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junior

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Hi all,
I have just started this homebrew making and done my first kit yesterday, should I keep the fv in a dark place or doesn't it matter. At the moment I have it in a cupboard where the tempature is roughly between 22-28 would this be fine?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Welcome to the forum :cheers:

It doesn't have to be kept in the dark, assuming it's in a white or translucent bucket, although no brew should be left in direct sunlight.

Your temperature range is probably a bit too high, 22° is fine but 28° is too hot.
 
You don't really need to keep it in a dark place, but you do want to keep it out of direct sunlight as this will make it too warm.

You should be aiming to keep it at a temperature somewhere between 18 and 24C, you don't want it too warm or the yeast can produce some nasty flavours.

Welcome to brewing :)

EDIT: Moley can type faster than me ;)
 
Hello J,
Welcome to the forum. I would start by saying 22-28 is too warm for most ales. 18-20 would be better. Why? At those higher temps, the yeast are more likely to produce fusel (headache inducing) alcohols. With that said, I keep my FVs in a dark cool basement. As long as it's not in direct sunlight though, you'll be fine.

Baz

Edit: Moley AND Runwell-Steve can type faster than me!
 
phettebs said:
Edit: Moley AND Runwell-Steve can type faster than me!
At least we all gave the same answer, although you and RS took time to explain why it shouldn't get too warm, which I neglected to mention.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies.
It's coopers lager that i've got going at the moment, I put a fan in the cupboard with it to try and cool it down a bit, got it down to 25c so that will be 22c-25c would that be ok or will I have to get it lower?
The thing is our house is a pretty warm house and there isn't many places thats cool, I don't know what I'm going to do if its to lower.
When it comes time to put it in the barrel will I have to keep check on temp in the barrel too?
Sorry for all the questions.
 
In my opinion Coopers brews are made in Aus and it doesn't get cool there, 22 -25deg C sounds good. A tip from Lucky Eddie was to wrap a towel or something around the fermenting vessel and keep the towel/blanket submerged in water to keep the temp down, search posts by Lucky Eddie to find out exactly how.

You'll be fine, happy brewing.

Colin.
 
In the US, we call it a "swamp bucket." Google that. It works well but it's basically the same as what LE is talking about. If I only need to drop it a few degrees, I'll use the wet towel method. If it's the height of summer and I need something really cool, I'll use the swamp bucket.
 
Right, after reading LE tip I cant wait til tomorrow to get the wet towel on it, would do it tonight but the kids are in bed and the fv is upstairs.
Tomorrow will be two days at 25c-27c, will the brew be ok if I get it to proper temp tomorrow?
Again thanks for replies.
 
Well, most of the fusels and higher alcohols will be produced during the first few days of fermentation so ideally, you want to start it out cool. After that time, it's ok to let it rise a bit to help the yeast finish up.
 
Done the water t shirt tip last night couldnt wait til today, got it down to 22c and got a fan going at it now so hopefully all will be ok.
 

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