Fermenting Temperatures Again

[crilly]

Following on from further advise on another post I've spent the last week measuring Temperatures around my house to find a nice cool spot, for a house in the UK in May its surprising warm. For other members on this forum who don't have a cellar how to you keep your beer in the recommended fermenting Temperatures. Was thinking of some kind of fridge / heatpad setup not sure whether a heat pad could cope during the winter as it would be in a garage.

 

[Bigjas]

Get yourself a fridge, 45watt tube heater from ebay or amazon and an Inkbird 308 temperature controller. Its a simple setup that works really well. You will get lots of opinions on here about how to set it up. Personally, i bought an old second hand fridge, cleaned it, put the cables for the tube heater and Inkbird through the drain hole at the back of the fridge, and I just leave the Inkbird probe dangling in the air. Some people like to strap it to the fermentor, but I have never found the need to do this myself. I keep mine in an unheated outside building and it works well all year round. This was probably the best thing I did to improve my brewing.

 

[terrym]

Or alternatively a water bath, which can be used and then packed away.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/how-to-set-up-a-water-bath-for-your-fv.66407/

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Get yourself a fridge, 45watt tube heater from ebay or amazon and an Inkbird 308 temperature controller. Its a simple setup that works really well. You will get lots of opinions on here about how to set it up. Personally, i bought an old second hand fridge, cleaned it, put the cables for the tube heater and Inkbird through the drain hole at the back of the fridge, and I just leave the Inkbird probe dangling in the air. Some people like to strap it to the fermentor, but I have never found the need to do this myself. I keep mine in an unheated outside building and it works well all year round. This was probably the best thing I did to improve my brewing.

+1

 

[JonBrew]

If you don't have space for a fridge set up @terrym 's suggestion is spot on.

Before I got my brew fridge, I had good success with fermenting in the coolest spot within my house combined with using an inkbird and a heating belt to stop the temperature of the fermenting beer from dropping. I learned about this from listening to Jamil on the Brew Strong podcast. He said that it's crucial to prevent the sudden drop in temp once the bulk of active fermentation is finished as it stops the yeast from dropping out to early - this helps ensure that the beer not only fully attenuates but also that the yeast clean up after themselves once they're finished eating the sugars.

In combination with the above, if you dont have an active cooling source, you need to be sensible about your choice of yeast and use those that will work well within the temperature range available to you.

I found that if i cooled my wort to 15-16C the active fermentation would generally increase the temp to 18-20C over the course of 48-72 hours. By monitoring the inkbird manually I'd just make sure that I set the heating parameter to kick in if the temp then started to drop at any point. I did this for quite some time and never had any fusels or overly estery brews.

 

[crilly]

Thanks for the replies, looks like I'll be heading down the path of getting a small fridge, reasonably cheap option. Two quick questions, will a 45 watt tube heater be sufficient in a garage during the winter, secondly what temp range would you suggest for Lager, never tried that.

 

[Lawrence22]

I use Terry's method in my garage with a 200w aquarium heater and ink bird it keeps the beer at perfect temp even in the coldest winter nights.

 

[Banbeer]

Because you're heating a small space inside the fridge it will be fine, I personally use a brew belt in my fridges with STC1000 temp controllers.

 

[crilly]

Sorry about all the questions but I was wondering how quickly a fridge will take to bring down the temperature of the wort, i presume using the tempreture controller the fridge switches on and off, generally fridges are on all the time so never given it much thought before

 

[RichK]

My fridge is in the garage with a small (40W) tube heater which has so far proven to be sufficient. Inkbird has plugs for both heating/cooling side (so fridge is off "at the wall" when not needed for cooling).

When buying (most people go 2nd hand) look for a larder fridge (no ice box) & you might want to check it's got enough headroom for your chosen fermenter (mine is a tight fit).

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

A lot of people have a fridge clearly visible in their kitchen and so want something in pretty good condition so used items that aren't perfect looking don't fetch a lot. If, like me, you're looking for something that just works and are not fussed about what it looks like there are some bargains to be had. I paid just £15 for mine because there's a dent in the door. STC1000 temp controller for £7 and a non-thermostat tube heater for a tenner and I was sorted.

 

[Banbeer]

Sorry about all the questions but I was wondering how quickly a fridge will take to bring down the temperature of the wort, i presume using the tempreture controller the fridge switches on and off, generally fridges are on all the time so never given it much thought before

When I cold crash my beer in the fridge I set the temp controller to say 3C and it takes a good 12hrs to get to it from 20C, so not quick

 

[Harbey]

You still need to cool your wort post boil (well, you don't NEED to but you'd be waiting for quite a while if you didn't). I cool my wort to a reasonably cool temp then I put it in the fermentation fridge to reach its final fermentation temperature (with the temperature probe stuck to the side of the FV) before pitching the yeast. Oh, and my fridge is in an outdoor/garage environment and has no issues getting up to temperature mid winter - even when fermenting at higher values for Saisons and wheat beers - just don't keep the door open for long.