"Conditioning"

[SmokinMesa]

Fermentation temperature will be "controlled" by sitting the FV in a water bath with an aquarium heater in.

Bit worried about over heating now. Never thought the conversion of sugar to alcohol creating heat. Should I set the temp to the lower end of the scale for a few days and just keep an eye on temps daily?

Should I expect to need to lower the temp if goes above say 20C using the 04 yeast?


Thanks for all the tips, advice and invaluable experience. Pleasantly surprised by the forum so far

 

[Session]

Fermentation temperature will be "controlled" by sitting the FV in a water bath with an aquarium heater in.

Bit worried about over heating now. Never thought the conversion of sugar to alcohol creating heat. Should I set the temp to the lower end of the scale for a few days and just keep an eye on temps daily?

Should I expect to need to lower the temp if goes above say 20C using the 04 yeast?


Thanks for all the tips, advice and invaluable experience. Pleasantly surprised by the forum so far

Putting your FV in a water bath is a good idea, I can’t remember the optimum temp for US-04, but when I used an aquarium heater and US-05, I set the heater to 18’C so it would only come on if the water temp was less than this. It worked a treat.

 

[Session]

Ah here we go - just found this for you. Looks like optimum temp is between 15-20’C, so I would set the heater to 15’C, run a test batch with just water first and check the temperature with a decent digital thermometer to make sure the thermostat on the heater is accurate. Mine was out by a few degrees when I checked it. Not a problem as long as you know and can adjust your set temp accordingly.

https://fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/SafAle-S-04.pdf

 

[SmokinMesa]

Ah here we go - just found this for you. Looks like optimum temp is between 15-20’C, so I would set the heater to 15’C, run a test batch with just water first and check the temperature with a decent digital thermometer to make sure the thermostat on the heater is accurate. Mine was out by a few degrees when I checked it. Not a problem as long as you know and can adjust your set temp accordingly.

https://fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/SafAle-S-04.pdf

Wicked thanks man. I've got a digital thermometer coming today so will do some testing. Won't be brewing till this time next week, got some bits coming over the week.

 

[bobukbrewer]

I made a 22 litre batch estimated 4.0 abv last Saturday, and will bottle it tomorrow (Wednesday) with 1 gm brewing sugar per 750 ml or 1 litre bottle.................Kitchen was 22 - 27 deg C in the daytimes....

 

[Brewshed]

As you can see, if you ask about times for fermentation and conditioning then you will get as many answers as there are people. Everyone seems to work out what works well for them. For me, I tend to use Nottingham Ale yeast which is rehydrated before pitching. This gets things going pretty fast and it is usually fermenting well within 24 hours and is pretty much all over after 3 days. I rack off into a conditioning container with an airlock and leave it for another 3-4 days after which I prime, fine and bottle. I like to leave it at least 2 weeks in the bottle before drinking but find it is probably better after 3-4 weeks in the bottle.