Heating Options

[joshld]

G'day all,
I'm new to brewing... Just acquired a home brew kit, the heater that came with it is an immersion heater, like the same in a fish tank.I want to brew a lager this week but the heaters lowest temp is 20C...Temp in my shed would be down about 5-8C overnight.Could I brew the lager with the heat set at 20C?Probably a silly question, just hoping my first brew is at least drinkable!

 

[glenwal]

G'day all,
I'm new to brewing... Just acquired a home brew kit, the heater that came with it is an immersion heater, like the same in a fish tank.I want to brew a lager this week but the heaters lowest temp is 20C...Temp in my shed would be down about 5-8C overnight.Could I brew the lager with the heat set at 20C?Probably a silly question, just hoping my first brew is at least drinkable!

What temperature is your shed during the day? The low temp at night probably won't drop the temperature of the entire brew too much, so you probably won't need the heater at all.

Are you planning on using an actual lager yeast? Most kits don't actually come with lager yeast, and I wouldn't recommend it for your first brew anyway. Stick with something like US-05 which will give you a pretty good lager clone, but its an ale yeast so you'll want to keep it around 18-20deg.

to answer your question though - if using a lager yeast then its a definate no at 20deg.

 

[MastersBrewery]

tip one find a cheap fridge, side of the road is good, it only needs to work sorta well.
tip two get a temp controler, fridgemate/stc or similar

 

[joshld]

Thanks for the quick reply Glen,Day time temp in the shed is about 14-16C.And yeah I am planning on using a lager yeast.So you reckon leave it at that with no heat.?

 

[labels]

Absolutely agree with Glen. Do a psuedo lager with clean ale yeast. Lager yeast needs tight, low temperaturer control withn the emphasis being on control.

Took me about five years to get lagers down pat, that is after I had mastered ales.

Maybe I'm a slow learner, but defiinitely not recommended for new brewers because you will end up so dissapointed you will probably give the hobby away - and that's just not on!

Steve

 

[glenwal]

Thanks for the quick reply Glen,Day time temp in the shed is about 14-16C.And yeah I am planning on using a lager yeast.So you reckon leave it at that with no heat.?

Thats probably too warm for using a lager yeast. The fermentation will produce heat as well, so your probably looking at the brew being 16-18deg in that environment. Most lager yeasts you're going to want to keep around 10-12.

If your still keen on the lager yeast, i'd follow MB's advice and pick up a cheap/free fridge. Ebay/gumtree both have heaps, and council cleanups/hard trash days are awsome. Then you connect a temp controller to it (search for STC-1000) and you're set. you can even connect your heater to the STC so it will heat when its cool, and cool when its too hot.

be prepared to stick with it, and don't give up if its not up to your expectation - with experience will come better beer.

 

[joshld]

Cheers for the tips guys!I'll be looking for a fridge this week!

 

[yum beer]

If your temps are swinging between 8 overnight and 16 during the day I think you want an ale yeast done at ambient temps, the ale yeast will work slower
than normal and will provide a nice clean ferment.
It wont be a real lager but will be more than drinkable.
Get yourself some sort of temp control as soon as you can. especially now its warming up, that shed will get too warm very soon.

I used to do all me lagers pre temp control at around 14-15 with ale yeast and come out nice.

 

[JDW81]

G'day Josh,

This is exactly how I brew. I don't have a fridge and my garage gets pretty cool at night. I've never had any problems with the lower night time temps as I wrap the fermenter up in a blanket and it tends to hold its temp within a few degrees (thermal mass and all). I get beautiful, clean finishing ales. My last wheat fermented at an average of about 14 degrees and is far and away the best one I've made. I only brew ales, as I wouldn't feel comfortable fermenting lagers above 10 degrees.

I plan on getting a fermentation fridge at some stage, but being a student and all can't really justify the outlay at the moment.

When summer swings around you can still brew in high temps. Farmhouse ales like saisons ferment at or above 25 degrees. Just pick your style based on the season.

 

[joshld]

I reckon I'll try and find a cheap fridge this week and get it all setup.Only thing is, I havnt had much to do with that kind of stuff...How does the STC 1000 work? Do you wire it into the fridge, and what if you want to add a heater pad for winter months?

 

[JDW81]

I reckon I'll try and find a cheap fridge this week and get it all setup.Only thing is, I havnt had much to do with that kind of stuff...How does the STC 1000 work? Do you wire it into the fridge, and what if you want to add a heater pad for winter months?

Do a search using the google function there is a stack of info on the stc1000 and temp control.