fermentation temps

[andyrebo]

Hi,

I'm returning to brewing after a year off and I want to get three or four on the go at once. All the action will take place in the cellar which has an ambient temp of 15 degrees.

I'll be brewing beer, wine & cider but only have one heater. I have brewed down there without a heater before, it worked but took a little longer than with a heater.

I was wondering if brewing at 15 degrees would have an effect on the taste of the final product or not.

Thanks

 

[Titus A Duxass]

My last brew - Muntons Old English fermented out at about 16 degrees, it took longer 2.5 weeks.
But it tastes superb.

 

[RobWalker]

its certainly well out of the best range. you need to brew at room temp really...can you not ferment them in the house? beer only takes 4 days or so...

 

[Dave1970]

You could get away with it if you pick your yeast carefully, US-05 for example has an ideal temp of 15-22 C, as does S-04. You'll have some slow ferments though which I know I'd find frustrating.

 

[Good Ed]

I also have a cellar but it's a bit cooler than yours, I'm just doing a lager that will be fermenting at about 10C. You will find the temperature of the wort 1 or 2 degrees cooler than ambient as they will be sitting on the cold floor. You could get a fementing fridge with heating and cooling, or just brew lagers this time of the year. A useful yeast is the San Francisco Lager yeast which you can ferment at 15C, I use this in the summer in the cellar.

 

[graysalchemy]

Wine and ciders are fine at 15c usually though they will be slow.

However beer especially english style bitters usually need a higher temp in order to get the fruity esters in your beer, below 18-19c you are not going to get them as much and would be noticeable.

Can you not rig up a water bath with a big tub and an aquarium heater or a insulated fermentation cupboard with a tube heater in it?

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[professor beer]

I have been forced for reasons of space to brew mine where the sun dont shine....
Old barns, and unheated buildings, through the winter.
Fermentation generates a little of its own heat, professional brewers are usually using water jackets to cool their fermenters, so I either brew in an old fridge (not plugged in) or wrap my brew bin in a length of wool insulation, and tie it with string. An old sleeping bag would work just as well. Seems to do the job at about 15-17degrees in the fermenter, though occasionally fermentation gets stuck especially towards the end when it is slowing down, in which case I wake it up with a hot mat that I have had for 30 years on an extension lead, giving it 12-24 hours of heat, or a nice cup (2-3litres) of warming hop tea.
It can take 14-18 days to ferment out to 1008-1012, however the taste is in my humble opinion is better for cooler fermentation, much over 22degrees causes esters that can give fruity flavours to your beer like overripe bananas. Which my wife prefers so no problems offloading a bad batch on her.
Cheers

 

[ericmark]

I have also found runs well to start with it's at the end it seems to stall and also found heat from the fermenting if retained can be enough. I seem to have collected body warmers and I find these drop over my fermentor nice leaving the air lock sticking out of the top so I can see activity.

I use a demo underfloor heating tile when it gets too cool about 18W if anything a little too big by time using body warmers. Normally sit fermentor on a plastic stool which means there is room underneath it to store bottles. Using a 15W pygmy bulb would likely have same effect and your post has reminded me I have an old flee catcher with light from when we had cats likely just about the right size.

 

[LeithR]

I'm trying this just now with a Parched Polecat clone. I'm fermenting at between 15 and 16*C, its day 3 and there seems to be quite a nice krausen formed in the bucket. I'm using a wlp002 yeast with an og of 1042, I've noted the comment about increasing the temp a little to get the esters going and to overcome the possibility of stuck fermentation.

 

[rpt]

Just pick the right style of beer for the conditions. American pale ales are hoppy and don't rely on fermentation esters. Nottingham yeast is supposed to work well at cooler temperatures.