How low is it possible to ferment beer at little help please

[damfoose]

As some already know I dont have a fermentation chamber yet !
I have noticed the house is quite warm for brewing due to new windows and central heating being put in over the summer so I have had to move the 2 brews I have out to the porch which is not heated but is warmer than outside its about 18 C or so in their. The 2 brews have nottingham in one and windsor in the other brew but im a little conserned that the temp is to low for proper fermentation. If I was to lave the brews where they are and bring them into the main house where its warmer in a few days would this finish off the fermentation properly or am I stressing the poor little yeasties.

 

[unclepumble]

It all depends on what you are after in your brew,

I work in a v large commercial brewery, and all the ales brewed are brewed @ 18deg,
I know another small commercial that swears by pitching at 22 and fermenting at 24.

From memory nottingham's optimum temp printed on the packet is 17 or 18deg, so you should be ok. in the porch as long as the temp is constant, you will stress the yeast if the temp fluctuates during fermentation, its best to choose a temp and stick to it for the full duration, then crash cool for 3 days, stick it in a fridge if you have one spare, this will drop a great deal of yeast out of the brew, then bottle or keg as normal.

as long as you don't ferment ale below 15 or above 25 you can't go far wrong, as long as the temp is stable!

 

[bones]

Secondary ferment in cask.. :wha:
Do you still need to maintain 15 deg?
Or will the yeast perform at lower temperatures.. just slower...

What do the big boys do?

 

[damfoose]

Cheers unclepumble for the info, Looks like the porch should do for now then as the temp does fluctuate but not to a great degree and seeing as the mass of 22 litres of wort will take along time to actually drop or increase in temp im at a good temp for brewing, Im now hoping for some good beer for a change as the last few have been a little rubbish due to the heat of summer. Yep its been a while since I brewed.

 

[Bribie]

Also it depends what 'style' you are brewing. For normal quaffing bitters I aim for 18 or 19 degrees. However some yeasts (for example Wyeast Ringwood liquid yeast) can produce more esters when fermented above 20 degrees and the craft brewery referred to by Unclepumble could be doing just that to 'push' a unique flavour with the yeast they are using.

At the other end of the scale, Nottingham can be fermented down to 14 degrees to make a very convincing 'fake' lager as it produces a very clean beer at those temperatures. For a good all round dried yeast for clean fermenting beers you can't go past Notto I have found.

 

[drew]

At the other end of the scale, Nottingham can be fermented down to 14 degrees to make a very convincing 'fake' lager as it produces a very clean beer at those temperatures. For a good all round dried yeast for clean fermenting beers you can't go past Notto I have found.

I brewed a stout with Nottingham at 14 degrees and it fermented down to around 1010 no bother. It was just a bit too clean in the stout but I'll repeat this in a summer ale

 

[jamesb]

Secondary ferment in cask.. :wha:
Do you still need to maintain 15 deg?
Or will the yeast perform at lower temperatures.. just slower...
What do the big boys do?

Just bang the firkins in the cold room (<16degC), they'll still slowly carry on conditioning the beer.

 

[evanvine]

From personal experience I've found that fermenting at a slightly slower rate (16-18C) gives the best results.
Faster warmer ferments can produce "odd ball" flavours, but do speed things up!

 

[stig1963]

my latest stout took 18 days to get to a steady 1010 ,nature will take its time

 

[Bribie]

16 to 18 was the temperature range used traditionally in the Yorkshire Stone Square system, according to Sam Smiths' website.