Hello I have a beer that been fermenting for 4days now an I like too start ramping up my temp a little to help dry it out a little more? Now does one just dial up the temp on there controller an let come up to the temp or does one need to apply some heat to help it get to the temp your ramping up to for instance I been fermenting in my chest freezer at 66f an I like to ramp it to 70f ?
If im fermenting swamp cooler i just take it out after active ferm stops or im at 96 hoursish. Same with fermenting in freezer. If ambient is not enough to raise it high enough i put the carboy heater on it…for ales.
If the temperature outside your fermentation chamber (an externally controlled fridge, I’m assuming) is higher than your target temperature (70F), then you can just change the setting on the controller. After some hours, the beer will go up to 70. If the temperature outside is below your target, you will need to add some heat.
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Ok bet here in North Carolina were it’s 80f to 90f during the day an at night it get down to the low 60’s. I know during the day it will rise like I want it to but what about at night where the outside temp get lower than the set temp on my temperature controller
The outside temperature doesn’t mater just the room or closet your going to keep it.
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And you can reduce the swings of temperature by placing the carboy in water such as a Home Depot 10 g water cooler.
Like the one lurking in the background of this brew day pic.
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What do you mean by dry out a little more? Do you mean to make sure it finishes? The fermentabilty of the wort and attenuation of the yeast are the factors that determine how much residual sugar is left behind.
Yes, those are both very important. But temperature of fermentation also plays a role in fermentability. Keeping temperature at the lower end of viability for the yeast - as experience homebrewers typically do - can result in them stopping and shutting down as the easily metabolized sugar concentration drops, even before all those sugars are fully consumed. Very vigorous (warm) fermentations will result in higher attenuation as the yeast has more energy to work even on sugars that are less easily metabolized.
Raising the temperature towards the end of fermentation as the OP is attempting will help the yeast finish before shutting down, without throwing off flavors as they do when they are in a warm environment with high concentrations of sugar. I’ve been using this technique for years; works great.
I understand what you’re saying. Temp rise after fermentation starts to slow is beneficial to help insure fermentation is completed before the yeast flocculate. I’m just not sure I would call that drying it out. I would call it complete fermentation. When I think dry I think of mashing lower to create a highly fermentable wort, replacing some extract with corn sugar, using a high attenuation yeast strain.
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I think RBC is referring to a warm wort will ferment too fast, the yeast exhaust its self and not complete the project, thusly leaving a some what sweeter finished product. What he’s doing is actually fermenting at the cooler side of the yeasts ambient temp, and let it do its job slowly and then slowly ramp up the temp so the yeast is healthy and complete its job, thusly better attenuation, lower final gravity, you could replace those words with dry perhaps. Sneezles61
Hi Sneezles. No, I was referring to exactly what Mhall said. I guess it’s a matter of semantics. Anything that will aid in more complete fermentation I think of as “drying out”, as opposed to having a sweeter beer.
