Fermentation Temperature When Fermenting More Than 1 Beer At A Time

[jglazer]

Hey All-

I will soon have a Mother of Fermentation Chamber built and I am curious about fermenting more than 1 beer in it at a time. Say I have 1 batch fermenting in there, then next week I brew another batch and put it in there, do I switch the temperature probe to the new batch? If so, that new batch will be a few degrees warmer due to the yeast activity so then the ambient temperature has to be that much colder to keep it at the desired temp. This will effect my first batch, making it colder than I want it to be.

Has anyone encountered this? And if so what do you usually do about it? Is the temperature fluctuation of the first batch negligible? Thanks!

 

[duboman]

Unless you are talking about none beer being a lager the first batch can be removed, once active fermentation a slows temperature control is really not an issue. In fact some strains prefer to rise a bit as they slow to keep them busy and finish

 

[Hammy71]

Yep, after the first week, you can remove the beer to another location.

 

[cyclonite]

Yep, after the first week, you can remove the beer to another location.

+1 - After a week, no need to have that bad boy in the cooled chamber unless you are doing a lager.

 

[jglazer]

Awesome, thanks for the info guys!

The only time I can see myself not wanting to remove the first batch is when the ambient temp of my apartment is in the 80s. I do not have great temp control in my apartment and I live in the south so it gets quite hot during the days (90s outside and I don't leave the AC on during the day). I guess in this case I can either just leave it in, or take it out and make some sort of swamp cooler (which is not ideal but may be better than leaving it in the chamber). I guess it all depends on how the yeast is doing and if I need to squeeze a few more gravity points out of them

 

[naga77777]

Glad you got some feedback. I started a thread with the exact same question shortly after I joined, and all I got was crickets chirping, LOL.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/staggered-fermentation-temp-probe-question-341522/

I've since moved my active fermentations to a chest freezer with STC-1000, but I still have the Mother of Fermentation Chiller that I put carboys/buckets in when I need the freezer.

I never did come to any sort of conclusions myself on how to keep both things happy using only a single-stage temp controller. (My fan control will only cool)

An idea I just had, though, would be to get some fermwrap and sit it beside the earlier batch, with it touching the side of the fermenter. I've been doing a batch of skeeter pee like this for about 2 months. The fermwrap would keep the pee WAY too hot, being plugged straight into the wall, and not a temp controller, if I wrapped it around the entire fermenter. So I found out that just letting it sit touching the side of the fermenter, it would warm it about 5-7deg over ambient.

Long story short, put the probe on the active fermenter, and you could use some fermwrap to keep the earlier batch warm in the cooler air that the active fermenter needs.

Only downside I can see is you'd go through more ice that way.

 

[jglazer]

I think that's similar to what I was thinking too. I have some extra foamboard so I may take 2 pieces, glue them together so they form an L shape, then when the first batch needs to warm up slightly (and I have another batch going in at the same time) I'll push the first batch into the back left corner, put the L shaped foam around it so that the first batch is coming in contact with 2 outside walls, but is also insulated from the cool air on the inside of the fermenter. The only adjustment I may need to make is leaving a little space at the top of the L shaped foam to let 'some' cold air in, but we'll see.

If I do go this route I'll be sure to monitor both temps and report back if it works or not.