Primary - Yest Temp

[Helium]

Started my second brew.
Finished boil at 1.00pm. Went to baseball game.
It's now 11.00pm.

Can wort EVER cool below room temp., or am I trying to violate the laws ofphysics?

Recipe says to get wort to 65*-75* before yeast pitch. It's still over 80*, room temp is 70&, no A/C.

Put it on porch in bath of cold water, but......

[toneyc]

Did you finally get it down to pitching temps?

For future batches, I'd recommend a bag of ice in the sink with your brewpot sitting in it, stirring gently.

Also, with ambient temperatures at 80* with no a/c, you're gonna need to do something to keep fermentation temperatures down or you're gonna get esters and fusels that you don't want. There are several things you can do: wet t-shirt, tub of water with ice bottles, son of fermentation chiller, or temperature controlled fridge or freezer.

Good luck!

:)
Toney.

[HogieWan]

Your fermenting beer will be warmer than the ambient tempeture in the room because the yeast are giving off heat as they work.

[Helium]

Thanks. I finally got it down by placing the primary in bin full of water, and set it on an outside porch for an hour.
It's bubbling away, about every 5 seconds in the airlock.
The basement is 70*, and will stay that way almost through winter, maybe get down to 62-63.
Is that too cold to primary/secondary ferment, or bottle condition?

[danno]

62º is a nice temp for primary/secondary fermentations, you'll generally get nice clean results at those temps. it's probably a bit too cool to bottle condition, unless you're not in a hurry. I'd think it'll take a month or so to fully carbonate, but that's not neccesarily a bad thing, unless you're thirsty...

[Mill Rat]

Those sound a lot like my basement temps and I have had very good results. As danno notes, my carb times have been a bit long, but once you've got a half dozen or so batches ready to drink, you hardly notice.