Temperature

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robbiep

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Location
Pasadena, SA
Hi guys,

I finally took my first steps at home brewing and bought myself the Coopers DIY kit.

I plan to move to all grain stove top brewing after I have brew the Coopers Lager which comes with home brewing kit.

At this stage, im just trying to learn as much as possible before i jump in. One of the important factors which keep coming up is Temperature control.

I live in Adelaide and in the past week i have noticed that temperatures outside can range from 10 degrees at night to 38 degrees in the day.

Luckily, houses these days have insulation, so my guess is that temperature can still range from about 16 degrees up to 32 degrees (on those super hot days when you not pumping the aircon 24/7) .

My house does have a cellar, which seems to remain pretty cool (and constant,) even on those scorching hot Adelaide days. My only worry is that it might be more constant, but perhaps on the cooler side. My guess would be 16-20 degree (thumb suck)

At this stage, without getting to technical about temperature control, what would be best suited for brewing?

Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Robbie
 
Rough rule of thumb

Saison 22c
Ale 18c
Lager 12c

Properly measure the temp in your cellar and choose a yeast to suit. Even if you just fill up a bucket of water and let it sit for a couple of days and measure that.

Then read up on maintaining temps of your fermenter.

QldKev
 
Give a few ales a go. Then if you like it invest in some temp control gear like a stc-1000.

I got a bar fridge off ebay for $10. That coupled with a temp controller ($25 delivered off ebay yum cha seller) and you have a cheap setup to brew whatever you want.

Thats my recommendation along with reading heaps, buggering a few batches and asking questions both here and you LHBS
 
Most ale yeast like temps around the 16-20 range, some produce the best flavors at 16 and others 20, now have to find the real temperature and let us know... If you have a cellar that is 18 year round you have a very good place for a lot of different strains of ale yeast.
 
If that cellar stays at 16 to 20 all year round you have hit the Ale Jackpot in my view! Welcome to the hobby mate. It will probably take over your life..................but then again is that a bad thing? Either way your on the slippery slope so enjoy the ride :icon_cheers:
 
Well I put my 30 litre fermenter in the cellar and filled it up with water. I will check the temperature sticker (on the fermenter) 2-3 times a day and do this over the next 5-7 days.

The temperature forecast for the next 6 days ranges from a 13-20deg minimum to a 24-39 maximum. So thats a temperature range of 13 deg to 39 deg. Hopefully i will be able to get a good idea of temperatures ranges in my cellar.

When would be the best times to take readings? I guess at the peak times i.e hottest and coldest times of the day... so maybe 5am, 1pm and 10pm?

Obisouly im not going to wake up at 1am and creep down into the cellar to take readings.. my wife wil think im crazy! lol
 
Obisouly im not going to wake up at 1am and creep down into the cellar to take readings
Sure, while it has water in it.

Just wait 'til it's got beer in it, mate....
 
Well I put my 30 litre fermenter in the cellar and filled it up with water. I will check the temperature sticker (on the fermenter) 2-3 times a day and do this over the next 5-7 days.

The temperature forecast for the next 6 days ranges from a 13-20deg minimum to a 24-39 maximum. So thats a temperature range of 13 deg to 39 deg. Hopefully i will be able to get a good idea of temperatures ranges in my cellar.

When would be the best times to take readings? I guess at the peak times i.e hottest and coldest times of the day... so maybe 5am, 1pm and 10pm?

Obisouly im not going to wake up at 1am and creep down into the cellar to take readings.. my wife wil think im crazy! lol


If this hobby grabs you in 6mths time you won't think it unusual to wake up at 1 and check your babies :blink:
 
hahaha, i guess when my 7 week old son wakes up for a midnight feed, ill check out the temps downstairs :p
 
I wake up at 1am and check if I've got a cellar.
I haven't.
So I go back to bed and dream about having one.
Lucky bugger.
Also, I'd probably invest in a thermometer, they are cheap
And worth it. I find Those stick on things to be a tad shonky, and you probably won't see much movement in it
 
Silly question..

