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Hi. First posting. This website has so much info, it's great, but can't find exactley what i'm after. I've started brewing but only done a couple of batches and nothing too daring. Was wondering if different types of beer need different brewing temperatures?
I have read alot on here and notice people mention different temps in their fermenter. Is there a guide to beer types/ temps? The good ol Coopers kit says keep between 17 and 28 deg.
Also wondering, after bottling, should i be keeping them at a certain temp?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated, love brewing my own beer.
Cheers, Brad
Welcome to the forum. As a general rule of thumb, ales are brewed in the 18-25 range and lagers in the 8-15 degree range (open to conjecture, of course). The Coopers kit would be referring to ale yeast. You can go higher with both styles but you risk getting other, perhaps unwanted, flavours when brewing hotter. The optimum range for an ale yeast is about 20degrees. And a big thing here is consistency. If you can keep your temp consistent you'll end up with a better beer. Lower temps that what is recommended will merely make the yeasties fall asleep.
With regards bottling, you should keep them at room temp while you're carbing them up (say, first 2 weeks after bottling). After that cellar conditions are probably best (cool and dry).
Great. Thanks Timmy. That's exately what i was after.
Are the kit yeasts and yeast you can but at hb shops that much different? Also read the better the yeast, better beer. Does all yest react at the same temp?
Not really sure about the temp issue, but the good HBS yeast makes a huge difference if you follow the correct procedures (making starters if necessary, maintaining temps etc). I've been making wheat beers using the wyeast liquid cultures and they are totally different beers than when I was using the Coopers kit yeast.
If you stick to the reputable brands (Fermentis who make safale/saflager, White Labs, Wyeast) you can't go too far wrong. Saying that, the Coopers yeasts are very good anyway. I started using the kit yeasts and am gradually moving to liquid yeasts from Wyeast.
Yeast are like surfboards. You can't have everything, each board has its own strengths and weaknesses. In general though, you get a greater range in liquid yeasts, and the beers produced tend to be of higher quality, closer to the specific style that the yeast is known to produce.
You need to get all of your other brewing techniques honed first, especially sanitisation but also temperature control, before it becomes really worthwhile to start messing around with liquid yeasts. They're a bit more difficult to use, normally requiring preparation of a starter, and if you don't make multiple starters from each pack, then they are much more expensive.
Thanks for the info guys, I'll fine tune my techinque before i go exploring too much. I'm just really interested in brewing.
I've got my brew in an old small fridge and after 3 days it has dropped to and staying at 20deg. I have a brew belt around it just in case. It usually gets below 10 deg here overnight, but the fridge seems to be working. Do you guys recommend a brew belt? Can they ruin anything?
....Oops I, umm, mean here 