Temp Control During Fermentation - Please Help A Newbie

[bum]

Get a fridgemate form the above sponsors. They really are worth every cent and are pretty simple to put together. Truly set-and-forget.

But trial and error with the timer will be the only way, really.

 

[Barley Belly]

I run a Tempmate in a fridge only
Can fit two Coopers fermenters
And use a heat belt for heating

Fridge $50
Tempmate $70
Heat Belt $0 (hand me down)
12v Fan & 240v adapter $10


Does the goods for me

 

[felten]

I ferment in the coldest part of the house.. my room. It's usually around 15-17 degrees ambient. I have the fermenter wrapped in a big 18 to -7 rated sleeping bag (probably bought it at target) and that seems to keep the temp pretty constant at 18c throughout the day (if you believe the digital thermometer anyway ).

 

[Phoney]

Yeah I havent needed to use a fridge for the past 2 months. My kitchen floor keeps it @ a perfect 18C....

 

[Screwtop]

Sometimes dependent on what people can actually afford rather than just being tightarses though. I know my current set-up is.

thankfully I obtained aworking fridge and used a timer to turn it on/off for some time before getting a tempmate (same time used for heating solution in winter) and manually checked a thermometer to work out the timer intervals I needed.

if I hadn't get a cheap fridge I'd still be using blankets and hot/cold water bottles to regulate the temperature.

The method doesn't matter here, they all work and some are easier than others, just the fact that you need to regulate the temperature.

This is what homebrewing is about, homebrewers will beg/borrow/er look really hard and find a way to do it at their level of affordability, real homebrewing is all about the beer, good beer.

I run a Tempmate in a fridge only
Can fit two Coopers fermenters
And use a heat belt for heating

Fridge $50
Tempmate $70
Heat Belt $0 (hand me down)
12v Fan & 240v adapter $10

Finners above is kitted for out for about the cost of 3 cartons of Megaswill. With fermentation temp control he gets to choose how good his beers can be, pointless moving on to extract, partial or AG without this basic kit. Good yeast and fermentation management will make good beer, it's as important as proper sanitation.

Screwy

 

[EK]

Finners above is kitted for out for about the cost of 3 cartons of Megaswill. With fermentation temp control he gets to choose how good his beers can be, pointless moving on to extract, partial or AG without this basic kit. Good yeast and fermentation management will make good beer, it's as important as proper sanitation.

Screwy

I'm not sure I agree with it being pointless, sure it will help give you better beer, but I don't think that level of temp control is an absolute requirement.

I live in a suburb of Brisbane that is usually considered a 'hot' suburb during summer and I use a 100 Can Cooler and some 1.25L soft drink bottles that have been filled with water and frozen. This method allows me to keep my brew in a good temperature range and create great (IMO) beer. The temperature only varies by about 2 degrees over a day at the most and I can keep the brew at the lower end of the yeast's temperature range. Admittedly I have only done one AG beer via this method after recently changing from K&K but I am extremely happy with the results.

:icon_cheers:
EK

 

[muckey]

I'm not sure I agree with it being pointless, sure it will help give you better beer, but I don't think that level of temp control is an absolute requirement.

I live in a suburb of Brisbane that is usually considered a 'hot' suburb during summer and I use a 100 Can Cooler and some 1.25L soft drink bottles that have been filled with water and frozen. This method allows me to keep my brew in a good temperature range and create great (IMO) beer. The temperature only varies by about 2 degrees over a day at the most and I can keep the brew at the lower end of the yeast's temperature range. Admittedly I have only done one AG beer via this method after recently changing from K&K but I am extremely happy with the results.

:icon_cheers:
EK

EK your temp control is as good as it needs to be. You need to keep the temperature under control and especially stable to make good beer which your method absulutely achieves. Some very successful brewers make some very good beer by changing cold/hot bottles once or twice a day.

Temp control is absolutely important. the methods all work and some require more input that others. personally I used a cheap timer for quite some time before shifting to a tempmate and I only changed because the tempmate requires less input from me NOT because its temp control is better.

 

[Yeldarb]

My fridge with tempmate cost me about $100 all up (fridge was free from a friend, heat belt is about 6 years old). I wired up the tempmate myself (please spare the flaming... ) The main thing for me is "set and forget"...I simply check the beer every now and then pretty much leave it to do it's thing then bottle when I'm ready to bottle.

With the quality of the beer I am now making I don't need to (regularly) buy commercial beer (I just tasted a "Tony's JSAA" (thanks Tony ) I bottled only last week and I reckon it's as a good as the last actual JSAA I bought...it's my beer and I'm entitled to that opinion :lol

I normally drink about a carton per week...it doesn't take long for the $ to add up.

