Ferment temp questions

[wizdumb1]

I recently made two beers. 1 is a Winter Beer Started on the 21st with Safe ale 05 It's been at 59F Steady from the start. Actual temp not air.

It's still Foamy at the top and cloudy and the airlock barely bubbles. It was a very active fermentation was coming through the blow off tube for 4-5 days.


The second beer is a Honey Ale. Started late on the 26th with Danstar Windsor yeast. It's been in the exact temp range 59F steady. This one didn't take long to start and was very strong also but for only a day and a half then it completely died down.

Are these temps acceptable? I still need to get a better control on temps. These I put in front of a vent in my basement with cool air coming in to keep temps down during the start. I just moved them to a slightly warmer area today since they seem to have died down. Would this be the best move for them to finish out and clean up? And should the beer be clean fermenting at the temps from above?

 

[laughingboysbrew]

You can't rely on visual alone to measure fermentation activity. You need to carefully pull gravity readings along the way. 3-5 days of visual activity followed by a few days of "silent" activity is common. Gravity is the only way to be sure. Once you hit your FG, you can let the yeast sit for another 48-72hrs to help clean up. Some people raise temp during this period, but I only do that for lagers. However if you are fermenting at 59F, you may have some diacetyl? If you do raise temp, never more than 1-2deg/day and not much more than 5-10deg above your ferm temp. Then you can cold crash to settle yeast out.

With ale yeast at those temps, you run the risk of them shutting down early. Might have happened to your Honey Ale. Final gravity reading? Also, have you tasted them?

 

[Soldevi]

Fermentation at those temps will take a bit longer than normal. 59* air temp is gonna be more like 61~64 fermentation temp. Everything will be fine. Let them go for 10 days and take a gravity reading.

 

[Puddlethumper]

I recently made two beers. 1 is a Winter Beer Started on the 21st with Safe ale 05 It's been at 59F Steady from the start. Actual temp not air.

Are these temps acceptable? I still need to get a better control on temps. These I put in front of a vent in my basement with cool air coming in to keep temps down during the start. I just moved them to a slightly warmer area today since they seem to have died down. Would this be the best move for them to finish out and clean up? And should the beer be clean fermenting at the temps from above?

I have no experience with the Windsor yeast so I won't offer an opinion there. But I think 59F is too cold for Safale US-05. I've used that yeast quite a lot and from my experience it likes a substantially warmer temps than you are running. I typically ferment that strain at 68-72F (actual beer temp - not ambient air). At the low temps you are running I would be concerned that it won't finish fermentation and you'll end up with some bottle grenades after adding your priming sugar and letting it warm up. At best it will be terrifically over-carbonated.

Definitely take a gravity reading to see where your beer is at. It should be somewhere in the vicinity of 1.010 or a little higher. If it's significantly higher than that you should move it to a warmer location, agitate it a little and let it set for another week or so. Then take another gravity reading and see if it has dropped.

 

[wizdumb1]

The winter had a 1.060 o.g. and the honey was 1.050 I can't remember the final right now for either but do have them in my notes at home. If I slowly let them warm back up and swirl them a little will it be ok? I was more worried about the first part of fermentation. The temps were taken from the sticky thermometer on the carboys.

I am still working on a full temp control system. This time I used what I had which was the vent...lol I had one batch ferment way too warm and it gives me migrains and is fruity so I figured cold was the way to go this time. Still learningaboit all stages.

 

[Puddlethumper]

The winter had a 1.060 o.g. and the honey was 1.050 I can't remember the final right now for either but do have them in my notes at home. If I slowly let them warm back up and swirl them a little will it be ok? I was more worried about the first part of fermentation. The temps were taken from the sticky thermometer on the carboys.

I am still working on a full temp control system. This time I used what I had which was the vent...lol I had one batch ferment way too warm and it gives me migrains and is fruity so I figured cold was the way to go this time. Still learningaboit all stages.

Yeast can be a little fussy about the temp it likes. Too warm can be as bad or worse than too cold. Keeping the yeast happy seems, to me at least, to be one of the real tricks in brewing good beer. If you can keep US-05 in the mid to upper 60's I think you'll find it performs really well. I also like to use Danstar BRY-97 in that same temp range for American Pale Ales, Cream Ales and American Ambers (actually prefer it to US-05). If you've got consistently cool area for fermentation (say 58-64F) you might try doing some English style beers using Nottingham. It likes those temps and does really well when kept a little cool.

That beer at 1.060 OG might be finished at higher than 1.010but 1.020 still seems high to me. I'd give it a little time to see if it will drop to 1.014-1.016.

 

[Puddlethumper]

The winter had a 1.060 o.g. and the honey was 1.050 I can't remember the final right now for either but do have them in my notes at home. If I slowly let them warm back up and swirl them a little will it be ok? I was more worried about the first part of fermentation. The temps were taken from the sticky thermometer on the carboys.

I forgot a couple things in the last post ...

Your initial fermentation was probably just fine. Fermentation is an exothermic process so the fermentation itself generated enough additional warmth to keep the process moving along. Where we can get into trouble is when we allow the beer to remain too cool after that initial period. As the vigorous initial fermentation dies down so does the temperature of the beer. If it drops too far the yeast may simply go to sleep and you have a stuck fermentation.

Let your beer warm up to 68-72F and give it a little swirl. Then let it set for another few days. Another gravity reading at that point will tell you if further fermentation took place.

