Cool Brewing Fermentation Bag

[Brewhaus]

A lot of people say consistent and controlled fermentation is one of the first improvements to buy into for homebrewing. Maybe it's worth 2x cost for something like a BrewJacket - has anyone tried these out?

I think when doing some research on them before, they would only work best with the add-on jacket, and perhaps there was some fan noise, if left in a communal area?

More options to browse while at work: http://homebrewacademy.com/fermentation-temperature-methods/

 

[Fil]

the budget option of a bin bag inside a sleeping bag and the daily exchange of iced or hot water bottles to maintain an optimum temp is missing from the above link..

 

[Norfolk79]

the budget option of a bin bag inside a sleeping bag and the daily exchange of iced or hot water bottles to maintain an optimum temp is missing from the above link..

That's what I do and its quite effective.:)

 

[Zephyr259]

A lot of people say consistent and controlled fermentation is one of the first improvements to buy into for homebrewing. Maybe it's worth 2x cost for something like a BrewJacket - has anyone tried these out?

I think when doing some research on them before, they would only work best with the add-on jacket, and perhaps there was some fan noise, if left in a communal area?

More options to browse while at work: http://homebrewacademy.com/fermentation-temperature-methods/

Issue with brew jacket - or at least their immersion pro - is that they don't seem to be able to keep on top of deliveries, have a several month lead time and don't speak to their customers very well. Their community page is a lot of complaints. Also it's hard to sanitise in the UK as it doesn't like a pH based sanitiser.

So the bag seems to be good for controlling fermentation but not really for lagering, which is what I expected.

Thanks

 

[MyQul]

Hi MQ, I'm considering one of these. What's the lowest temp you've ever got to? Also I'm guessing to properly lager something you'd basically need an empty freezer for all the bottles of ice? Might be a touch inconvenient. :-)

As others have said you can get the temp down to 10C fairly easily provided you have enough ice bottles. The advantage of the brew bag is it's a lot more moveable than a brew fridge and because its soft you can squeeze it into available spaces

 

[Jon75]

I had a 15l FV down to 11C during summer last year and there was plenty of room for more ice if needed. I agree with a comment above, this has probably made the biggest difference to my brewing.

 

[LesTom]

As others have said you can get the temp down to 10C fairly easily provided you have enough ice bottles. The advantage of the brew bag is it's a lot more moveable than a brew fridge and because its soft you can squeeze it into available spaces

It's a dawdle for me to keep the fermenting temperature down to 10C due to where I live. Went into the shed today to check on my IPA and I'm met with stuck fermentation as the ambient temperature in my shed was; yep, you've guessed it - 10C!!
So out came the water bath and aquarium heater to get my fermentation going again.
Lesson learned perhaps I should try and brew lagers exclusively :wink:

 

[Zephyr259]

It's a dawdle for me to keep the fermenting temperature down to 10C due to where I live. Went into the shed today to check on my IPA and I'm met with stuck fermentation as the ambient temperature in my shed was; yep, you've guessed it - 10C!!
So out came the water bath and aquarium heater to get my fermentation going again.
Lesson learned perhaps I should try and brew lagers exclusively :wink:

Yeah I have the same issue. I'm away just now but my wife was complaining that it was bloody freezing the other night, can't put on heating as it's June apparently. :-P

Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale likes it though, it churned through to about 86% AA (1.043 - 1.006) over 3 weeks between 14 - 16C. With an attenuation like that I may try using it for an altbier rather than the specific German yeast.

 

[ericmark]

I tried bottles of ice to cool a room, useless, however it did remove a load of moisture. Had to empty tray three times in as many hours, using a frozen bottle may cool down the brew, but it could also make it rather wet. With loads of spare freezer space, I have three freezers running, freezing bottles is not a problem, however if I was short of space, then I would not have three freezers, so I would not have spare bottles of frozen water, so can't see how it helps if short of space?

 

[Dutto]

Daft question?

Why is everyone trying to drop the temperature so low during fermentation when Youngs Lager Yeast recommends 15 degrees but also states ...

"... an increased temperature (20°C) will provide a more intense nose of hops, malt and spices."​

*****************************/catal.../beer/youngs-lager-yeast-sachet-5g-517-detail

I've just started drinking a Vienna Lager which was:

o Fermented with Youngs Lager Yeast for two weeks at 20 degrees.

o Carbonated at 20 degrees for one week.

o Cold Crashed to 1 degree for 5 days.

o Conditioned on the shelf at ambient temperature for 12 weeks before drinking.

It really is a superb drink and unless it's twin (which was lagered at 6 degrees for 11 weeks) tastes a heck of a lot better it is a method I will use for Lagers in the future. :thumb:

 

[ericmark]

Personally I don't think there is a need to keep to one set temperature, unless you want to experiment, and as a hobby rather than just making cheap beer, most want to experiment.

Unless you hold the temperature steady, when you try something new, you simply don't know if it was temperature or what you have done to the brew, early days I wanted best value for money and a high ABV, so I noted the sugar added varied from 1 kg to 1.5 kg kit to kit, so tried to increase sugar, I took it up to 2.5 kg which had so many off tastes it was nearly undrinkable, or was it? By time I had got to 2.5 kg I had also hit summer months, today more worried about taste, so want to reduce rather than increase sugar, also looking for a low ABV that means I can drink for longer without falling over, my whole idea has changed, since it costs so little really not worried about ABV. However those early days I made so many mistakes because I thought it was what I had changed which made it better or worse, where often it was simply the temperature.

So yes to produce cheap beer the temperature is not that important, but to experiment then it is, including of course experimenting with temperature. Personally I aim to keep brew as cool as it can be kept in early days, once first week over, does not really matter, my one experiment with Lager taught me one lesson, you need to yeast to produce alcohol early in the process when using unboiled tap water, it is easy in the first few days to get an infection, all well and good when all water is boiled, but with a beer kit, it is tap water, so you need a reasonable quick start to stop infection, and a cool start to reduce off tastes, temperature control allows you to brew in the happy area where quick enough to stop infection but slow enough to stop off tastes.

Of course I call them off tastes, some people may like that taste?