas central heating, 9% used electric central heating, 3% used oil central heating and 1% had no central heating.

Interestingly, those figures don't add up to 100%

 

[MashBag]

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/constituency-data-central-heating-2021-census/#:~:text=Most households in England and,1% had no central heating.

Interestingly, those figures don't add up to 100%

Truth left home a few years ago. And I think politicians probably packs its bag and got it a bus ticket.

 

[Sadfield]

Where did you get this figure?

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/constituency-data-central-heating-2021-census/#:~:text=Most households in England and,1% had no central heating.

Interestingly, those figures don't add up to 100%

Because that paragraph misses the 'other' percentage.

Defined further in the document as:

‘Other’ central heating includes the categories: other central heating only, district or communal heat networks only, renewable energy only, solid fuel only and wood only.

 

[Madhouse]

Hello & welcome to the start of your homebrew journey!

This is exactly how I started and I found the bottom of the wardrobe to be the best, most constant temperature. I also found that after a couple of brews Mrs M became far more receptive to the concept of a brew fridge in the garage as she didn't like my choice of fermenter location - bonus!
Turned out to be a good method for getting other brewery upgrade spends approved too.

 

[old dog new tricks]

As said constant temp is the best idea, in my house i found this difficult as the heating only comes on certain times of the day and drops off at others.

I found a cheap fish tank heater helped to stabilise that and cost £6 I had the flexi tub already so half fill with water the fish tank heater keeps it constant.

I have since modified my plastic FV bucket fitted a DJ sized bung that I melted a hole and inserted the cable for the heater, it now sits in the FV directly and allows it to be sealed up.

This gives me flexibility to use this way or can get multiple 1 gallon demi jons in the flexi tub

 

[Rob Sharpe]

At this time of year, provided you're in the northern hemisphere and not sitting on a glacier, you should just go ahead. I've brewed with yeasts around 12C ambient temperature and wrapped the fermenter in towels This stick on thermometer showed an internal temperature of 18C. A yeast with a recommended temperature of, say, 20C will usually ferment quite happily at 15 or a bit lower. It'll just take longer and give you a cleaner tasting beer.
So what are you brewing and what yeast are you using?

That's for the advice. I have a few old towels I can use to insulate and I can just start on a warmer day.

It is IPA but not sure of the yeast.

 

[Rob Sharpe]

Most houses are kept close enough to 20 degrees to be plenty good enough for beer. Find a corner of a spare room, back of a cupboard etc and you'll be absolutely fine. Don't overthink it

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated