Four Seasons In One Day > Temp Question

[Northkit]

Hey All,

I'm into my third brew and the biggest issue I have is one that seems to be a common one for n00bs.. Constant Temp!

Because I live in Melbourne you never know what you're going to get so keeping temps constant can become a full time job (I'm at work and all I think about is my beer temps)
So last week we had nice weather getting up to 21-22c which kept my brews (2 x coopers largers) at a cozy 22c in the garage with a heat belt, then over the weekend it dropped enough to snow around Victoria and when I checked the temps they had dropped to 12c even with the heat belts.
I panicked and wrapped them up tight to try and get the temps back up which it did, but silly me I left the blankets on and found that they then went up to 27c!

My question is will that rise in temp cause the flavors to become funky and fruity? I found a few posts that said the flavors are produced in the first 4 days and after that temp is not really an issue, these have been fermenting from 5 days to 1 week.

I will be investing in a temp controller soon as trying to keep these at a nice temp is a nightmare.

Cheers.

 

[MastersBrewery]

If you have the room for it an old fridge is the easiest and cheapest solution, both my ferment fridges were free from hard rubish collections on the side of the road. Then put a heat source inside and hook the lot upto an stc1000. Job done temp controled within 1c of set temp. I know how you feel I was living in perth without this set up and it was a nightmare. This is one of the biggest improvements you can make to your beer and consistancey

ed: will you get off flavours? Hard to say, the proof is in the tasting. It will come down to how wildly the temp varried and at what point of the fermentation that took place.

 

[Northkit]

Thanks for the reply, does the STC 1000 require any wiring? I have found a controller on ebay that you plug your heatpad into and requires no wiring.

The temps have gone from 12 to 27c but only for short periods of time, the coopers kits say you can brew 21-27c for optimal but I would prefer to keep it at 22-23 constant, will have a look this weekend and see if I can get myself a freezer to make like easier.

 

[slcmorro]

(2 x coopers largers)

Lagers*

+ to the STC controller. Yes, it does require a bit of setup, but there's about 50 threads on here showing you how

 

[Northkit]

Thanks Mate, sorry about the typos I'm at work so these are being banged out post haste

 

[slcmorro]

No need to apologise. Just my spelling OCD kicking in haha.

I bought my STC1000 for $16 from eBay, posted.

 

[Northkit]

I found these on ebay but wasn't sure if they are the cheap version, would I be better off getting the STC?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Digital-Temperature-Controller-Beer-Fermentation-Wired-Fridge-Freezer-Thermostat-/300936950610?pt=AU_Building_Materials&hash=item46113d7352&_uhb=1

Thanks.

 

[slcmorro]

Get the STC. If I've learned anything with brewing (only just started like 3-4 months ago too by the way), it's that spending a little bit extra to start off with, will save you in the long run.

 

[Northkit]

Thanks again, are you able to hook up multiple items to the STC? I have 3 on the brew at the moment.

How are you finding this home brew business? I'm about to taste my first brew this weekend.

 

[slcmorro]

I've learned a lot from my local brew club guys (BAR) and from reading on here. I'm by no means an expert at all. Only just recently did my first specialty grain steep, and I'm off to pick up my first kegging setup tonight, but it's a great hobby. I've tasted several brews from experienced brewers in my region, and I aspire to make something of a similar quality one day. It's all about not being overwhelmed, and learning/reading and asking questions.

You'll soon learn who's happy to help and who is wearing a 'troll/grumpy old fat/holier than thou' hat around the place

 

[Northkit]

Awesome, thanks again for the info. So far people have been great on here. Good luck with the kegging!

 

[Truman42]

I use an STC1000 to control my working fermenting fridge. In summer the fridge is plugged in to keep it cool and in winter I plug the heating side in to keep it warm. I tape the probe to the side of the fermenter and cover it with a piece of foam.

You cant really use an STC1000 to control the ferment temp of multiple items unless they are all in the same fermenting chamber. So if you had 3 fermenters in one fridge or a fermenting cupboard you could put the probe in a coke bottle of water placed inside the fridge and it will control the temp of all 3.

Make sure you buy the stc1000 that has both cooling and heating. They are easy enough to wire up but if your not that confident I think I may have a spare one I can sell you already mounted in a jiffy box.

 

[Droopy]

Mmmmm, fruity... May find a variety of flavour across your bottles
Yeah, get a temp controlled fridge, they're great!