Winter Fermentation Temps

[stilvia]

Hi all,

This is my first winter brewing and need some advice. I currently have my fermenter in an upright fridge, connected to a STC-1000 with the temp sensor in the thermowell of the fermenter. I currently only use the cooling side of the STC-1000 but have a heating relay also available.

I brewed an APA on Friday and pitched US-05 yeast on Saturday. Temp when pitched was 16c, but has dropped and held consistency at 13.5c since. I had made a 1.5L starter from the wort for 24 hrs prior to pitching. I checked Tuesday and the blow off tube is bubbling quite frequently. I did a gravity reading and has only dropped from 1043 to 1035. I've heard quite a few people say it'll ferment out at 12-13c, but it'll just take a bit longer. I'm thinking about purchasing some sort of heat source to get the wort up to 20-22c for a diacetyl rest.

Wondering what peoples opinions are for a 50L fermenter?

 

[contrarian]

You can use a heat pad or heat belt to get the temp up. I've also used just a bare light bulb on the hot side to get temp up. Depends what will fit best in your fridge.

It doesn't take much heat in a fridge to bring the temp up.

 

[stilvia]

Yeah ok.. Maybe a light might be an inexpensive option. What's the best method for running the power cord into the fridge with a good seal?

 

[Judanero]

I have heat belts around two of my fermenters, one of the other fridges I fill a three litre milk bottle with boiling water put the lid on and put the milk container in fridge, keeping the stc cooling plugged in.

Keeps my fermentation pretty stable, and I only have to change the milk container at night (usually after dinner) and I recycle the water from the container into the kettle and back to the container so there's no waste.

To answer regarding the power cord just close the door on it, they seal well enough to retain the heat.

 

[kaiserben]

My ferm fridge's heat source is the light from inside the fridge (the one that would normally turn on when you open the door, but it's been re-wired so that it doesn't do that anymore and has a cord that plugs into a temp controller. It also has it's plastic cover removed). I didn't do that wiring (I acquired the fridge from a brewer who'd already done it). The power cord for the light goes through a hole in the top of the fridge and the hole is sealed with some sort of silicon.

I used the heating in this fridge yesterday to bring the heat from 18C to 21C for a diacetyl rest. It took roughly 8 hours to move those 3 degrees (which is great IMO, not a harsh heat, just a gentle warming).

 

[peteru]

An old electric blanket? Should be easy enough to hook up to the controller and most have controls to let you choose how intensely they heat.

 

[Reman]

Now the temps are down I'm brewing lagers, latest a Vienna Lager. Have you thought about brewing with the seasons and go lager? With good practices they aren't any harder than an ale and you get to explore a whole new world of styles!

 

[TheWiggman]

Reptile cord heaters are great, cheaper than home brew heat belts and you can wrap them around anything. They're a bit annoying to wrap but it's no biggie.

 

[yankinoz]

Doesn't anyone sleep with the fermenter anymore?

Or a more socially acceptable, inexpensive solution is a junked fridge. You can add jugs of warm or hot water, but be careful not to let the brew overheat. During the active phase you might need blue ice if the fridge doesn't work.

Re lagers, brewing an APA like yours or other American style with a lager yeast generally works very well if you're able to cold-condition for at leas a month, preferably more, and it can be done in bottle or keg. I like 34/70 for hoppy styles and S-189 for malty ones.

 

[Bribie G]

What part of the country are you?
Currently this morning it's 3 degrees outside and around 12 in the brick n tile internal garage.
The brew in the top FV - which is a 60L - is sitting at 18.5 and the strong stout in the lower FV is sitting at around 15 as it's finished fermenting and is clearing from the top.



The answer? Behold the mighty BribieChestinator® system
Materials around $18 and I won't charge royalties.....



Basically just a tea chest sized $5 packing carton from a storage mob and a roll of bubblewrap. I've been using them all winter and they work a treat as well as preventing light strike.
I'd been thinking of setting up a heat belt inside, but so far not necessary and this is about regular winter weather hereabouts. The tea chest size should easily hold your 50L.
I made the slightly smaller one out of a box I'd got stuff from a sponsor, for my smaller fermenters.

The way it works is that after pitching at, say, 16 degrees the initial fermentation is heat producing and brings the brew up to around 19 degrees fairly quickly and I find that it stays about there for four days or so then gradually declines.
The garage ambient warms up to around 18 during the day then drops at night, but the thermal mass of the beer and the insulation keep the brew fairly even.

I used it all over summer as well with frozen soft drink bottles from the chest freezer. I'll refine it next summer and look at doing brine bottles.

Ed: the advantage over a switched-off fridge is that there is a lot of wasted space in a fridge that needs to be cooled or heated before the beer gets a look in, the "chest" system is more snug and the heat or cold tends to stay in the beer, making things quite stable.

 

[panzerd18]

Surprised US-05 is still working at such a low temperature. As an ale yeast I would keep US-05 up around 18 degrees.

 

[stilvia]

So I ended up going down to beerbelly and picking myself up a 30w heat belt. Think it ended up being a good option. Not too much heat and has a flat cord so not too much of a gap around the seal.

I chucked it on of Friday night and by morning the temp controller had it smack on 18c. When I took a sample on Friday it was still bubbling away and was down to 1022.

When I googled US-05 low temps, there are plenty of people from the states that run down in the 13-14c during winter. I couldn't believe the yeast was still active at those temps either.

 

[Bribie G]

Nottingham is another yeast that will hammer along nicely at 12 degrees.

 

[Coalminer]

US 05 fermentation temperature (from the manufacturers website)

12-25°C (53.6-77°F) ideally 15-22°C (59-71.6°F)

 

[stilvia]

Another thing I read was at lower temperatures, US-05 will produce a mango ester. If it has, should go nicely with the APA.

 

[yankinoz]

In my experience and with accurate measurements of 12 degrees, Notty took off okay, but I ended up raising US-05 to 14..

 

[manticle]

05 works fine at lower temps.
Never got mango.

 

[yum beer]

I use 05 at 15c regularly, produces a very clean ale.
Just takes a little longer.

 

[stilvia]

Between Friday and this afternoon, it's dropped down to 1010. Just bumped the temp up to 21c for the diacetyl rest before I cold crash and dry hop for the next week. Pretty happy with how it's tasting ATM.

 

[OliverWM]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but has anyone had experience with Wyeast 1469 at lower temps (~14c ambient)?