Temperature for fermentation?

[draft]

This is my first try at brewing beer, so I'm new to this. I'm trying to make an amber ale. Everything started out fine and my airlock started to bubble. The temperature of the primary fermenter was about 72.

After a day of everything going fine, the cool spot where my fermenter was sitting went up to about 80 degrees. I was at work, of course, and didn't learn about this until I got home that night. I immediately turned the A/C on high and wrapped a wet towel around the base of the fermenter. The temperature of the fermenter came back down under 70, but the apartment is also freezing and my girlfriend is not happy. Unfortunately, there is no other place I can store this that would be cool.

Is there a better way to keep the fermenter cool without affecting the temperature of the apartment? Is my beer going to taste like poop?

Thanks,
draft

[HogieWan]

http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/chiller/chiller.PDF

Here's a pdf of a design of an easy-to-built and cheap carboy chiller. Don't worry about the beer, it'll taste fine. At higher temps, you get more esters and fusels created as byproducts - meaning you'll have a fruitier flavor (not undesirable) but more chance at a headache in the morning. However, the beauty of homebrew (or any bottle conditioned beer) is that the yeast in the bottle provide nutrients that minimize hangovers.

And welcome to the boards!

what kind of beer are you making?

[draft]

Thanks for your help. I'm making Midwest's Honey Amber Ale kit.

[HogieWan]

recipe looks tasty! just remember to give it time. It was a hard lesson for me to learn. On the sixth batch, I gave it more time to sit after drinking half the batch - delicious. All the problems I thought I had disappered.

Most people use the less-than-scientific 1-2-3 method. 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks bottle conditioning. I add at least two weeks in the fridge at the end of that, but six weeks for a beer aroun 5.5% to 6% is a good amount for conditioning, IMO.

[haaseg]

It just depends on the ingredients. Some beers age faster than others. That's why you bottle so many... you have to have some to sample here and there until you think it's ready. ;)

If you enjoy this batch, and the process of making it, you'll learn to keep a pipeline going to curb impatience.

As far as keeping it cool... there was another thread here where the fermenter was too cold, and the advice was to remove it from a hard surfaces such as cement because they stay cold and will suck the heat out of the fermenter. This may be what you need. Maybe the tile floor in a bathroom or a porcelain tub or something. Also, be mindful that heat rises, so store it in the lowest possible place you can find.

Also, try to keep it out of the light as much as possible.

[Grog]

If you are fermenting in a glass carboy this is a quick and easy remedy with materials already on hand:

Stick the carboy with a t-shirt draped over it in a wide bucket (or bathtub) filled partly with water (high enough to have the bottom of the t-shirt submerged) and point a fan directly at it. It ain't perfect, but maybe the girlfriend will be pacified.


Whose ever heard of a woman being too cold any way? :D

[draft]

I did this with a bath towel in a tub of water last night. This morning when I woke up, the temp had dropped by 7 degrees (to around 65).

One trick: To keep bacteria out, use a little salt in the water.

I'm definitely going to brew another batch. Once I get things going, I'm going to start a rotation to keep beer at hand all of the time.

Thanks again,
draft

[Spicoli]

Man you guys up north have it made. We will be up to 114 degrees tommorrow. Good thing I have a chest freezer. A lot of guys out here are not as lucky. Most guys out here have to hang it up for the summer.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Spicoli
Most guys out here have to hang it up for the summer.

I may have to do that here. This is my first summer of homebrewing. I have empty carboys now - I've about to move in with the little woman.

[Spicoli]

Just make sure she is fully aware of your love for the hobby and what it consists of. My wife puts up with quite a bit. I guess I'm pretty lucky.

[haaseg]

Originally posted by Spicoli
My wife puts up with quite a bit. I guess I'm pretty lucky.

I'll say. Aren't you the one whose wife saved your batch after you shattered a carboy on your foot.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Spicoli
Just make sure she is fully aware of your love for the hobby and what it consists of. My wife puts up with quite a bit. I guess I'm pretty lucky.

She puts up with a lot besides brewing!:)

[Spicoli]

Originally posted by haaseg
I'll say. Aren't you the one whose wife saved your batch after you shattered a carboy on your foot.

Yep, that would be me. I have been left with a pretty ugly scar. The beer was great though. It was an all Amarillo pale ale.

[Derekt2]

Most people use the less-than-scientific 1-2-3 method. 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks bottle conditioning. I add at least two weeks in the fridge at the end of that, but six weeks for a beer aroun 5.5% to 6% is a good amount for conditioning, IMO.

Heh-heh.

In my brewery it goes like this: 1 week in primary (open-fermenter to blow off volatile aromatics); crash cool overnight and gas through CO2 stone; tap by day ten. And that's often for 7.5%+ ABV ales.

I don't think I've tasted one of my beers past 6 weeks in the last ten years. Next up: Double IPA - brewed this Saturday past, on tap by Wednesday.

[Spicoli]

I here that is pretty typical in a brewery setting. The conical fermentation, filtering and climate control I'm sure is much more than than the typical homebrewer has access to. I wish it was that quick. Maybe a conical is in my future.
Please tell us more about your whole process. I am always interested in more info.

[xscotto]

Brewing in central Texas, I've also noticed the unfortunate fruity summer beer syndrome. I'm thinking about building a "Son of Fermentation Chiller" myself, but I have one question: At what part of fermentation is the "fruityness" most likely to occur? Since the majority of the fermenting happens in that first week, I would think only chilling then would be enough. Is my logic correct??? If I have to chill all the way to bottling, I'll need to make 2 chillers since I often have 2 batches going at once... or perhaps a "Frankenchiller" that would be big enough for 2 buckets, or a bucket and a carboy....