Fermentation tips required

[Trent0]

Hi all,
I am new on board and onto my 2nd brew.
Coopers pale ale can with 500g mix from the local home brew shop.

Hydrometer was 1040 before packet yeast was added on 31/12/14.
The air lock is all quiet now and hydrometer reading 1015 tonight.
Weather is crazy humid/ hot on gold coast at the moment but i have the fermenter at 24 degrees.
The intention is to put in cube then in fridge b4 kegging

When should i transfer into cube?
Do i need to wait for 1005 reading?

 

[manticle]

Wait until finished + couple of days at ferment temp.
Then put the fermenter in the fridge. If you are planning to cc for nore than a few days, then the cube is a good option but otherwise just put the primary vessel in and transfer to keg when the yeast has settled.

24 is too hot for most yeasts to make nice beer.

 

[Trent0]

Thanks Manticle for the reply, how can i ferment cooler than that in QLD?

 

[danestead]

Thanks Manticle for the reply, how the hell di you ferment cooler than that in QLD?

A fermenting fridge. Basically an old/cheap/spare fridge which you put your fermentor in for fermentation. You also generally use a temp. controller to control the fridge to keep your fermentor at your desired temperature. You can search for temp. controller and plenty of results will come up.

 

[Blind Dog]

2nd hand fridge can be had for $30 to $100+ on evil bay / gumtree etc, free via one of the up cycling sites but you'll probably have to wait. Check the internal dimensions will fit your fermenter (or 2 or more) before you buy.

Plug and play heating and cooling temp controller can be had for $70

Or try a $4 Flexi tub from bunnings, put the fermenter in and fill 3/4 with water plus a little bleach and then add ice bottles (the esky frozen packs or bottles of frozen salt water) switched out twice a day. Not as accurate as a fridge but it's cheap and pretty effective

 

[manticle]

In summer, you may struggle without a fridge up north.
For years, I used a laundry tub with ice bricks and frozen juice bottles (hot water bottles in winter) and brewed saisons in summer (saison yeast makes good beer at hot temps but you need to like saison).
The most important thing is to get the wort down a few degrees cooler than target before pitching, then maintaining target for the first 2-3 days. If you can do this, you should be able to produce decent beer. Wet towels and fans can also help. Temp controlled fridge is easiest if you have the space but definitely not the only solution.

 

[Nizmoose]

Thanks Manticle for the reply, how can i ferment cooler than that in QLD?

If it's any help I use like a foam broccoli or fish box with a 2L bottle of frozen water each side of the fermenter and I can maintain lager temps on a hot day no problems with only a rotation of bottles every 12 or so hours. The trick being that I ferment 10L which I've found much easier to control than larger batches. So a possible solution at least short term is a poly box and some 2L bottles and scaling down for the summer, it's a solution that means you can brew whatever you want, hope that helps

 

[doon]

I kept a keg at around 6 deg in one of these broccoli boxes for nearly two days with one bag of ice. They bloody rock