Tempreture Advice

[MikeAdz]

If my kit says "Leave your brew to ferment at between 20 - 24°C" does this mean the temperature of the room or the tempreture of the liquid inside the bucket??

 

[terrym]

The temperature of the room is good enough, provided its reasonably steady. And if its beer you are fermenting its best fermented at the lower end of the range ,although anything above 18*C will be fine provided it doesn't go below. I control all my ale ferments at 19*C.

 

[An Ankoù]

It really depends on the yeast and you don't say which kit you've used. I agree with terrym that the top end of the scale is risky as the fermentation, itself, will produce enough heat to increase the beer temperature by two or three degrees above ambient for the first few days of fermentation.

 

[The Baron]

The kit manufacturers tend to give the higher figure for fermentation as it will make the kit quicker ferment and to drink as most of the kits try to imply that you can drink a beer in approx 10 days. These higher temps can cause off tastes so if I was you I would try and ferment at the lower to middle temps of around 18 to 21 as Terry and AA suggest. Yeast do play a big part as you start to use different ones but I am guessing you are using the kit yeast. So fermenting at the lower end of the scale and take a day or 2 longer will generally produce a beer with no off tastes

 

[MikeAdz]

how do you guys keep your brew cool? until my garage is sorted I am doing this indoors where the room is about 24 Celsius, the brew hit almost 30 so at the moment the bucket is in the bath surrounded by water which has got it down to 20.

 

[Session]

how do you guys keep your brew cool? until my garage is sorted I am doing this indoors where the room is about 24 Celsius, the brew hit almost 30 so at the moment the bucket is in the bath surrounded by water which has got it down to 20.

This should work well, as you’re increasing the thermal mass of the wort and therefore making it less prone to spikes in temperature.
20’C is perfect, but if it gets hotter despite being in the water bath you can

1. wrap a damp towel around the fermenter to increase temperature loss.
2. As above but also point a fan at the fermenter to increase convection.
3. Add some ice packs to the water around the cooler.

You can also use this as a good method of warming fermentations if it gets chilly by using a submersible aquarium heater. As long as you check the temperature with a calibrated thermometer and don’t rely on the inbuilt thermostat it works very well and is cheap as chips

 

[terrym]

how do you guys keep your brew cool? until my garage is sorted I am doing this indoors where the room is about 24 Celsius, the brew hit almost 30 so at the moment the bucket is in the bath surrounded by water which has got it down to 20.

I use a water bath in my garage like this
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/how-to-set-up-a-water-bath-for-your-fv.66407/
It is fairly cheap and easy to set up, it doesn't take up too much room although a nearby power socket is needed, and when you aren't using it can be a packed up and stored elsewhere. The only time of the year it is ineffective is when the ambient temperature rises above about 24*C for long periods, say in mid summer, but I generally avoid brewing at that time as do others.

 

[geigercntr]

I don't have access to temperature control at the moment. As a workaround I use a combination of sticking the FV in a CoolBrew bag (link https://www.geterbrewed.com/cool-brewing-bag/) and using heat loving yeasts, such as saisons and kveik