Temperatures

[dx4100]

Quick questions...

My first brew kit is on order and I just wanted to ask a quick question about temperatures... Woodford Wherry one...

I understand I ferment at room temp (20c)... then bottle and store at room temp for a number of days... before moving to a cooler place...

Question is... What temp range is a "cooler place"...

 

[Good Ed]

It's whatever you have got available; a cellar, shed, garage, unheated room, I don't think it's that critical as long as it's cool, this will help with conditioning and clarity. I have a cellar that is 15C at the moment.

 

[simonkidder]

id like to add a question to this post

does it matter if once it has been bottled it is left in a cool place straight away. around 15-17deg? will it still secondary ferment ok?

thankyou

simon

 

[dx4100]

Well I have three options...

Under the stairs - dark, no heat and is next to an external wall... Checked the temp tonight its 15c under the stairs and about 8c outside. So I would imagine as winter kicks in its going to drop quite a bit.

In the external garage - not heat - pretty much whatever the outside temp is so when winter kicks in its going to hit 0 etc...

The fridge in the garage...

So can you go too cold ?

 

[Good Ed]

does it matter if once it has been bottled it is left in a cool place straight away. around 15-17deg? will it still secondary ferment ok? thankyou simon

You want to keep the bottles at around 18-20C for 4-7 days to allow the residual yeast to work with the priming sugar to create the carbonation, 15-17C is probably a bit low

So can you go too cold ?

You have to watch out for frost, but it has to be pretty cold to make the beer bust, not pleasant, but it can happen. So you'll be fine under the stairs or the garage.

 

[Dave1970]

For Ale I'd go for your understairs cupboard, lager in the garage. That spare fridge in the garage could be converted into a temp controlled fermenting fridge, then you can get the beer out of the house and keep SWMBO happy :)

 

[dx4100]

For Ale I'd go for your understairs cupboard, lager in the garage. That spare fridge in the garage could be converted into a temp controlled fermenting fridge, then you can get the beer out of the house and keep SWMBO happy :)

A fermenting fridge is a possible option going forward :)

Is there any idiot guides out there on how to make it a reality ?

 

[Stone Cold]

maybe not a 100% agreed with all but after fermenting you cool it to clear it, so it drops the yeast out because they cant do their litle yeastyboy thing in the cold.when i did kits i used to put my beer in the garden shed for the night so it would drop cleap then bottle with a good half tea spoon of sugar and take back inside for at least 4 weeks 8 is better :thumb: and would be sparkley and lovely. just have fun with it, you can always make more.
ollie

 

[Dave1970]

Is there any idiot guides out there on how to make it a reality ?

there are, you need the fridge and a source of heat to put inside the fridge...I used a pipe heater from Ebay like this one, mainly because it's water resistant.

The controller is called an STC-1000..again Ebay, like this one. A bit of DIY electrics is needed to wire the sensor into a box with 2 plug sockets....one for the heater and one for the fridge. Plenty of guides on here to doing the wiring, just search for STC 1000. The end result looks like this

 

[evanvine]

If you chill your beer it will go hazey, but panic not, it will clear again when the chill comes off!

 

[dx4100]

How do you install the heater into the fridge ? Do you have to start cutting holes I take it ?

 

[Dave1970]

you might have to drill a hole just big enough to take the cable...I didn't, it was one of those fridges that has an auto defrost, in use it's designed so condensation runs down the back of the interior and drips out through a small drain hole onto the top of the compressor, which is warm enough to evaporate it. The drain hole was just big enough to feed the cable through and avoid any damage to the fridge.

 

[keith1664]

You can either run the cable for the heater through the drain hole or drill it it's own hole, if you do the latter make sure there's nothing behind it and that you're not going to drill through a refridgerant line. If you drill through the "hump" at the bottom you should be ok. Then it's just 4 little pilot holes in the bottom for the heater brackets.

here's one I did earlier

 

[Dave1970]

Nice work Keith...mines not as well done as that. :? I just have the 2 sockets for fridge and heat, fridge turned to max cold. Works fine. Dx4100 - if you have the electrical know how to do it like Keith I'd do it that way...if not there is a simpler way.

 

[keith1664]

True Dave, you don't need to bypass the thermostat.... however I've since picked up 2 faulty fridges from ebay for 99p each. One of which was "fixed" by bypassing the thermostat, so it's a handy thing to know. All you need to do is work out which wire goes to the thermostat and which returns, then replace them with a bit of wire.

The second fridge was fixed with a £6 relay... there's really not that much that can go wrong with them and if you buy one that you can't fix, well it's 99p and a trip to the tip.

 

[Darcey]

Frozen beer is unlikely unless it hits -5C for over 12 hours... but its not worth the risk!!!

 

[dx4100]

I am not sure if I have the space in my current fridge.

Useable space is 44cm w / 40cm d / 48cm h

Considering I am still waiting for my kit to arrive I have no idea if thats big enough.

There seems to be a pipe for a drain etc but unfortunately its totally unusable to feed the heater in. So I would need to drill a hole for the heater.

 

[dx4100]

Also... Are we talking freezers or fidgets here ? I presume fridge ?

 

[keith1664]

Fridges, btw if you used a temp controller on your fridge freezer then the freezer would no longer get so cold.

 

[Dave1970]

It does look like you might struggle with that fridge, a couple of reasons

Height...just measured my fermenting bucket at 44cm tall so you'll struggle, particularly with the light at the top, if you did squeeze one in but you'd have no room for the heater, maybe if you found a couple of lower fermenters you could get away with it?
Freezer...the STC1000 would cut the power to the whole unit so your freezer would keep turning off, making it useless as a freezer. If you don't need the freezer you could use that instead and the fridge compartment would become a slightly chilly cupboard.

Overall...if you want a fermenting fridge (it's worth having, I find it reduces stress to be able to leave your brew unattended for a few days knowing the temperature will be ok) keep an eye on your local Freecycle or Ebay until you can pick a stand alone fridge up for free or at very low cost.

Mine with a brew on the go...