Fermentation temperature

[hdtech_83]

Hello all...
Been a long time since i have posted. Just moved to hawaii and brewed my first batch of beer. I havent set my kegerator up yet, so i thought i would try to ferment my English ale recipe in it, keeping a close watch on the temp. the only thermostat i have is the one installed in the fridge, so i had been turning the fridge on and off, pretty much keeping it a 66- 68 degrees. Primary fermentation has been great. Well today i wasnt home to monitor it, and the wife kind of forgot, and when i got home it was at about 58 degrees. Funny thing is the fermentation is still going strong, tapering off as usual, after the first couple of days. I am slowly bringing it back to mid 60s but what kind of problems might i face. Off flavors? incomplete fermentation?

[catsdrinkbeer]

I'd say yep to both off flavors and an incomplete fermentation.
have you tried a gravity reading yet? I'd be very cautious about bringing it back to the mid 60s, in my experience a quick temp swing up can produce some undesirable results.
I'd check the gravity and if it's close to being finished, I'd let it go and allow the yeast to finish the job and clean up after itself.

[hdtech_83]

havent taken a gravity reading yet. the only difference i see that my krausen is less than it was yesterday. I still have alot of churning going on, but it looks like the yeast are clumpin up (flocculation?) which i am to understand means the end of fermentation, which is odd because i pitched the yeast sunday afternoon. thank you for the reply

[MaltnHopsrGood]

What strain of yeast did you use?

[hdtech_83]

WLP002

[catsdrinkbeer]

That yeast produces a great beer IMHO, it does flocculate well.
I have gently rocked the carboy to keep that yeast in suspension to keep working if I wanted to get the FG a bit lower.
Sounds like you'll be fine, but I'd check the gravity and keep the beer on the yeast for a while while longer so it can clean up.

[krizwit]

I would ferment the beer around 70-72 now to help it finish fermenting.

[hdtech_83]

Bought a controller, future problems solved, but we shall see on this batch

[StAnthonyBrewery]

Bought a controller, future problems solved, but we shall see on this batch

I've recently thought about buying a controller.... Well also buying a fridge too... That might be good.

I wonder if could be efficient to put the thermocouple into a test tube sleeve and float that into the fermenter.

[hdtech_83]

Its pretty accuratee without being immersed. I was surprised

[StAnthonyBrewery]

Its pretty accuratee without being immersed. I was surprised

I suppose a little duct tape would do the trick. I'm not a big fan of metal on metal, but those thermocouples are primarily copper aren't they. And, well fermenters tend to be either glass, plastic, or stainless.

[erik]

I built a controller out of a PID, an electric outlet, and a thermowell that is inserted to the carboy using a PVC "T" union (BBOT). The PID switches the power to an electric plug that powers a mini-fridge. It cost me $70 in parts and shipping, along with a used $20 fridge. I'll post pics (and a schematic for the PID controller setup) if that will help.

I did this because I wasn't willing to pay $65 to replace a Ranco that I've had for less than a year.

[StAnthonyBrewery]

I built a controller out of a PID, an electric outlet, and a thermowell that is inserted to the carboy using a PVC "T" union (BBOT). The PID switches the power to an electric plug that powers a mini-fridge. It cost me $70 in parts and shipping, along with a used $20 fridge. I'll post pics (and a schematic for the PID controller setup) if that will help.

I did this because I wasn't willing to pay $65 to replace a Ranco that I've had for less than a year.

Sweet!