Brewing ale at 16-18C?

ex0ja · Post by **ex0ja** » Thursday May 25, 2006 6:19 pm

Hey

I'm really keen to brew a stout, but since its winter it gets too cold out in the shed where I normally ferment. Inside the house the temperature sits at around 18C but drops down to about 16C in the night. Would this have any negative effect on the beer or just prolonge the fermentation process?

I'm guessing if the temperature gets down to 15 or 16C it ceases fermentation, but will start again when it gets back up to 18, is this correct? Or am I risking it stopping and not starting again if the temperature gets too low?

Thanks.

Gough72 · Post by **Gough72** » Thursday May 25, 2006 10:43 pm

It depends on what yeast you are using, but if you are using a good quality ale yeast, especially most liquid yeasts, 16-18 degrees will see a very clean fermentation and probably an excellent beer. I ferment almost all my ales in this range unless I'm going for some real 'fruitiness' in a British ale etc...

Good luck,

Shawn.

ex0ja · Post by **ex0ja** » Friday May 26, 2006 2:43 am

Thanks Shawn. New username???

It won't happen, but out of interest, what would happpen if it dropped to say 10C every night but went up to 18 again during the day?

Would it stop and start fermenting depending on the temp?

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Friday May 26, 2006 10:23 am

I doubt it would stop fermenting completely. It would slow. It is more important to maintain a constant temperature, than a warmer one.

And an 8*C range would be very unusual

ex0ja · Post by **ex0ja** » Friday May 26, 2006 2:40 pm

Cool, thanks Chris.

I've put a thermometer in a tub of water where my fermenter will be sitting in the kitchen and its been at a constant 18 degrees

Now I just gotta get some money together for the ingredients. I'm so broke

shane_vor · Post by **shane_vor** » Friday May 26, 2006 6:11 pm

Have you tried heating up and coolin 20 odd litres of fluid? Any idea how long it takes? I'd suggest given the temperature variation, the wort itself should stay 'reasonably' constant and somewhere in between the two extremes.

I've just made up a pilsner and put it in the garden shed today (I usually brew inside). The shed's at 17-18 deg during the day and I know it get's a heap cooler than that at night this time of year. So I'm expecting the wort to hover around the 12-15 deg mark.