Temperature while fermenting?

[bonobo]

This might seem a bit obsessive, but when brupaks tell me to keep my fermenter at 18 to 20 degrees C are they referring to room temperature or the actual wort within the fermenter?

Due to, I guess, the exothermic nature of fermentation my fermenting wort is 3 degrees warmer than air temperature.

My air temperatures currently at 18.5C, while my wort is at 21.5C.

Cheers :

 

[Chris]

I have one of these thermometers on my FV so I know the temperature of it. It never falls below 18oC. I usually bang the heating on for an hour to up it a few degres. :mrgreen:

 

[shaunyp]

Now that its getting a bit chillier i have the wifes best wooly hoodie thingumyjigy covering my fv :lol: little does she know

 

[A T]

I try to keep the wort temperature below 20c at all times :thumb:

 

[bonobo]

Now that its getting a bit chillier i have the wifes best wooly hoodie thingumyjigy covering my fv :lol: little does she know

That's nothing! I've turned off the central heating in my "brewing room" and plugged in an oil heater so I can keep a constant temperature :thumb:. My flatmates don't seem to mind though :whistle:.

So the consensus seems to be that I can go cooler, and therefore hopefully get nicer tasting brew. Going below 20oC wort temp still seems a bit low to me for brewing ales. Maybe the stuff I've read is out of date, and modern yeast is much better at coping with cooler temperatures? :hmm:

 

[warra48]

Use a TempMate from one of our sponsors, and you can have any temperature you like for your fermentations.
It's a brilliant piece of kit. I love mine.

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=2592

 

[Aleman]

Maybe the stuff I've read is out of date, and modern yeast is much better at coping with cooler temperatures? :hmm:

Modern yeasts are quite capable of fermenting 'clean' at temperatures between 18C and 22C . . . . . some can do so outside of these temperatures, Nottingham for example is happy fermenting at 16C . . . but it's such a clean yeast that you wouldn't really want to do so . .. And SO4 will produce good results at 24-25C . . . I know of an award winning brewery that ferments with their yeast at 26C . . . I wouldn't risk it however, and much rather ferment at the middle to lower end of the yeasts recommended temperature range.

 

[grinchy]

do the higher/lower temperatures for fermenting have an effect on the quality or the taste of the final brew then?

 

[Talisman]

I always find this interesting.

I use to always cool my wort down to about 20*C (as per recomendations) and then pitch the yeast. But after doing this and finding the next day that the actual Fermantation Process is producing heat and the wort temp went up to about 24-26*C anyway, i stopped.

I now cool my wort to about 23-24*c and then pitch the yeast at the temp its gonna ferment at anyway.

 

[The Seer]

I always find this interesting.

I use to always cool my wort down to about 20*C (as per recomendations) and then pitch the yeast. But after doing this and finding the next day that the actual Fermantation Process is producing heat and the wort temp went up to about 24-26*C anyway, i stopped.

I now cool my wort to about 23-24*c and then pitch the yeast at the temp its gonna ferment at anyway.

Agreed, and usually general ambient temp of the room I'm fermenting the brew in anyway.