With regards to getting temperature control of your cellar and your fermeters contents, should a thermometer that hangs from the wall be ok or should you get something that gets put into the fermenter?

As im trying to keep costs down, where could i get a cheap / reliable thermometer from? Should it be digital or a good old fashioned mercury one?
 
Silly question..

With regards to getting temperature control of your cellar and your fermeters contents, should a thermometer that hangs from the wall be ok or should you get something that gets put into the fermenter?

As im trying to keep costs down, where could i get a cheap / reliable thermometer from? Should it be digital or a good old fashioned mercury one?

You need to take the liquid temp really. Be nice to know the ambient temp as wel though. I have a digital one and a mercury, as I'm sure a lot of brewers do...I bought a new mercury one recently, I think it was 10 or 15 bucks, from memory, from the brew shop. You can get digital ones on eBay for a snip. I think I slightly prefer the digital. You can at least re-caliberate those,But many trust a mercury one... Good to have two, to compare against each other,But for now to keep cost down, you'll get by with either one
 
You need to take the liquid temp really. Be nice to know the ambient temp as wel though. I have a digital one and a mercury, as I'm sure a lot of brewers do...I bought a new mercury one recently, I think it was 10 or 15 bucks, from memory, from the brew shop. You can get digital ones on eBay for a snip. I think I slightly prefer the digital. You can at least re-caliberate those,But many trust a mercury one... Good to have two, to compare against each other,But for now to keep cost down, you'll get by with either one
Just out of interest, jammer, how do you use these on your fermenting brews?
 
Silly question..

With regards to getting temperature control of your cellar and your fermeters contents, should a thermometer that hangs from the wall be ok or should you get something that gets put into the fermenter?

As im trying to keep costs down, where could i get a cheap / reliable thermometer from? Should it be digital or a good old fashioned mercury one?

You can buy a reliable glass stick thermometer from a good home brew shop for $12-15. If you use a water bath (decent way of maintaining a good temp in an insulated space) you can measure the temp of the water and expect the wort will be reasonably similar (I have measured both wort and water many times and my epxerience bears this out. Expect a vast difference measuring ambient temp though.

Stick on thermometers should be stuck somewhere else.

Water bath + thermometer = cheap, reasonably reliable temp control, dependent somewhat on the outside environment but yours sounds good.
 
You need to take the liquid temp really. Be nice to know the ambient temp as wel though. I have a digital one and a mercury, as I'm sure a lot of brewers do...I bought a new mercury one recently, I think it was 10 or 15 bucks, from memory, from the brew shop. You can get digital ones on eBay for a snip. I think I slightly prefer the digital. You can at least re-caliberate those,But many trust a mercury one... Good to have two, to compare against each other,But for now to keep cost down, you'll get by with either one

The way I've overcome this issue is to get hold of an old S/S dip tube from a keg, fold one end of it over on itself a couple of times to seal it. Drill a hole in the lid of your fermenter and add a rubber grommet and slide the dip tube into it from the underside. The temperature proble of my fridge mate fits snuggly into the open end. When fermenting the dip tube is submerged in the wort along with the temp probe. A bit of work, but worth while in the long run.

Diggles
 
just measures the temp of the water bucket in my cellar, which was 20-22 deg. Maybe a bit on the warm side, but i was using a sticker thermometer so im guessing not that accurate.

I will take another reading at lunchtime today and also try get a property thermometer.

BTW, how does a water bather control the temperature and how big does the bath have to be?
 
Fermentation creates heat so your 20-22 becomes 22-24 or more. You're going to need to look into some of the simple temp control measures to knock a few degrees off. Do a search for "temp control" (or even better "temp control -fridge") and you'll find plenty of tips.
 
Just out of interest, jammer, how do you use these on your fermenting brews?

I have a fermenting fridge with a controller. Water bottle in fridge that I take the temp of.
 
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