Do I need a warmer for my fermenter?

[Nickrp83]

Another first brew question:
my dad is brewing in a house with wood floors and right now it's about 68 degrees in the house. We are storing our furnentation bucket in the back bedroom with it covered with a blancket. Bit I'm affraid it's going to be to cold and it won't ferment. Do we need to get a bucket Warmer? Or should we be fine? What's the min fermentation temp?

[lexuschris]

Welcome to the boards Nick!

If you are brewing an ale, your fermentation should be fine in the mid-60's up to 70-F or so. By wrapping your fermenter in a solid blanket, it will help minimize the temprature swings from mid-day to early morning, and that is a good thing.

For lagers, you usually go much lower. I'll let some lager brewers talk about that one if that is the case. I just stick to ales at the moment..

Good luck!

--LexusChris

[Nickrp83]

It's an amber ale. Ok so as long as the room stays about 65 we should be good. Should I raise it off the wood floor?

[lexuschris]

Sounds like you are in good shape. I don't see a need to raise the fermenter off the floor. The floor temp won't change as fast as the air temp, so it is pretty stable temp-wise.
--LexusChris

[dhempy]

Hi Nick:

The "best temp" is based on the actual yeast strain used and the desired "side effects" of that yeast. Google the yeast strain and look for it's optimum temp, then shoot for that. A water bath will probably do a better job of minimizing temp swings ... and a little colder is typically better than a little warmer in terms of most yeast strains. You probably have a 6 to 8 degree window where things will turn out just fine no matter what you do so don't sweat the exact temperature too much. But if you can, hold the temp as close to the optimum temp as you can for the first 2-3 days. Also remember that for the first few days, the yeast will create heat so be prepared to cool it down if you need to ... remember that too much heat (especially early on) can lead to undesirable high alcohols.

Good luck!

Dan

[bwarbiany]

remember that too much heat (especially early on) can lead to undesirable high alcohols.

And since it's your first brew I'll point out that "high alcohols" is actually a bad thing -- that doesn't just mean "more alcohol". You'll get a beer that has harsh undesirable flavor, not a beer with an extra 1% ABV.

At this point it's probably easiest to say that if you ferment too hot you'll get "off flavors".

[dhempy]

Good clarification Brad .. thanks.

Dan