Fermentation temp...

[MikeR]

Sorry, noob question.
If I ferment an ale at room temperature (say 70 deg), and the temp rises to 78 during active fermentation, is that too hot? In other words, when you read a recommended temperature range for fermentation of a certain type of beer, is that for the environment or the actual carboy temp?
Thanks.

[Danno]

That's the temp of the wort. Letting it go higher will result in more esters and fusel alcohols. The amount is very yeast dependent. Esters can be a good thing depending on the style. Fusels are not a good thing in any style.

[JP]

YOu can estimate the beer temp by adding 2-4 degrees onto the ambient room temp. If your beer gets too warm, try shoving in in the garage or into a dark corner of a closet. This can take of a few degrees. Also, some people have taken cake mold or jello molds and put them in teh freezer with some water and make ice rings. Take your carboy and put it in an oil pan and put the ice ring ontop of the carboy. Drape a towel around the carboy to wick up the melted water and you have apretty cheep carboy cooler.

[MikeR]

I am fairly new to homebrewing (3 or 4 batches, depending on how you count them!), and the last 2 pale ales were the same basic recipe with a few modifications. Both started off like gangbusters, but were done active fermentation (Noticeable bubbles) within 24 hours, and they both had OG around 1.045 and FG around 1.023. Low alcohol content and an odd fruity taste that I at first attributed to the Cascade, but I am now wondering about both sufficient aeration, and high primary fermentation temps (both batches topped out at 78 deg. Thanks for the info. I will definitely try to keep the next batch cooler. Winters are tough in New England, House too warm, basement too cold!

[JP]

What yuo need my friend is a FermWrap :http://www.morebeer.com/browse.html?keyword=fermwrap

[Bugeater]

Mike, it definitely sounds like fermenting at too high a temperature. I generally ferment my ales at an ambient temperature of around 60°. This gives me an actual fermentation temperature of around 67°. After about 4 days, I will let the ambient temp rise to about 65° and let it sit for about a week before racking to secondary. If I don't use a secondary, it will go another 2-3 weeks before kegging.

Since you don't have the luxury of a fermentation fridge (mine was a freebie), you should try the fermewrap JP is pimping (he works for B3) and ferment in the basement or be cheap and set the fermenter in a tub of water and wrap in a heavy t-shirt or towel and do it upstairs. The shirt or towel will wick up the water and the evaporation will help cool it. When I do this trick (when my fridge is tied up with lagering), I run a fan on it for the first few days to speed evaporation and increase the cooling.

A third option would be to do a steam beer in the basement. Use the San Franciso Lager yeast. It does quite well in the 50-60° range, warmer than a regular lager and colder than an ale yeast.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[MikeR]

for the great responses. I actually have a spare fridge available to me, but it is in the basement, where it is already too cold. (Looking forward to summer, though!) I think I will stick to basement for now, as it seems easier to keep the carboy warm in the basement than to keep it cool upstairs. Once again, thanks. I will post back when I have completed my next batch!

[Dr Scott]

My next gadget review will be my "warming box" It holds two carboys and is auto temp conrolled. It can be built on the cheap too.

I built this a few years ago B/c my garage was too cold and my son,then two, liked to pull the airlock out of the carboy when it was in the corner of the kitchen. (I thought it kept blowing out and ending up on the floor)

This might be a way out for you, if you are decent at building things. It's not that difficult to make either.