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Too cold to ferment.
So heres the deal. My basement gets down to 56 degrees at night and about 67 during the day. I don't want to keep my heat throughout the house up during the night and I don't want to spend $30 on a Fermwrap Heater and I can't keep my carboy upstairs where it's warmer because of a 2 year old daughter.. Is there a better way to maintain a temp of 65 or so? Any homemade options? Any Ideas would be helpful. Aaron Molina (Duluth, MN)
One simple thing you could do is try raising it off the floor, either with a towel, blanket, or on a wooden palate. Wrapping some warm blankets or towel around the carboy might help as well. Also, try to keep it away from windows/doors/or hutches where cold air may be coming in. Do you have a boiler room? Boiler rooms tend to be warmer that the rest of the basement... if none of that works, why not throw on a space heater near your carboy?
I think the main thing is to keep the fermenter away from drafts and off the floor. Otherwise you will be fermenting for weeks, maybe even months with an ale yeast.
I have it off the ground and have thought about wrapping it in a sleeping bag. I think Ill give that a try first. I just worry about running a space heater all night? Thanks for the ideas. Aaron Molina
I think the sleeping bag is a great idea.
Yes, running a space heater might not be the safest idea, but it you clear the area of all flammable items and have one of those heaters that shuts down if it tips over, you might be in good shape.
Or, if you dont mind some lugging, bring it upstairs for the night?
Good luck! I feel your pain.. I live in New England!
There are some nice cheap space heaters out there now. The one we got is from Holmes and you can set it to a certain temperature range and it only comes on when the temp drops low. It's also got the tip sensor in case something/someone knocks it over it turns off.
You can try wrapping it in a sleeping bag, but it's going to be hard to monitor the temps throughout the night, unless you get up a few times to check on it one night and see how it does. That and you are going to have to remove it everyday if it will getting into the high 60's.
DT
make lagers. do some natural lagering. i wish i had a basement. that's what i'd do.
You can try a cheap electric blanket too. These are probably cheaper than a space heater. Sleeping bag may or may not work fermentation is a exothermic process so it actually creats heat.
cheers
Im so delighted I found this site.
...I too have a cold house and have had stuck fermentation problems because of it. Another brewer just suggested that I fill a cooler or other large basin with warm water and add sytrofoam peanuts, then put in a fish tank heater. Im going to give it a try.
I use a electric heating pad for your back. has 3 settings. Maybe 18" square. Then a sleeping bag over it like a tent. Keeps it at 70
Do you place the heating pad directly on the carboy?
I tried this and had good luck when I was in the same situation.
put a black t shirt on your carboy. get a cheap clip light or 2 and some 75 watt lightbulbs. set the clip lights 6-8 inches from the carboy and turn them on. you can put them on a household timer if they raise the temperature too much.
it is simple and it works. the black shirt absorbs a lot of heat and I could get a 10 degree temperature rise in 8 hours. all stuff I had around the house too.
Looks like a great forum. Just joined - first time home brewer here
I have the same problem with temperature, basement is between 11-12 C (52-54 F). Started my first batch yesterday (Coopers Draught kit) and put the fermenter in the basement near the furnace and water heater, sitting on the concrete floor. I think I'll use the idea of raising if off the floor.
I feel better after reading through some of these posts. It is only beer after all and If I mess up...oh well . I was glad to read that the cool temperature isn't necessarily bad, and that even though it will take longer to ferment, it might make it taste better in the long run.
I'm gonna look at the airlock when I get home from work and see if there's any bubbles in it.
I do have one question though...has anyone tried the Coopers Draught kit? Is it more like an ale or lager?
This is a solution I am using that has worked FANTASTIC! I bought a bucket big enough to hold the carboy in (a mucking bucket from a feed store will work great).. I put the carboy in the bucket and fill the bucket with water to just about the wort line in the carboy... then I use a 200 watt aquarium heater that I place in the water, completely submerged. This heater is set to keep the water at the required temperature, and that water insulated and regulates the wort temp. My garage was 39F last night and my wort remained 68...
Works great!
I put my fermenters next to a set of hot water pipes that run througha closet perfect 68 all the time. These solutions sound great, how bout for summer brewing? im new to this and scared about the summer comming fast, im not too sure how warm my basement will be then.
stuntman -
that is a brilliant idea. I think that is the safest option that I have read thus far. I worry about space heaters and electric blanket etc.
The only down side is the possibility of getting wet when you yank the carboy out, but that isn't a huge deal.
I can get a submersible aquarium tank heater for about 7 bucks at petsmart, now I just need to find a bucket big enough to accommodate the carboy.
Matt
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