If you are happy with freezing bottles, using blankets, etc, etc, good luck to you...but homebrewing is enough work for me without this extra stuff/work that is easily removed.

I reckon you are more likely to stop brewing if you find it is taking over your life. I'm too busy with other stuff...I've got a 3 year old daughter, a vegie garden, a motorbike that needs riding (but doesn't very often lately), a dog who needs walking, a woodworking habit, and a need to go fishing every now and then...oops, almost forgot the wife :lol:

I like brewing and want to keep liking it.

 

[manticle]

This is what homebrewing is about, homebrewers will beg/borrow/er look really hard and find a way to do it at their level of affordability, real homebrewing is all about the beer, good beer.
Good yeast and fermentation management will make good beer, it's as important as proper sanitation.

Screwy

I agree with that. I've gone from one hand me down basic set-up from my dad who brewed kits about 15 years ago to fiddling with heat belts, getting a free working fridge from a friend, buying spare fermenters when I can. I've also been forced to use my imagination in working out how to start mashing and so on (cheap eskies, k-mart pots, plastic strainers etc, $50 grain mill from ebay, 0.35c digital scales from ebay etc). I also play around with sinks of iced/hot water, blankets and many other things. You do need to keep these things in mind undoubtedly - I was just making the distinction between someone who can afford to buy a brand new $300 tempmate from Craftbrewer with a whip of the credit card and someone like myself who is forced to think laterally, may have something less than ideal but is still making an effort to do what he can.

You still need to have a go- it's just that people looking for cheap ways aren't always just being 'cheap'.

 

[beerbrewer76543]

I use a second hand fridge and a jaycar temp controller which is good for set and forget. Changing the set temp requires farting around with a screw driver and multimeter thanks to the lack of LCD display which is annoying

I have it set for 18 degrees and after 9 days or so I unplug the temp controller and plug the fridge straight into the power socket to chill to ~0 degrees for a day, rack onto gelatine and return to the fridge for the remaining 4 days which helps to clear up the beer nicely

Consistency is one thing I was aiming for when I took up brewing again and the fridge helps a lot in this regard

 

[Bribie G]

2 (ii): Hot water bottle in a dead fridge/esky/brocolli box/old sleeping bag. Low tech, sometimes fiddly (depending on the choice of insulator), but certainly a do-able option.

(having said that, definately agree with the first response in the thread, adn all of the echoes of that.)

I'm surprised that Butters is the only one to pick up on the dead fridge idea. I have been using a dead fridge since November - cost me nowt and a mate and I wheeled it across the suburb on my hand trolley (guy down the road shouted out, 'those things are great with a tap sticking out of the front' so he was on the ball :lol: there).



I have fermented at below 20 during the QLD summer with 2 x 2L frozen soft drink bottles changed daily, or changed twice a day to get down to 14 degrees for lagers. At the moment brews are sitting at 18 degrees with no PETs, the insulating properties of the fridge evens out the day and night variations.

It may get a bit colder here, so I'll put in a hot water bottle (5L jerrycan filled from hot water system) if necessary. The whole setup hasn't cost me a razoo apart from a couple of bottles.

 

[RobboMC]

You need a fridge, mainly to act as an insulating box from outside temp changes.
I'm told by another (prize-winning) brewer that the daily temp cycle from nite to day does more damage
to your brew than a low or high temp iteslf.

This week I've been running my heating belt using the power timer, in summer I run the fridge off the timer.

Takes a little bit of 'watching', I check temps morning and evening and adjust the segments to suit,
but you can keep the temp inside a fridge pretty constant without using a Tempmate.
Of course, if money is no option go for a tempmate.

Use the cool temps to make lager in Winter, makes sense to me. And nothing at all wrong with making a brew with all your Stout ingredients and popping in lager yeast to ferment it. What do you think the Scots, Northern Irish and Baltic states did before energy was so cheap? Historically, Irish Stout, Baltic Porter were all lager yeasted, Baltic Stout anyone? even a Russian Stout was probably made this way, check the temp in Moscow this week.

And I no longer brew in what I call 'high' summer, Jan/Feb when ambient is around 35 deg C or more
every day, even the fridge can't keep it cold when it's 50 plus in my garage. You can only fight nature so much.

 

[db73]

sorry if these are dumb/newbie questions but

1. How are you HBers checking the temps of your brew? ie do you rely on stick on thermometers?

2. I can fit my fermenter in an old bar fridge which is not turned on (just put it now!) Would there be a problem since there is not much air space in the fridge and I assume a fair bit of co2 would be released from my fermenter.

