whats worse?

[jefferym09]

i think im trying to choose the leser of two evils here. iv'e got a brew going right now, first one ive brewed in my new house. but i cant find that perfect spot for my carboy that keeps a constant and correct temperature. i used 1007 german ale yeast that has a temp range that peaks at 68 degrees. i kept it in my closet at first and it was up to 72, even the ice bath and towel wick trick didnt help at all. so now its in my garage and the temp is within the correct range, but its not constant. at night it goes down to roughly 58, during the day its get up to 65 or so.

So whats worse, a temp thats constant, but too high; or temperatures that fluctuate 10 degrees or so from day to night?

 

[dannyhawkins]

I'm of the opinion that fluctuating temperatures are harder on yeast than steady temperatures that are out of the ideal range. I brewed several batches in my closet at 73 F before my temperature control days and there was nothing blatantly wrong with those beers. They may have reached 80 during a given fermentation and I did not detect any (high temp) off flavors. I am not saying that temp control is unnecessary at all, it is great. But I think temperature swings are worse than steady temps near ideal range.
FWIW I just did the first beer at my apt and I'm currently fermenting in the bathtub adding frozen bottles every few hours. It works like a dream! I heard the shirt and fan works best with low humidity and air turnover/movement. I'm at a steady 62-63 with 3 bottles every couple hours. Seems like a lot of checking but I was gonna be here anyway so I just check it when I pass by NBD. I would revisit the tub without the shirt if you know what I mean.

 

[boydster]

Big temp swings are stressful for the yeast, and they switch from normal metabolism to making heat shock proteins to protect themselves. That takes away from their ability to perform other tasks, including fermentation. Set up yourself up with a swamp cooler. Cheap and gives you decent control over fermentation temps.

Also, are you measuring the beer temp? It probably isnt changing quite as much as the air temp.

 

[duboman]

If the swamp cooler wasn't working for you then you did not use enough frozen water bottles simple fix-add enough frozen water bottles to lower the temps to what you need.....

 

[jefferym09]

i have a temp strip on the carboy. ive heard they dont give very accurate reading of the beer itself, but it did register a temp change from 70 down to 62. i have the temp fluctuating between 62 and 65 now. so thats not as bad i guess. just out of curisosity, whats the expensive way to regulate temperature? i know the home remedy's work fine, but someday i might go the expensive route by buying some new piece of equipment or something where i hopefully juzt wont have to worry about it...

 

[insanim8er]

i think im trying to choose the leser of two evils here. iv'e got a brew going right now, first one ive brewed in my new house. but i cant find that perfect spot for my carboy that keeps a constant and correct temperature. i used 1007 german ale yeast that has a temp range that peaks at 68 degrees. i kept it in my closet at first and it was up to 72, even the ice bath and towel wick trick didnt help at all. so now its in my garage and the temp is within the correct range, but its not constant. at night it goes down to roughly 58, during the day its get up to 65 or so.

So whats worse, a temp thats constant, but too high; or temperatures that fluctuate 10 degrees or so from day to night?

Just bring it over to my place. I live in OC. I have room in my fermentation chamber. And luck would have it, there is room in my kegerator too

 

[duboman]

i have a temp strip on the carboy. ive heard they dont give very accurate reading of the beer itself, but it did register a temp change from 70 down to 62. i have the temp fluctuating between 62 and 65 now. so thats not as bad i guess. just out of curisosity, whats the expensive way to regulate temperature? i know the home remedy's work fine, but someday i might go the expensive route by buying some new piece of equipment or something where i hopefully juzt wont have to worry about it...

The expensive option (Which still doesn't have to be expensive) would be a dedicated fermentation chamber like a fridge or freezer with an external temperature controller. Used Fridge/freezers can be found in many location Like Craig's list and you can build a temperature controller like the STC 1000 off the internet