 

[wizdumb1]

Thanks for the help! Ill give all the advice a go and see where I get.

I can't wait to snag a freezer for a more balanced temp control. I picked up one feezer free on craigslist but was way too big for my brew area. I'm about to order a temp controller ahead of time. Plus side is we need a bigger freezer for our food so I don't have to beg the wife to spend money.lol

 

[Puddlethumper]

Thanks for the help! Ill give all the advice a go and see where I get.

I can't wait to snag a freezer for a more balanced temp control. I picked up one feezer free on craigslist but was way too big for my brew area. I'm about to order a temp controller ahead of time. Plus side is we need a bigger freezer for our food so I don't have to beg the wife to spend money.lol

Almost anyone can brew a drinkable beer, but this whole process of learning to brew better beer is amazing. Better equipment definitely helps. Keeping your brew at a controlled temperature eliminates a major variable and will be a huge step forward for you. Once you can control the temperature the next step is to learn what temperatures the yeasts you are using really like.

 

[wizdumb1]

Moved them to a slightly warmer area. The Honey ale picked up on activity way more bubbles coming up. Ill let that go for another week and see how it goes. The winter Ale is bubbling a little more but o figure that one is near its end. Ill check the gravity on that one maybe this weekend and see where its at.

The temps look to have gone up to 64f Should I slowly move it to a warmer area over the next few days? Or should I just bring them upsataris to a closet and let them slowly warm up to room temp. Upstairs its about 69 -70

Going to grab a new freezer over the next little bit before I start again so I'm not fighting unpredictable temps. I guess I'm in a mindset where I want to be dead on with temps. My first beer tastes real good and looks good just a little fruity tasting with the headaches. My second I went all grain and it came out ok.
Ill just call it drinkable..lol nothing I'd share but has a decent taste. Its getting better the longer it sits. I've figured out what went wrong with that. Now I'm just on the temp thing.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Perhaps someone with more expertise will weigh in on this if I'm wrong, but as I understand it most of the danger of off-flavors occurs during the initial fermentation. After about a week most of that danger has past and the yeast is going through it's "clean-up" phase. At that point its OK to move the beer to a warmer area without much danger of messing it up.

I have a fermenter/freezer outside that I keep at 62F-68F depending on what I'm working on. Once I move a batch to secondary it comes into my office where it sits on the floor in a dark corner at 70-74F. I've never gotten an off flavor in any of the batches I've handled that way. And I've also solved a problem I initally encountered with overcarbonation.

 

[wizdumb1]

Perhaps someone with more expertise will weigh in on this if I'm wrong, but as I understand it most of the danger of off-flavors occurs during the initial fermentation. After about a week most of that danger has past and the yeast is going through it's "clean-up" phase. At that point its OK to move the beer to a warmer area without much danger of messing it up.

I have a fermenter/freezer outside that I keep at 62F-68F depending on what I'm working on. Once I move a batch to secondary it comes into my office where it sits on the floor in a dark corner at 70-74F. I've never gotten an off flavor in any of the batches I've handled that way. And I've also solved a problem I initally encountered with overcarbonation.

Thats what I was thinking when I kept it cold. I didn't think it would be as cold as it was but did what I could with what I had. I figured cold is better than heat but I guess it might go both ways? I see the temp range on the yeast package and wasn't sure if anyone went ahead on the lower end or below or if there was any input on possible issues with it changing flavor.

I ended up checking the gravity on the Winter Ale and it's at 1.010 now.
The taste is way better than any from previous batches at this point so I'm guessing that's a plus. If it tastes like that flat I'm hoping carbonated will be even better. A little more cinnamon than I had expected and I even cut back quite a bit from the original recipe I used but not overpowering. I'm happy with it so far.

Guess I'll check it again in a couple days then let it sit and clear some more then check again around bottle time. It's pretty dark so I'm guessing clearing is not extremely important but I'm not in any rush with these.

The Honey Ale is still going along and slowly clearing around the top

 

[davekippen]

My last few batches have spent their first 7-14 days in a controlled chamber, then I pull them out and they sit in the garage for another few weeks at whatever temp. I did this to test the theory of how temp swings after initial ferm affect the beer.

The first beer was a BIPA that fermented at 64 (actual) for 2 weeks, then sat in the garage that swung from about 50 to into the 80's during the day. I did not notice any of the normal funky off flavors from a hot ferm.

I only have a couple of datapoints, but from where I stand, I will let all my beers finish outside the controlled chamber. Need that space to brew new beers!!!

 

[Puddlethumper]

Thats what I was thinking when I kept it cold. I didn't think it would be as cold as it was but did what I could with what I had. I figured cold is better than heat but I guess it might go both ways?

I ended up checking the gravity on the Winter Ale and it's at 1.010 now.
The taste is way better than any from previous batches at this point

Guess I'll check it again in a couple days then let it sit and clear some more then check again around bottle time. It's pretty dark so I'm guessing clearing is not extremely important but I'm not in any rush with these.

The Honey Ale is still going along and slowly clearing around the top

Sounds like you are on top of your game. I'll bet both those brews turn out great!

Cheers!

 

[wizdumb1]

Sounds like you are on top of your game. I'll bet both those brews turn out great!

Cheers!

Thanks! And thanks to you and everyone for all of the advice. I'm learning with every brew and enjoying it more and more.