Question about Temperature during Fermentation

[daytonlawvol]

Ive had my soon to be beer fermenting for about 22 hours in a room in my house with the fan on and another fan blowing on it. However, the temperature of the liquid according to a thermometer on the outside of the bucket, is about 78 degrees. Ive read where it needs to be somewhere between 60-75 degrees.

Im having activity from the airlock. It has been bubbling every 3-4 seconds. I decided to gently move the bucket into a cooler room....should I just leave it alone, or would I be save putting it in a bathtub which it is sitting up against right now, filled with water and keeping ice on it...or should I just leave it be.

Thanks

 

[Hang Glider]

The cooler, the better. Most beers turn out much cleaner when fermented at the bottom of the yeast range.

You will certainly have airlock activity at higher temps - yeast will go crazy in warm wort, but will also produce some off flavors.

My vote is to cool it down, now. Get it down to 65 if you can. Next batch, see if you can start at 65. The yeast will take off slower, but the beer will be better.

Cool bathtub, some blocks of ice -
many methods on this board for fermentation temperature control, from full fledged specialty cabinets, to spare refrigerators, to 'swamp coolers'

welcome to HBT!

 

[CrustyBrau]

A fan isn't going to cool anything down unless it's above room temperature...

 

[ChshreCat]

Check out the swamp cooler method. Many of us do that to keep our fermenting beers cool. I use one of those big party tubs with the rope handles. Water goes in tub. Fermenter goes in water. Then frozen water bottles go in the water and get swapped out 2 or 3 times a day. I was able to keep a beer in the 60's while it was over 100 outside and in the upper 90's in the apartment. Some folks go one step further and put some towels or a t-shirt on the fermenter so water wicks up into it. Then they set a fan blowing on it and the evaporative cooling effect brings the temp down even lower.

 

[kegtoe]

+1 to each of the last 3 comments...thats +3.

 

[daytonlawvol]

you got it guys, ive put the bucket into a bathtub with ice, ill change the ice when I can. Thanks.

 

[Sardoman]

Temp. control is vital. My brews (both extract and partial-mash) went from drinkable to excellent when I made a proper fermentation chamber. I tried the swamp cooler method but if you live in a hot, humid environment, like most of the East coast this summer, it just isn't enough. I'd throw ice in there, get it down to 65F, and by the time I came home from work or woke up in the morning, it would be back up to ambient (75-78F in my apt.). Not only that, but SWMBO was complaining that I was using more than half of the freezer for water bottles, because I needed so many to cool the water bath. I also had problems with fungal and bacterial growth in the water bath. Tried using potassium metabisulfite as one poster suggested, and it created a dilute sulfuric acid solution that corroded the handle of my fermentor bucket.
If the swamp cooler doesn't work, bite the bullet and do it right. I'm in a small apt. and got a 5.5 cubic ft. freezer hooked up to a Ranco thermostat and I couldn't be happier. Now I can cold crash before bottling too! There are many other solutions as well. Happy brewing!