I am fermenting first batch of home brew in over 15 years - an American Wheat beer. The directions say to keep the container at 65 degrees Fahrenheit. I keep my house at 74 degrees and I don't have a spare refrigerator to use. How will the difference in the temperature effect the fermenting process and the taste of the beer? Also, when transferring the wort from the pot to the fermenter (after chilling), I'm assuming I do not want to transfer all the sediment that has collected at the bottom of the pot. I know this sounds like a stupid question, but I'd rather ask than not know. Thanks in advance for the help. I really appreciate it.
74F ambient (~80F-ish wort temp) is too high for most yeast strains, and can cause high levels of esters and possibly fusel alcohols (potentially solventy taste). What's the yeast strain? This is true.
I use a controlled fermentation freezer. But there are cheaper ways. Search for ice water bath and/or wet t shirt in the forum. Others (who actually use these and similar methods) will chime in.
I have a large bucket that I place my fermenter in. I fill with water up to the beer line so as little as possible is exposed to ambient temps. I add frozen water bottles as needed to maintain 62-65 for the first week or so. It certainly falls short of a temp controlled chest freezer, but I think it's a much better option than a standard "swamp cooler" with a wet towel. edit: The stagnant water can get a little gross after 3-5 weeks. To remedy that I also add a splash of bleach or undiluted starsan to keep it from getting "milky".
OP, do a search of this forum using 'swamp cooler' as your key words, or just Google the words. P.S. Welcome to the BA site and to the Homebrew forum. Hang out here as much as you'd like.
I made my own cooler box using about $40 for materials from Home Depot. It was cheap, and works very well in the summer. I have the same problem keeping my house anywhere near fermentation temperature. Wish I could upload a photo but I don't have it on the web anywhere I can link it. But the fermentation temperature is very important. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...81556860.1073741828.1201776154&type=1&theater
Hope this works. I tried the link the Facebook album. Ignore the first picture that's my kegerator stuffed with home brew. The next ones are a step by step that I used to build my cooler box. Super easy. It looks good too so the wife doesn't mind it in the house. I have a lid for it that didn't make the pictures. It has insulation that fits perfectly into the top creating a perfect seal, and I have drilled a small hole for a analog temp gauge so I don't have to open it to check the temp.
I do the same thing except I use a rectangular Coleman cooler (lid stays up). Works great. But I don't understand why you need to keep the water in there for three weeks? After 3 or 4 days the fermentor can come out and stabilize at room temp (for ales at least).
I constantly battle my wife over the thermostat. Depending on what she's wearing that day my "air conditioning" can be set to 80 in the spring/summer. It may or may not be fine to condition at that temp after a few days but it's peace of mind that my beer never goes above 68 for at least the first 10 days.
Ah I gotcha. Yeah my house stays between 67-72 (74 today because of the 100 degree temp, ac's workin') After those active ferm days, I don't worry too much. Helps to bring it back up for attenuation's sake, anyways.
I did this with my Kolsch when it was in a glass carboy for secondary (trying desperately to keep temps low the whole time). I was reluctant to do it with the stout I just brewed because I don't entirely trust the seal on the spigot of my bucket. I should mention I use one bucket as a primary/bottling bucket.
Here is an update. I came home from work yesterday and checked the temp and it was 74 degrees. There where a lot of bubbles coming out of the air lock. This was about 24 hours after I started the fermenting process. I made an ice bath with a large bucket and some frozen water bottles filled with water and the temp is staying around 64-66 degrees and the bubbles have slowed down significantly. In fact, is has slowed down so much I'm afraid something is wrong. Time will tell.
Your fermentation probably has peaked and the slow down is for that reason as well as the lower temp. Your beer will be okay. Just keep that lower temp for a couple more days to allow the remainder of the fermentation to occur.
