Temp: Which room would you brew in?

[DustyRusty]

Moved into a new place. Have two options for brew rooms (I don't have heating control). 1) an unused bathroom that is currently sitting at 22C. No central heating, fairly stable. 2) under a neighbouring building (I have permission). Holes in walls, drafty, sitting at 18C. More difficult access. Could wrap the fermenter in blankets if too cold.

Brewing an ale with WLP028. My worry with 1 is too hot (could ferment heat generated out it over 25C? My worry with 2 is getting too cold and possibly fluctuations. Would love to know what you more experienced brewers would pick.

Thanks.

 

[pk.sax]

Recent experience brewing in a temp controlled fridge with a Thermowell in the brew extra showed that the brew was 2-3 degrees hotter than the fridge. You might want to look at a bar fridge or something to control temps.

 

[TimT]

If you brewed in the bathroom you could just plonk it in the bath and surround with cold water when it was too hot. The water will perspire and take some of the heat off the brew.

 

[DustyRusty]

Thanks guys. PracticalFool that 2-3 degrees info helps a lot. Not in a position to get temp control yet, but i've made the mistake of brewing too hot before (with Saale S-04). tasted like rancid apple cider. not making that mistake again. I'll go with the cold room with more difficult access. if it the room does stay at 18C like i think it will the extra 2-3 degrees with WLP028 should ferment out a good beer. In a month or so with the cooler temps the bathroom might be more suitable.

TimT, sorry by disused bathroom i mean a small toilet. It's next to our larger bathroom which is why it is useless for anything but being made into a brewery. So it doesn't have a bath. I can block out light in it, but it still seems to stay fairly warm.

thanks again guys, big help.

 

[mr_wibble]

I brew outside.

I wash out my fermenters in the shower though, and if I need to quickly cool a pot, it always went into the laundry tub.

I also store my cracked grain bags in there for the few days until brewing.

 

[wynnum1]

can you find a clean non working small chest freezer and place under a neighboring building with ice blocks .

 

[DustyRusty]

can you find a clean non working small chest freezer and place under a neighboring building with ice blocks .

Not this week, maybe sometime in the future. And i think the room will be good at 18C. The ice would make it too cold, unless i was doing a lager. The extra heat should put it at 21C, and 18-21C is the perfect range for WLP028.

 

[ekul]

Have you thought about changing your yeast choice until temps are a bit cooler? Belle saison yeast makes a really good beer and likes to be fermented hot.

 

[Ross]

Dusty, setting up proper heating control is cheap & easy. Seriously, if you want to make good beer, it's one of, if not the most important factor.


cheers Ross

 

[DustyRusty]

Have you thought about changing your yeast choice until temps are a bit cooler? Belle saison yeast makes a really good beer and likes to be fermented hot.

hmmmm. that may be the trick. where do you get Belle Saison from? My LHBS doesn't stock it.

 

[DustyRusty]

Dusty, setting up proper heating control is cheap & easy. Seriously, if you want to make good beer, it's one of, if not the most important factor.


cheers Ross

Really? What equipment would i need? It's cooling i need most of the time. I have a heat belt (inherited) that i never use. But i'd need a new fridge for cooling right? That's space my wife will not be happy with me taking....

 

[Ross]

Really? What equipment would i need? It's cooling i need most of the time. I have a heat belt (inherited) that i never use. But i'd need a new fridge for cooling right? That's space my wife will not be happy with me taking....

A small fermenting fridge takes up little space & probably less of an eyesore than fermenters on the side. Available off gumtree & the like for next to nothing. Plus for the wife, is you're staying home more & spending far less on beer, Should not be a difficult sell
Edit - You need a small fridge or freezer coupled to a temperature controller & that's it.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Seriously worth it.

When I was in BNE, I got a $30 icecream freezer that was downstairs - housed a 30L square or round fermenter with minimal dead space. STC-1000 hooked up by a sparky mate of mine.

Best investment in brewing ever - even (just) beating kegs. Kegs don't make a beer fermented under average conditions good, but beer fermented under good conditions can still taste excellent from bottles.

 

[TimT]

Well plonk the fermenter in the dunny, man, and flush until it's cool enough!

 

[DustyRusty]

Well plonk the fermenter in the dunny, man, and flush until it's cool enough!

Ha. Way to ensure an infected brew or a brew that tastes like VB.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Ha. Way to ensure an infected brew or a brew that tastes like VB.

just pee directly into the fermenter. That'll do the trick.

 

[TimT]

No good, Lord Raja. Pee is too warm and the yeast won't like it.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

No good, Lord Raja. Pee is too warm and the yeast won't like it.

Consider it a diacetyl rest.

 

[TimT]

I vividly remember at the end of my very first brew, a can kit English bitter. Not knowing how else to go about it, I seated the fermenter on the kitchen bench and a large pot underneath it to catch the ale as it came out. I turned the tap on. Well, it was golden, it frothed, it bubbled, it splashed a bit.... it, in short, had a remarkable likeness to a drunken gentleman doing what drunken gentlemen do in the laneway late at night.

It was then that I really knew why they called it 'piss'.

 

[ekul]

hmmmm. that may be the trick. where do you get Belle Saison from? My LHBS doesn't stock it.

You can get it from craftbrewer. I would start with 2 packs of yeast OR do a samller batch on the first go and then repitch the yeast cake after that. Its really nice.

My saison recipe is as follows (i think i stole it from ahb somewhere)

3kg vienna (weyermann)
2 kg bb ale malt

23.23g NZ cascade flowers 9.2%aa @ 60

OG 1048 efficiency 70%

i haven't tasted a lot of saisons but i thoroughly enjoyed this recipe. I was very dubious as the room it was fermenting in got up to 30C... but it came out really nice.