Too cold to brew an ale ?

[Ashman]

I’ve rigged up a heating thermostat overnight in our north facing garage to log ambient temperature. The coding on the date stamp is a little iffy but broadly this is the ambient temperature profile 10.30pm ish to this morning. There was a frost overnight.

Is this likely too cold to brew an ale ? I am Looking at using the Wilko ale yeast.

 

[marshbrewer]

I would say yes, even with Wilko / Gervin / Notty.

Even lager yeasts would struggle at that temp, if I'm reading it correctly, add it never appears to get over 5.5°!

 

[SteveH]

I think you'll need some way to heat the fermenting brew or find somewhere to ferment indoors?

Depends on the yeast I guess but all the ales I've done so far were fermented at about 19c

 

[SteveH]

For comparison the this is an IPA I've been brewing in the spare room, even in the house the temperature fluctuations were a lot, so I got a heat pad and inkbird controller (Tuesday onwards you can see the effect)

 

[terrym]

I use one of these.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/how-to-set-up-a-water-bath-for-your-fv.66407/
Its a bit OTT but I now use an ITC-308 to control the heater.

 

[marshbrewer]

I use one of these.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/how-to-set-up-a-water-bath-for-your-fv.66407/
Its a bit OTT but I now use an ITC-308 to control the heater.

Yep, same here . I've got 3 inkbirds, one that does heating and cooling and controls a brew fridge, and to that just do heating and control fishtank heaters in builders trubs.

 

[MyQul]

Notty can do down to about 14c. Lager yeasts down to about 9c. Any lower and you need to look at heating the FV

 

[An Ankoù]

I’ve rigged up a heating thermostat overnight in our north facing garage to log ambient temperature. The coding on the date stamp is a little iffy but broadly this is the ambient temperature profile 10.30pm ish to this morning. There was a frost overnight.

Is this likely too cold to brew an ale ? I am Looking at using the Wilko ale yeast.

I've brewed in the garage in the winter. This is what I did:
Get an old fridge doesn;t matter if it works or not. Fix a light bulb socket onto a cable and put a 60W or even a 40 W incandescent bulb in (old type with a filament in the bulb). Figure out how you're going to suspend the bulb inside the fridge and rig it up. You can close the door on the cable because there's a rubber seal all round. Plug it in and let the bulb keep your beer warm. The ambient temperature of the garage doesn't really matter.
I used to put a thermometer in the fridge just to see how things were going.

 

[Ashman]

I use one of these.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/how-to-set-up-a-water-bath-for-your-fv.66407/
Its a bit OTT but I now use an ITC-308 to control the heater.

Interesting I quite like this option before I embark on a brew fridge project others have suggested. Its a shame copper is reactive (both acid and alkali). Otherwise I think I would add an aquarium pump and use the wort chiller as a heat exchanger.

 

[terrym]

Its a shame copper is reactive (both acid and alkali). Otherwise I think I would add an aquarium pump and use the wort chiller as a heat exchanger.

Not sure what you mean here, but if its copper in contact with wort or beer, copper was extensively used by brewers until stainless steel became commercially available in quantity about 50/60 years ago. I'll bet there is still some copper equipment in old breweries somewhere, and it is still used in the whisky industry.

 

[HarryFlatters]

Interesting I quite like this option before I embark on a brew fridge project others have suggested. Its a shame copper is reactive (both acid and alkali). Otherwise I think I would add an aquarium pump and use the wort chiller as a heat exchanger.

Copper is something in the order of 25 times more efficient as a heat exchanger than steel. All you need to do is to rinse off your cooler and give it a dry before you put it away.

 

[Petrolhead]

A brew fridge changed my brewing life. I was given an old fridge by my brother, stuck it in the shed, attached an Inkbird and a Wilko heat pad and now life is just so easy. The Wilko heat pad is 7W ISTR but even when the recent weather got down to around zero it still held the fridge at 20 degrees. In fact I really fancy a second fridge to sit on top of the first to allow me to use a second temperature for largering and even cold crashing in warm weather.

As the fridge was free I cant complain but it does have the freezer compartment which isn't a problem with my current two FV's (30l water carriers) but I am moving into kegging and they won't fit to cold crash or even use a keg as a FV so the next (second) fridge will have to be a larder fridge. I am thinking about removing the freezer compartment but I suspect it has chiller coils in the shelf which would cause problems.

 

[keat64]

A fish tank heater should work.

 

[Nicks90]

That's what I use, simple 40w drop in fishtank heater.
Then wrap the fv up in a blanket and leave it at 20c for 2 weeks in the corner of my cellar
Job done.

 

[Ashman]

Not sure what you mean here, but if its copper in contact with wort or beer, copper was extensively used by brewers until stainless steel became commercially available in quantity about 50/60 years ago. I'll bet there is still some copper equipment in old breweries somewhere, and it is still used in the whisky industry.

Sorry I meant running the wort chiller in the FV in reverse so transferring heat from a separate tub of water with an aquarium heater and pump. It sounds a bit off a faff once I’ve written it down.

 

[Ashman]

That's what I use, simple 40w drop in fishtank heater.
Then wrap the fv up in a blanket and leave it at 20c for 2 weeks in the corner of my cellar
Job done.

Is the heater in the FV ?

 

[keat64]

Yes. Pop the fish tank heater in the wort.
In truth, I was given an official brewing heater a while ago.
It is in fact just a fish tank heater wired through a rubber bung.

 

[Nicks90]

Is the heater in the FV ?

Yep.
Obviously the lid is no longer air tight with a cable dangled out the side , so you don't see bubbles in the airlock anymore. But it's closed enough to keep nasties out and a good layer of co2 in