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My first time brewing a cooper's larger home kit(, I'm fine with all the instruction's, The only worry I have is keeping the temputure steady?,Because the day's are worm then cold the next, I was thinking of putting the fermenter in a small cupboard with a 25 whatt bulb?. Should i ceck the temp every day or will the fermentation process keep the brew at the right temp??.
As you see I'm not quit sure what the best option is?.
Please could you give me some very detailed advice!!...
Thank you aussie sean..
P.S would milton's be a good idea to steralize the fermenter e.t.c ??..
P.P.S What is the best alternative to a brewing fridge??....
Last edited by aussie sean on Tuesday Sep 04, 2007 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Just wrap the fermenter in a blanket/towel/sleeping bag or similar. The overall temperature of your beer is less critical than having the temperature be stable.
Keep in mind also that 23L of beer has quite a high thermal mass, so even if you left it unprotected and the ambient temperature fluctuated by say +- 5°C, you would be very unlikely to see more than a degree of fluctuation in your wort, which is fine.
Agree that the light bulb idea is a bad one. Really, insulation is all you need, so long as the average temperature is above 16°C.
I wouldn't stress too much about varying temps sean. My carboy sits in the laundry, our temparatures at the moment are varying from down to 6c overnight up to 25c during the day. Even with these large variations in temperature my brew has only varied between 18c-22c, which is quite acceptable. As far as checking the temp every day, you should have a temperature sticker on the side of your carboy so you can check the temp any time of the day or night.
My advice is leave it for 7-14 days, bottle it, wait for 21 days, drink it. Welcome to home brewing, your life will never be the same.
"Doc, what can I do about these terrible hangovers?"
'You can stop drinking beer'
"No, seriously Doc, what can I do?"
I'd also recommend that you stay away from using the light bulb. However, I can tell you that band heaters that wrap around the outside of the fermenter are readily available. If you're going to do any amount of brewing, they're a cheap investment and will allow you to brew ales even during the chill of winter.
I have a band heater and a heater pad, and I find the band heater seems to heat it to much. They are OK for Ales.
The heater pad I have seems to be more steady. I get a nice 22 degrees out of it most of the time.
This is only good in winter for lagers. This time of the year i don't bother, and when its warmer, will probably cover with a wet towel to cool lagers down.
Best to stick to ales when its warm, and lagers when its cool.
Who ever said nothing was impossible, never tried to slam a revolving door....
Agree heat belt too hot. What I did was max out the width of the heat belt and put fibro bits (non flammable) inbetween the heat belt and the fermenter to reduce temp.
I have done the light globe but what I do is sit it on the shelf below the fermenter. The light is not directly on the fermenter and it works a treat. Heat rises .
I have also put the fermenters in old jumpers so that the light does not penetrate the beer with the globe in the same shelf and it worked fine.
Constant is better, I do agree, but if you are having trouble you can try the above. I think the belt is a pain in the ass, maybe try the mat.
Cheers
Boonie
A homebrew is like a fart, only the brewer thinks it's great.
Give me a flying headbutt.......
Yeah, fair call on the belt. I'm an ale fan, and even then I keep a close eye on the temp of the brew, and forget using it for lagers or pilseners. As soon as my brew gets to 18-20 degrees, the heater gets turned off.
At the least, it allows me to brew my ales in the colder months.
i use a heat belt plugged into a timer switch. gives you a fair amount of control as you can set it to warm for 15mins a day- 24 hours and everything in between in 15 minute increments.
After I put down a brew, I move the fermenter into a bin of temperature controlled water. Temperature is controlled by an aquarium thermostatic heater. Works a treat in winter.
In summer I usually remove the aquarium heater. Water temp keeps brew steady, although I've been fortunate in not having a brew on the go during a heatwave. Even then. I believe this method would be reasonably successful.
Ideally, we could all resort to refrigeration during our hot summers but, as most of us are aware, this is not available to all, and for varying reasons.
Drunkin Bunyip wrote:Can any 1 tell me how a fridgemate actually conects to the fridge ive seen how its wired up etc. but i dont c were it is wired to the fridge
You cut an extension cord in half and wire it in between the 2 ends. Then plug your fridge into the power cord.
They are great because you can use them with a heat pad for your ales
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