Thanks
Dave

 

[manticle]

I could be wrong but I believe fermenters are designed to release small amounts of C02 to avoid overloading pressure. They keep a lot of it inside as the blanket of gas helps prevent infection. I'm sure opening your fridge every so often will release whatever small amount is inside.

I use the stick on thermometer and also measure my hydrometer samples with a thermometer.

 

[3GumsBrewing]

sorry if these are dumb/newbie questions but

1. How are you HBers checking the temps of your brew? ie do you rely on stick on thermometers?

2. I can fit my fermenter in an old bar fridge which is not turned on (just put it now!) Would there be a problem since there is not much air space in the fridge and I assume a fair bit of co2 would be released from my fermenter.

Thanks
Dave

Ja, I whack the fermenter into the old chest freezer, sometimes with a heater and fridgemate, some times without (depending on season). Check every day or so.

Dood do yourself a favor and get yourself a temp controler. Easily the best improvement in the quality of your beer you will get.

DK

 

[db73]

Ja, I whack the fermenter into the old chest freezer, sometimes with a heater and fridgemate, some times without (depending on season). Check every day or so.

Dood do yourself a favor and get yourself a temp controler. Easily the best improvement in the quality of your beer you will get.

DK

on to it now

thanks

 

[Bribie G]

sorry if these are dumb/newbie questions but

1. How are you HBers checking the temps of your brew? ie do you rely on stick on thermometers?

2. I can fit my fermenter in an old bar fridge which is not turned on (just put it now!) Would there be a problem since there is not much air space in the fridge and I assume a fair bit of co2 would be released from my fermenter.

Thanks
Dave

CO2 doesn't matter, the beer doesn't care. Also the stick on thermometers are crap, they are ok at first, but after you have scalded them a few times while washing out fermenters they get out of whack, in my personal experience. I would suggest what a few brewers here do and just put a good quality glass thermo into a heavy bottle of water that won't tip over too easily (maybe get a squat flower vase from an op shop or a lolly jar), sit it next to the ferm. and that should give a good idea of the ambient in the fridge. I use a high tech laser pointing thermometer with digital readout, worth $75 but I won mine in a comp. It's a brilliant bit of kit and I love and rely on it . First thing I do in the morning is have a pee then head out to the garage to zap my cubes and fermenters Another goody is to get a shorter glass thermo and sit it on the lid of the fermenter with the end resting down in the well under the central 'lifting' handle so it isn't going to roll off and break.

You can't have too many thermometers in this game :icon_cheers:

 

[LLoyd]

money wasn't the issue for us summer gone by, but our LHBS had run out of fridgemates and wouldn't be stocked for a while.. Hooked up a solar pool heater controller on tropical mode (cools at night instead of heats during day) and plugged the fridge into the pump socket. I put the roof sensor in the freezer and the pool sensor in the fridge next to the beer. The only problem we had was that the freezer would sometimes get too warm and stall the cycle. Solved that by putting a light globe in the fridge to make it work a little harder to keep 18C. Now we have our freezer to store stuff in AND a ferment fridge. I've had to play with the light position a bit in relation to convection flows but now it is about as constant as possible. Positioning the sensor for any controller is a headf*%$ when you think about it too much, but a heat source can simplify it somewhat...

 

[glaab]

I have a couple of heat pads from my LHBS but even though they are only 30W, they would heat a 30l fermenter up to about 30C. I had an old light dimmer so I wired that up and now my two 30l fermenters are sitting at a 18C. [ale and wheat bier] It's getting down to 5C or so here at the mo. Not much help in the cooling department I know but someone might find it useful. Cheers

 

[masculator002]

I'm surprised that Butters is the only one to pick up on the dead fridge idea. I have been using a dead fridge since November - cost me nowt and a mate and I wheeled it across the suburb on my hand trolley (guy down the road shouted out, 'those things are great with a tap sticking out of the front' so he was on the ball :lol: there).

View attachment 28112

I have fermented at below 20 during the QLD summer with 2 x 2L frozen soft drink bottles changed daily, or changed twice a day to get down to 14 degrees for lagers. At the moment brews are sitting at 18 degrees with no PETs, the insulating properties of the fridge evens out the day and night variations.

It may get a bit colder here, so I'll put in a hot water bottle (5L jerrycan filled from hot water system) if necessary. The whole setup hasn't cost me a razoo apart from a couple of bottles.

Anyone out there got a dead fridge big enough for a 400 litre stainless fermenter?????.....lol