Yeast temp question

72 ambient air temps mean 75+ degrees fermentation temps. that is workable for some yeast varieties, not advisable for most and not really possible with many. you cant brew a lager for example.

get to know Saison, French or Belgian. Belgian strains in general will work, though perhaps not ideally. Depends on your beer and your expectations. also, look up swamp cooler and fermentation chamber. plenty of DIY work arounds are out there. be a homebrewer, improvise.
Cheers.

 

Buy a cheap plastic storage bin. Put your fermentor in there, wrapped in a towel, and fill with cold water. Put it in a cool room with a box fan turned on it. Drop frozen milk jugs with water into it on a rotating basis. Its actually a pretty easy, cheap, and not very labor intensive setup. Works well unless you don't have AC and its the middle of summer

 

^^^ This, if you want to keep it cheap. If you want to go big, you'll get an external thermostat ($50-150) and another fridge/freezer ($50 on CraigsList, and up). Space isn't a valid complaint. If you have room for a big Tupperware, you have room for a fridge.

 

You could consider a chest freezer with a temperature controller (a more expensive option). That way you can keep close control on your fermentation temps. I'm in the process of acquiring one.

 

I forgot to answer your first question. If you are not wanting to do Belgians two yeast varieties that supposedly do well in the low 70s are London Ale III and British Ale II from Wyeast.

 

I have fermented with US-05 in the low 70s and those beers turned out fine.

Cheers!

P.S. The manufacturer's recommended range for US-05 is 59-75 degrees F.

 

“Worried that I did not get a full fermentation.” Why? I have had fermentations complete in 3-4 days.

Cheers!

 

Take a gravity reading several days apart and compare them to each other and to your expected Final Gravity for the recipe. That's the only way to know what is happening. As Jack said, you could be done, but maybe you're not. You definitely don't want to bottle until you are certain that the fermentation is complete or you could end up with bottle bombs.

 

you can't guess at this if you're on the fence like high sixties to low to mid seventies. If you are SURE you're staying at like 67-68 all day long, that's do-able. Fluctuations into the seventies, that's a no-go.

I used to ferment in a closet that was a steady 68 degrees and was able to use US-05, S-04 etc just fine. But these days I prefer 62-64 (in my temp controlled freezer) and wouldn't suggest going ANY higher than 68 ambient air, because you beer will be a bit warmer during peak fermentation.