Fermentation Time in Brew Fridges

[Old_Bob]

A quick quetsion to to boost my confidenece

I have started a brew (Milestones Lions Pride) in my brewing fridge a week ago now.

I have been monitoring the temperature of the FV which rose by 1 degree 12 hours after pitching the yeast which I have taken as fermentation has started.

It's pretty much stayed at this temperature all week, it started to drop a couple of days ago which I took as fermentation slowing. However today I noticed the temperature has risen again to the 1 degree over the fridge temp.

How long does it take the temperature to start to fall off ????

Other brews that I have done without the use of a brewing fridge have pretty much completed after 7 days, but admittedly the FV temp was all over the place.

I'm sure all is fine just looking for confirmation of that.

Many thanks.

 

[Budgie]

That all seems pretty normal to me. I certainly wouldn't be worried by a 1°C rise at any stage. It give it another week then check the gravity.

What kind of heater do you have in your fridge? Mine tends to fluctuate by about a degree or so as the heater/fridge kicks in.

Everything will be fine. :)

 

[MyQul]

Yeast dont like temp flucctuations but 1C is nothing at all to worry about.

 

[Old_Bob]

Thanks Guys,

Appreciate your help.

@Budgie, Heater is a 40w tube heater in the bottom of the fridge with the FV on a shelf above it. Heater is heating the air around the FV not the FV itself.

I was a little concerned about the time it was taking for the FV temperature to start to drop.

Many thanks

 

[Budgie]

That's exactly what I've got. Works a treat. I really don't think you have anything to worry about at all. :thumb:

 

[JapanBrew]

But I would leave it longer than a week. What you see is the main fermentation finishing. After, the yeast will clean up the byproducts it produced giving a better flavor. I leave the fermenter alone for at least 3 weeks. I'm actually finally starting to rack to secondary but in a different way. This should give a very clear beer. Like a brite tank.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
+1 JapanBrew. Leave the FV at fermentation temp for at least two weeks.
You must be monitoring wort temperature. Are you using this to gauge fermentation completion?

 

[JapanBrew]

Hi!
+1 JapanBrew. Leave the FV at fermentation temp for at least two weeks.
You must be monitoring wort temperature. Are you using this to gauge fermentation completion?

Thanks. No. at week 2 I take a reading for 3 days. If the readings are the same then it's done. But still give it another week to clean up. Even after kegging, they'll go away for at least 10 days.

 

[Old_Bob]

Bigcol49, Yes I'm monitoring the FV temperature and you're correct in that I'm hoping to see when fermentation has pretty much finished. I assume when FV Temp = Air Temp we are pretty much there. Then I'll double check with the hydrometer.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I leave my FV for at least two weeks, sometimes longer, just to make sure that fermentation has ceased. I have a brewfridge with a tubular heater and use a temperature controller with the sensor attached to the outside of the FV.
I know that the yeast continues to "clean up" after fermentation has ceased, but I'm not sure what the effect is on wort temperature. If wort temperature and air temperature equalise, it could be that the yeast has not yet finished cleaning up after itself. I don't know.
There's a good explanation of the stages of fermentation here: http://homebrewmanual.com/when-to-bottle/

 

[Old_Bob]

Thanks Bigcol49,

In the past 24 hours the FV temp has now dropped and equals that of the surrounding air in the fridge.

Temperature changes seem quicker than I expected. The rise at the start of fermentation I can understand but I was expecting more of a gradual decline back down again.

Gonna give it another 24 hours then do a hydrometer check over two days.

That will bring me up, pretty much, to two weeks then.

Thanks for your help.

 

[ericmark]

I plan on 20 days in all. First 10 days in the freezer with both cooling and heating, second 10 days in fridge with only heating. I am using a fridge/freezer. The first 10 days around the 19 deg mark, second 10 days around 22 degree mark.

I found on starting to use a brew fridge things did not go according to plan, I expected only to need to heat, using 18W it over shot the mark, so tried smaller heater, even 8W (a simple bulb) was causing an over shoot, I then realised it was the heat from the fermenting which caused over shoot not heater too big, although tests have shown 8W is ample.

So in the first 5 days you need cooling, well at least if ambient is over 12 degrees, after first 5 days even in heart of summer only heating is required, at least where I live. I also found even after 20 days at 19 degs it was not finished and I had to release pressure from bottles lucky they were plastic, so having second 10 days a little warmer ensures it is finished before bottling.

So around 10 days in freezer to keep temperature down, move to fridge for one day to allow to settle, rack off to clean fermenter, then prime around 12 pop bottles with level teaspoon of sugar, and bottle after 20 days.

I found the taste did improve with temperature control, however the big jump in quality was moving from single can to twin can kits, well worth the extra money. Main reason for using fridge/freezer was to give wife more room in kitchen, however today no longer live in that house, so central heating set low, so without fridge/freezer brewing would have stopped, I only have two days a week at home, so now needs to be automated, as no one there to monitor what is going on.