A different spin on temperature control

I think it’s common to place a fermentor in a bath and rotate frozen bottles of water. Since I’m making my first ale with a hybrid yeast, I wanted to aim for even cooler temperatures. I opened an A/C vent in my unfinished basement and used a bed sheet to direct all the air onto my fermentor. With highs in the upper 90’s and 100’s this week, the A/C has been running frequently. Between that, and changing out the frozen jugs 3x a day, the bath temp has been staying between about 49°-59°F.

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Nice leopard skin print!

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My wife worked at the zoo for many years.

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If it works, it works. Having a larger water bath will help prevent temperature swings if you are a little late on checking the temperature of the fermentation.

Freaks! I like it! :sweat_smile:

Be careful as hybrid ale yeast still need temps around 58° to 60°. What’s in the fermenter?

It’s an altbier with wyeast 1007. I thought I read that I should go extra cool with this style. The yeast have been hard at work for four days now. Evidently I’m not too cool for fermentation, but perhaps I’ll get off flavors? I was planning on letting the temperature start to rise some tomorrow to make sure they get the job all the way done.

Shouldn’t get off flavors. But it can stall. Keep those temps in check and you’ll be rewarded.

Bottling or kegging? If bottling get them carbed then lager them away!

I’ll fill a few bottles but keg most of it. Once the primary fermentation is complete, is there any harm in letting it sit 3-4 weeks at 70°F before the lagering phase? I’m short on fridge space right now. For the portion going in the keg, is it better to force carbonate before, during, or after lagering?

Smart

Did try to run the airo at the right temp it does work only issue the wife gets mad the powerbill went way up so back to the swamp cooler

Nope no problems with allowing it to sit at 70° for a little bit. In fact it may encourage further attenuation.

As for the forced carbonation it doesn’t really matter. If you have the means to carb it now you can. The beer will more readily absorb CO2 the colder it is though.

MacGyver would be jealous. :sunglasses:

I had the same concerns and found that making a fermentation chamber was my best option.

I live in a pretty warm apartment with just a window A/C so I needed to find a way to regulate temps. NB sells something called an external overridding thermostat: http://www.northernbrewer.com/johnson-refrigerator-thermostat

There’s a digital one too but I’m cheap. I used this in conjunction with a minifridge I bought off CL. So far so good. Just FYI.

Happy brewing

Rawr! :leopard::leopard:

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Geez, thought you said Rahr, good, not bbrrriiesss! Sneezles61

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Hard to tell, the font’s kind of grainy…

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Piggybacking onto this thread! My altbier extract kit arrives today with wyeast1007 and a safe ale k97 as backup just in case. I don’t have any extra DME around to make a starter nor a flask or stir plate. I do have some extra priming sugar. Maybe a dumb question, but is that usable to create some kind of starter hack? Do I necessarily need to make a starter for this style for best results? Anyone ever have any issues pitching straight liquid yeast into their wort? Thanks!!

I’ve not had the best of luck with the liquid smack packs… BUT… Pitching either straight up in a low gravity brew is good… Under 1.060 is some what a low gravity brew…
Sneezles61

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I understand your current limitations. But, next time ……Especially with the warm weather, I would do a shaken not stirred yeast starter with the smack pack to get it off and running……for best results.
YMMV

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Thanks guys! I can always count on y’all for some solid advice. I just read an idea in a different forum about making your wort, chilling it, adding a quart or 1/2 gallon or so to your yeast to make a starter, then aerating and pitching the following day. I need to look up shaken not stirred starter, also.

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Some SNSYS info:
https://www.experimentalbrew.com/blogs/saccharomyces/shaken-not-stirred-stir-plate-myth-buster