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Staying Warm in the Winter
HI homebrewers! I was wondering if people had tips for brewing in the winter and keeping the brew warm. I live in California (northern) and it doesn't get too cold, so I don't use really high-tech equipment, but it is hard to find a place in the house that stays warm enough for the yeast to keep working. Do people have some low-tech tips?
We have a pantry which is in the center of the house - it does a good job of staying fairly controlled temp-wise.
There are a couple options for you here.
The first is to put the fermenter in a small space with a small space-heater. This must be done with safety in mind, of course, so nothing that could be consided a fire hazard or anything like that! Make sure the heater you get has a good thermostat on it, so you can control the temperature range. For example, you might set it to turn on at 65 degrees and off at 72 degrees. Keep a seperate thermometer in the area so you can verify its accuracy.
The other idea is an item called a FermWrap Heater, available at www.northernbrewer.com. This item wraps around a carboy and keeps it at the temperature you designate. A great invention and, while I haven't picked one up for myself yet, I will be doing so sometime this winter; probably for my next batch of ale.
i used to live in alaska, so this used to be a big concern of mine. of course, in truly cold weather, we kept the heat on in the house, and kept it fairly warm.
one thing i did then, was to keep it near warm lights. you know, the kind that simulate the sun, or just get extra hot. this would be basically the same thing as a space heater, but the lights used less wattage. a space heater uses anywhere from 750-2000 watts per hour, and this can be quite dramatic on your electricity bill. (you won't need to be so extreme in northern cali, but i say this for folks reading this from other states.) the lamps kept the one area warm enough, gave me some fake sunlight to improve my winter mood, and didnt use so much wattage (i think the lamps were using something like 300 watts or less).
but now i wonder - is light bad for fermentation? i never had any ill effects, but i don't want to recommend light if indeed this would be bad for the brew process. any info on this?
i am also in northern cali now, and i just wrap a wool blanket around each carbuoy, and this seems to do the trick. also, i keep it in the center of the house, where there aren't windows or doors to the outside, warmer and less drafty.
you could also try a heating pad or electric blanket on a very low temp, either wrapped around the fermenter or placed under it. (again, more for folks in very cold places)
above all, make sure you aren't creating a fire hazard.
I've been told that light is bad for fermentation and can affect the taste of the finished beer but I've personally had know ill effects from it. I live in Seattle and it can get cold (at least as far as yeast is concerned) here. When I brew ales in the winter I put the fermentor in a warmer room in the center of the house and leave the heat on low in that room. I brew more lagers in the winter because they like the cold and it's too warm to brew them in the summer here.
I have never tried this myself but, I've heard that if you draw up a warm bath during the day and stick your fermentor in there it should maintain its heat better than the air and give a more constant temperature. This should also work during the summer when temps get too hot.
Ventoux wrote:
I've been told that light is bad for fermentation and can affect the taste of the finished beer but I've personally had know ill effects from it. I live in Seattle and it can get cold (at least as far as yeast is concerned) here. When I brew ales in the winter I put the fermentor in a warmer room in the center of the house and leave the heat on low in that room. I brew more lagers in the winter because they like the cold and it's too warm to brew them in the summer here.
That is correct about light killing beer. There is a particular wavelength of sunlight (I don't know which one though) that causes a photo chemical reaction between the hop and sulfur compounds (sulfur I believe used in the hop fields), which will skunk beer. Heat never does.
I also used to keep my fermenters near hot lamps that were used in the winter time for seasonal disorders. The lamps kept the area warm enough for the yeast to be happy. However, I did wrap the fermenters in a blanket for insulation (especially underneath) and this kept the light out of the carboy itself.
I never had any problems with off flavors using this method.
I did have a beer take on a skunk flavor because it got too hot in the summer. Not from light, as it was in a completely dark storage area. It just got too hot.
So, while I would recommend keeping the fermenters warm in the winter, make sure not to artificially heat them too much.
And then, store them somewhere cool until you are ready to enjoy!
I just store it in my closet, under my hanging (clean) clothes. That way, it stays dark all day, and the normal heating of the house keeps it in acceptable termperature range.
Admittedly, though, I do live in Southern California, so this is less of an issue than most places.
DaveSlash
Of course, drinking a few homebrews keeps ME warm!
:-) ;-)
DaveSlash
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