Temperature Control For A Newbie

[sportscomedian]

So I live in a SoCal apartment. Just starting brewing with some Brew Demon kits. Didn't realize how important temperature control is before I began, so since my only option is an 75 degree AC cooled bedroom until the winter.

Was looking into cheaper ways of getting the temp down and saw a wine cooler that would handle temp control and I think fit the conical fermenter. But the max temperature would be 64. Is that too cold for brewing kit beers(gonna keep it simple for a bit)?

Should I just stick with the room temp brewing and see what happens?

[RickBeer]

64 is perfect.

Many use a cooler and rotate frozen water bottles.

[Bluejaye]

64 is perfect for ales, but if you ever wanted to do lagers it isn't cool enough. I suggest a cheap container/cooler with frozen bottles until you are sure you are going to stick with this hobby.

[mashani]

64 is perfect for ales, but if you ever wanted to do lagers it isn't cool enough. I suggest a cheap container/cooler with frozen bottles until you are sure you are going to stick with this hobby.

Just to be totally clear here, as in "lets not just be 'Mericans who make Pales and IPAs".

This is true for American ales using relatively flavorless yeast. But not necessarily some British or Belgian kinds. Some British and Belgian yeasts really don't like 64 or < much at all and are much happier at 66-72 degrees. Some of those yeasts will stall, throw off acetaldehyde, or turn your beer into a dirt bomb at low temps.

[MadBrewer]

I do not have any experience with a wine cooler, but if you go that route many have done so with success. You mention the max temp is 64* and that would be ideal. As the beer ferments in the fermenter it will create heat so your wine fridge might keep temps at 64* but the beer might actually be fermenting at 66* or even higher, which is perfect. When starting out I feel if brewers can keep things under 70* then they are doing ok. Yes this is very vague and there are certain temps that will be best for certain styles and certain yeasts, but just to make some middle of the road ales what you have in mind would be a great start. Always have to keep in mind that a batch of fermenting beer will always be at a higher temp then the ambient enviroment it is sitting in, even it if it in an A/C cooled room, wine chiller a fridge, etc.

If you do not go the wine cooler route, when I started out I used a cooler and ice packs to keep things in the mid 60's. Keeping the fermenter in a bit of cool water also helps keep temp fluccuations under control. The cooler/water/ice pack method takes some trial and error and needs your attention for the first 4-5 days but it will do the job. The thing with the Brew Demon conical is that you will need a bigger cooler.

[Jon]

You've gotten some great advice, here--if you're brewing american ales (IPA, APA, Porter, Stout, etc) or hefeweizens or etc, 64* ambient is a great temperature. That's step one to brewing great beer.

Step Zero is sanitation. Just be sure to clean everything thoroughly THEN sanitize.

Other than that, if you give your beer enough time (2-3 weeks in the fermentor, 2-3 weeks in the bottle, then at least 2-3 days in the fridge), you'll end up with some pretty damn good beer, that you made!

Of course, it's your beer--nobody's going to arrest you if fridge one after a week in the bottle and try it the next day. I like to call it QA testing--it's good, because it lets you know what young beer tastes like and how much the beer really will improve as you give it more time.

It's bad because it reduces the amount of good beer you end up with at the end of the appropriate timeline!

[sportscomedian]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

[Whamolagan]

Where in socal are you?