Temp on carboy or in room?

[schwibbidy]

When trying to figure out the temp range for your fermentation do you use the temperature of the room it's fermenting in or the temp on the thermometer strip on the carboy? Because I have a cocoa porter going now that I believe should be between 65-75 degrees the room its sitting in is at 70 but because of the yeast fermenting it reads 76-78 on the carboy strip which should I go off of? Should I move to the basement or forget about it

 

[BigFloyd]

The fermenter temp is the important one and yours is way too warm.

Get it to the basement post-haste. Hope you're not using Nottingham.

 

[craigkelker]

I put my fermentation bucket into a larger bucket filled with water to cool the fermentation down. Search for swamp cooler for details. After the initial 2-4 days in the swamp cooler (air at 64 degrees), I remove it from the cooler and place in the same location to allow it to warm slightly. Lastly, if I have some more points to drop, I'll relocate into my computer room where it is warmer or use a heated blanket.

 

[schwibbidy]

Its a big cocoa vanilla porter so even if I get some higher temperatures during my primary i doubt it would impart too many fruity esters that would be noticeable, I had an OG of 1.080 with this baby, I did add 8 oz cocoa powder and 1 lb lactose the last 10 min of boil so I'm not sure if that impacts anything either

 

[SantaMonicaBrewing]

Its a big cocoa vanilla porter so even if I get some higher temperatures during my primary i doubt it would impart too many fruity esters that would be noticeable, I had an OG of 1.080 with this baby, I did add 8 oz cocoa powder and 1 lb lactose the last 10 min of boil so I'm not sure if that impacts anything either

Sounds delicious! Let us know how it turns out. I have a hot fermentation going right now too. Room is 65 but temp strip says 78!

Good luck.

 

[dcp27]

Its a big cocoa vanilla porter so even if I get some higher temperatures during my primary i doubt it would impart too many fruity esters that would be noticeable, I had an OG of 1.080 with this baby, I did add 8 oz cocoa powder and 1 lb lactose the last 10 min of boil so I'm not sure if that impacts anything either

if anything being big is worse, you're likely creating fusels at those temps. like bigfloyd said get your temp down ASAP

 

[BigFloyd]

if anything being big is worse, you're likely creating fusels at those temps. like bigfloyd said get your temp down ASAP

What yeast are you using?

Just because it's a darker. roastier beer with high ABV doesn't mean that it will effectively hide the off-flavors you'll likely produce at the higher ferment temps. If it's hot enough to produce a decent amount of fusel alcohol, you'll have a dark beer that gives you a headache.

Even if fermented at optimal temps, you're going to want to let this one carb/condition a few months anyway. I have a milk chocolate stout (1lb lactose, 8oz cocoa powder) currently at 6 weeks in the bottles. At 3 weeks, it was not very nice. Yesterday, it was quite a lot better, but I'll give it another month before trying another bottle. I when I brewed it that it would be a 3-4 month beer.

 

[schwibbidy]

I'm using a wyeast 1099 for the cocoa porter, the carboy temp has since come down to low 70s