First brew temperature question

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escollay

Brewdog
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Hello everyone!

I am just about to attempt my first brew (just waiting on a few things coming) and I feel suitably prepared. I would just like to ask a question about temperature control during the fermentation. As I'm sure everyone in the UK & Ireland are quite aware it is a wee bit cold at the mo, so I am wondering if anyone has any tips for keeping your batch at good temperature. Unfortunately I can't keep my radiators on full blast all day for 3 weeks, so I was thinking about wrapping it up snug in a blanket and keeping it somewhere cosy and I've bought a thermometer to keep an eye on the temp. Does temperature play a huge part in the quality of the beer?

Thanks! :cheers:
 
welcome , yes temp control is 1 of the most important thing to getting good beer , it's all done to the yeast and they are fussy things , they will go slow or stop and produce a plain beer is fermented too low while too warm is worse creating 'off flavours' including giving you hangovers.
Get yourself a builders bucket or large storage container (70L,£8,) and a 100watt fish tank heater(£15) pop heater and fv in bucket with water and off you go .p.s a digital fish tank thermometer with probe and put into fv (£4)
 
Yes, Dave is right about temp control!
The water bath and aquarium heater is a good method.
For more accurate control, fit a thermowell to your FV and put the probe from a digital aquarium heater control into it.
Thermowell easily made from a 15mm tank cunnector and blank, fit about 3" below norm Wort level.
 
A really good solution is to build a fermentation fridge like this. Takes more effort but will also keep fermentation temperatures down in summer (yes, I am expecting one, one day) and can be used when making lager.
 
Thanks for the replies, I think I will invest in the heater until the warmer weather comes in. Now I have to order something else and wait on it arriving!! I'm itching to start brewing lol
 
You could use a brew belt. They don't seem to be a favourite on this forum though. I used one on my 1st beer but it's only just been bottled and isn't ready to drink yet so I can't give it a glowing review just yet.
What I do know is it kept my FV at a stable 20 degrees for 2 weeks, costs very little to run and is very simple to use. If there are some bad points, I'd really like to hear them.
 
i have a brew belt and it kept mine at around 27c but would get higher and lower , no control , don't like to be honest , p.s i also warm condition my beers in the container and heater ( i have 2 sets ) fridges are better but cost more .
 
marksa222 said:
If there are some bad points, I'd really like to hear them.
Accurate and steady control of temperature is critical during fermentation - especially in the early stages. As the process itself gives off heat the brew temp will increase before settling down once the inital stage of fermentation is over (2-3 days). A brew belt offers no temp control... OK, you can move the thing up or down but this requires you to be there checking the temp and guessing how much to move it. Consequently, assuming you're lucky/clever enough to know at what height your brew belt should be at to hit your desired temp to start with, your brew will almost certainly be too hot a day or two later. Assuming you move it up and manage to reduce the temp, it'll likely drop too low within another day or two. Changes in the background temp only add to this error.
 
I checked mine a few times a day, it never went below 18 degrees or above 20 except once where it went to 16 after a particularly cold night and I just moved the belt down a bit. The room it was in didn't have heating though, so the room temperature didn't change too much throughout the day so maybe thats why it stayed fairly level.
Maybe I got lucky, but I thought it was really straight forward and kept a consistant temp, so I have no complaints.
 
I wouldn't call 16-20 degC a consistent temperature. You'll get much better control with something that has a thermostat like an aquarium heater.
 
jonnymorris said:
I wouldn't call 16-20 degC a consistent temperature. You'll get much better control with something that has a thermostat like an aquarium heater.

Sorry... it was 20 degrees about 95% of the time over 2 weeks i'd say that was fairly consistant. I may look into the aquarium heaters though as I'd feel more secure leaving it alone. With the belt I've been checking all the time just incase the concerns people on here have voiced actually happen. Touch wood, I've got a lager on the go now and that seems to be going ok too.
 

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