Ferment Temp

[evering]

Hi, I put down my first kit brew in four years. The temp over the last 2 days has averaged 24 to 26 deg. I have now got it down to about 22. Am I best:

1. getting rid of the lot and starting fresh;
2. continuing and only bottling half; or
3. continue as normal (and cross my finger) in the hope that the higher temps at the start of the process will hot have too bad an impact.

I am doing a Coopers Bavarian


thanks

Nick

 

[barry2]

Suggest Option 3 and try to keep the temp down around 20-22.

 

[Steve]

Suggest Option 3 and try to keep the temp down around 20-22.

Ditto

 

[evering]

Ditto

Thanks all - will do. Melb to hard to predict the next few days should help!!

 

[Wrenny]

Go with option 3.

Continue as normal.
Brew the next one at a lower temperature and report back on the taste difference between the two.

Cheers,
Wrenny

 

[bonj]

I can save you the trouble and say that the Coopers Bavarian is indeed better at 22 than at 26, but nothing that a good extended conditioning won't fix most of. A good 3 months will sort out any of your issues, or 6 weeks for most of it.

 

[sponge]

Say that you fermented an ale at 18'C (and pitched at around 21'C), using a small fridge and fridgemate, but then kept the bottles at around 23-24, would the final result still taste fruity like it would if it were fermenting at 23'C, or is it OK to keep bottles at a slightly higher temp? Its just that I'm looking at buying a fridge and all that, but it wont be big enough to store many bottles in it, and where I keep my bottles now (under the house) it stays around 22-24'C, and dont really want to have any problems with unwanted esters

 

[mikelinz]

This brew will certainly be drinkable fermented at these temps and you will have learnt something.

Temp control is one of the things that you can do to improve your beer that will make it taste less like "homebrew" So if you can afford/justify/have room for it add a cheap fridge and a temperature controller (less than $100 for both). This will improve your ales and makes true largers possible

Having said that I brewed for 3 years in townsville with no temperature control and air temps in the 30's (there are yeasts available that are more suitable to higher temp fermentation as well). The results were variable and sometimes you got some extra fruitiness, but I never had an undrinkable brew.

I have found that over time you add to your experience and equipment and hopefully improve your beer, or you reach a quality level the YOU are happy with. So as one of my favorite HB authors says "Just relax and have another home brew"

rgds mike

 

[evering]

Thanks all. I have now got the temp down to 22 deg. Outlook for Melb is cool for the next week. All might be OK.

thanks again