fridge temp for wpl 001

[aussie brewer]

what temp should I set my fridge to to get a ferment temp of 18C inside the fermenter? I read a few posts saying the temp inside the fermenter is a fair bit higher than the ambient temp.
Cheers

 

[RM-MN]

In truth, nobody knows. Every fermentation is different and while one may just chug along, raising the temperature very little, the next might be explosive and get you a big temperature change.

The best was to control fermentation temperature it to use an external controller with its sensor taped to the fermenter and a bit of insulation taped over that. It will then sense the beer temperature and regulate the refrigerator to hold that temperature nearly constant.

 

[aussie brewer]

In truth, nobody knows. Every fermentation is different and while one may just chug along, raising the temperature very little, the next might be explosive and get you a big temperature change.

The best was to control fermentation temperature it to use an external controller with its sensor taped to the fermenter and a bit of insulation taped over that. It will then sense the beer temperature and regulate the refrigerator to hold that temperature nearly constant.

I have the probe taped to the middle of the fermenter with some rubber on top and set to 18C my all grain pale ale has been in primary for 10 days then secondary for 5. I tasted a sample last night and it has a slight alcohol bite to it(fusels)?

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I have the probe taped to the middle of the fermenter with some rubber on top and set to 18C my all grain pale ale has been in primary for 10 days then secondary for 5. I tasted a sample last night and it has a slight alcohol bite to it(fusels)?

You are not providing much info to go on here. I have never gotten any "alcohol bite" from a under 6% pale ale fermented with a typical California ale yeast. What is your recipe?

 

[aussie brewer]

You are not providing much info to go on here. I have never gotten any "alcohol bite" from a under 6% pale ale fermented with a typical California ale yeast. What is your recipe?

my recipe for a 13L batch is
2.47kg pale malt
650g light munich
180g carapils
60g acid malt
9g Chinook 20mins
15.5g cascade 20mins
4.6g Chinook 10mins
5.1g cascade 10 mins
10.2g Chinook 0 mins
10.2g cascade 0mins
ca31 mg3 so451 cl26
mash temp 66.7 mash ph 5.3
ibu34 og 1.051
dry hopped for 3 days 8g cascade 8g chinook
There wan a ton of trub in the primary from a failed whirlpool

 

[RM-MN]

I have the probe taped to the middle of the fermenter with some rubber on top and set to 18C my all grain pale ale has been in primary for 10 days then secondary for 5. I tasted a sample last night and it has a slight alcohol bite to it(fusels)?

OK, you have asked a different question than what I answered. You do have an external controller so you can set the fermentation temperature rather than just the temperature set by the refrigerator's own control. With that controller you would look up the yeast's preferred temperature range and start the ferment at the lower end of that range, keeping it there for at least until the ferment slows down. Once the ferment slows, all the "off flavors" including the fusel alcohol are already created so you don't need to keep is so cool, probably closer to 22-24C to encourage the yeast to eat all the possible sugars and do their cleanup.

Please be aware that unless you are adding fruit (true secondary fermentation) or bulk aging like for a barleywine, you don't need a secondary and will be better off without using one. Don't worry about the trub either. The yeast seem to like it in the fermenter. Given time it will settle out and you can rack more beer to your keg than what you would had you done a successful whirlpool.

 

[aussie brewer]

Going back over my notes the first 4 days were 20C then down to 18 for 6 days, maybe set the temp controller to 17 next time?

 

[Bigdaddyale]

for down and dirty time and tempt. 68F° for 5 days, 74F° for 4 days then crash to 34F°

 

[RM-MN]

Going back over my notes the first 4 days were 20C

The first 4 days (for most ales) is the most critical for temperature. Start the beer low, then let it warm.