Home Brew in cold/cool house

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Tezz

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So I pretty new to home brewing but due to knowing my house is pretty cold I purchased a heat mat for my FV.

The only issue being I can only brew one brew at a time, I would like to have 2 going at least.

So generally my average temp is 13-15 degrees, if I am going off the instructions most require 18-24 degrees.

Can I brew at the lower temperature if so do I need to make some changes? also would this include wine?
 
Tezz said:
also would this include wine?
Click to expand...

I cannot help with your beer question but with wine temperature isn't so important i used to make wine with no heat pad in a kitchen that often got down to 15c during the night in the winter months, i never had one stall.

As for Beer I am not sure why brewing one at a time would be an issue i think that's how most brewers here do it.
 
Tezz said:
So I pretty new to home brewing but due to knowing my house is pretty cold I purchased a heat mat for my FV.

The only issue being I can only brew one brew at a time, I would like to have 2 going at least.

So generally my average temp is 13-15 degrees, if I am going off the instructions most require 18-24 degrees.

Can I brew at the lower temperature if so do I need to make some changes? also would this include wine?
Click to expand...
You can brew lagers at lower temperatures as well as ale at 18-20C. Insulate your mash tun when it's on the mat and buy an Inkbird temperature controller.
 
Cheshire Cat said:
You can brew lagers at lower temperatures as well as ale at 18-20C. Insulate your mash tun when it's on the mat and buy an Inkbird temperature controller.
Click to expand...
Got a Inkbird which works well, just if I wanted to make another brew It would need to be done at cooler temps
 
13-15 is going to be very restricting. Have you insulated the fv?
 
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Thanks Cheshire Cat, yes he has a coat and blanket on.

Looks like am best keeping to one until the summer maybe.
 
Choose a yeast that fits your situation. There's no reason you can't brew an ale recipe with a lager yeast. I just bottled a batch of Irish stout that I fermented with W34/70. It turned out good and I doubt most people could tell what yeast I used.
 
Try using Nottingham yeast mate notorious for fermenting at lower temps and is a beast of a yeast 👍
 
This seems to be my advice on every thread, but...(!):

My brewery is heated only enough to stop it freezing - my panel heater is set to 8c in the winter - and with the fermenter on a box with holes in, a tube heater underneath, and the whole lot wrapped in a couple of turns of thermawrap and folded over the lid I can maintain 17-18 degrees fairly comfortably. That's with a 40L fermenter which is a little better at retaining heat than a 20L one, but you should be fine with this approach if your background temperature is 13C plus.
 

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