Room temp, fermentation temp etc

[lagerlout]

I know some beers require different temps, but i have noticed that there seems to be an assumption that "room temperature" is about 22C which n the real world is quite a warm room/house. My own house sits at around 18-19C so i use an aquarium heater to brew at 22-24C, tho i have read a few posts from people brewing ales and stouts at 18 - is there an advantage or otherwise to this?

I know kit instructions are a vague guide but the ones i have bought all say 21-27C , so i've always felt the need to keep my FV heated.

Also in particular i am wondering about the secondary fermentation stage, as its a real pain to keep 40 bottles at 22C when the only place in the house that stays that warm is the heated bathroom floor - you can imagine what the missus thinks to having 2 crates of beer on the floor for a week at a time :grin: So basically if 18C is a fine temp for this then i could place them somewhere much more convenient.

Cheers for any advice :thumb:

 

[ScottM]

From what I've read, slighly cooler generally gives a cleaner end product. I can't give you the science behind this as I have no idea of how it all works but in my head I imagine the yeasties being more active at the warmer temperature and being more messy in their splurge to get to the next bit of sugar. With the cooler temp, it slows them down a bit and they take their time a little more... picking up more of the mess they leave behind them.

I can only imagine the kits tell you to brew within a certain temp to ensure a quick start and to brew within the time limits they have given in their instructions. Primary fermenting at a slightly lower temp will generally take a bit longer than the 4-7 days they say their kits do.

Remember that fermenting on it's own will raise the temperature of the wort. I'm not sure by how much but I wouldn't be surprised to see the wort a degree or 2 higher than room temp.

 

[critty]

I have done 2 at room temp and both seem to have come out alright. LCD thermometer, I kow not the most reliable, hovered around the 18-20 mark all the time. Not off tasts and no dodgy brews.

 

[Dieseljockey]

Too high a temp will stress the yeast..as will any fluctuation in temp. That's why a lot of home brewers make up a brew fridge so that they can control the temp better, and if you want to do lager then you will need a colder spot to stand your FV.

 

[critty]

I think it helps that I keep mine in the kitchen. It's an area of my house that has a pretty even temp all year round due to a hot water pipe that runs close to where the fv's area.

 

[lagerlout]

Cheers guys.

My APA in the FV just now is ready to bottle but i wont get a chance until the weekend, so i think i'll take it out of the heated tray now and let it sit unheated for a day or two. If it remains at 18 or over i reckon that will be an ok temp to sit the bottles for a week before they are moved under the stairs where its about 12-13C.

Irish stout going in next and i want this to be a goodie :party:

 

[graysalchemy]

High temps at the early stages of yeast growth can stress the yeast and make it produce off flavours and fusel alcohol (yes Oldstout I have said it again), so keeping it below 21c is a good idea. However esters are also produced at temps in that range so if you brew too low you may also be missing out on the estery fruity flavours of the beer. I found this out with a bitter which I brew which is usually quite estery but on this occasion it wasn't because I kept the temp down below 19c instead of 20-21. Still a good beer but was lacking.

If you can keep it below 21 then all the better, remember that fermentation is exothermic so a room temp of 21-22 might produce a beer temp of 23c.

Pitching larger quantities of viable yeast would i think also mean that you would have less of a growth phase so less likely to get fusel alcohols and off flavours. Aleman will tell you that he knows of a brewery that regularly ferments in higher temp ranges but I suspect that volume of yeast pitched would play a part in the success of that.

If you are experiencing high temps you could always place wet towels over the FV to cool it and/or rig up a fan to aid cooling.

:thumb:

 

[lagerlout]

I've got good control over FV temps using the water tray and aquarium heater which seems to be quite accurate, im mainly concerned with the temp at which i sit the bottles for a week or 2 before moving to a cooler place for conditioning.

My longer term plan for this summer is to insulate my wooden garage and install a small air sourced heat pump which will keep the temp steady, i was planning to do this before getting into brewing anyway but it will become an ideal brewing shed :thumb:

 

[lagerlout]

Just a wee update on this.

I bottled my APA and left them in the kitchen in a cardboard box, then made up my irish stout kit and decided to let it sit and do its thing without any heating applied. According to the lcd thermometer its sitting at 20-22C, wihch may be a degree or two optimistic for my kitchen but its all good as after 24 hrs in the FV its bubbling away like a mad thing and venting off plenty of foam through the airlock :shock: I get the feeling im going to be presented with a premature pint of stout by morning

Looking forward to this even more now as the kitchen smells delicious! I made it with 500g dark spraymalt, 500g demerara sugar and a cheeky dollop of black treacle which i will also use to prime. Drooling at the thought! :drink:

:

 

[graysalchemy]

Well done 21-22c will be fine. :thumb: :thumb:

This was my last stout

 

[andyd]

To answer your question about conditioning temperature, I'd say 18C is fine, no need to aggravate SWMBO! Personally, now we have some (slightly) warmer weather I condition my bottles in the garage where the average temp is maybe 15C. It might take a little longer to condition but not much.

 

[lagerlout]

Took a gravity reading from the stout last night and couldnt resist a wee taste of the sample, all i can say is this is going to taste good! :shock: Was reading 1.010 after 8 days so it may still come down a couple of points. I suspect it will be a bit of a challenge to keep my hands off this once it's ready

 

[artiums_enteri]

The guys above have pretty much nailed it, but keep in mind different yeast strains have different optimal temps. I use 1056 quite a bit. It is a clean fermenting ale yeast not designed to throw off too many esters or add much character to the beer. I ferment that at 61* F. It takes longer to finish out, but I'm left with a crisp clean almost lager type finish. Some belgians strains prefer to be in the upper 80s adding a lot of flavor and esters to the beer. Of course lager strains do well at 51-55F and tend to finish very dry and clean giving off a lot of sulfur aromas during fermentation.