Where to brew?

[Secretagent]

I'm doing my research and trying to get everything into my head before i start brewing. I have a woodfordes great eastern ale and a brupak special lager.
My question is am i best to brew the ale upatairs in a warm ish bedroom and the lager in the garage as it is cooler. AM i best to leave the brew in the one place?
Should i get a temperature reading of both areas before i start?
Cheers

[Madbrewer]

I 'brew' in the kitchen. FWIW I think 18c is a good temp to ferment bitter. That equates to bedroom temperature with no heating on next month (for me anyway). So to ferment Ale/Bitter probably best to find the coolest room in the house? (My dining room does not get central heating turned on - so that works for me) Also the Garage for lagers also been ok for me, Ok but i would get a wine fermenter to keep the dust out of it.

[martyn142]

Can I hijack this thread to ask the same question?

I have been brewing in my garage which has been at about 18c and seems to do the job OK. However it has dropped now to under 15C overnight which I think is probably a bit cold for bitter?

I have an alternative which is a boiler house but in there the temperature averages about 20C and can go up to about 23C. Is this too warm for bitter? If it is I think I'll have to get a heater belt or similar and keep brewing in the garage.

[maxashton]

20c is fine, 23 is a bit warm.

15c is OK for lager fermentation if you're using real lager yeast.

I don't ever recommend the use of heat belts. They're not really very controllable and can make a really warm environment for your brew.

I'd suggest an immersion heater or aquarium heater. Those are generally temperature controlled.

[Dennis King]

I ferment in different parts of the house depending on the time of year etc. Last few months its the garage where at the moment I can still do it if I insulate the fv. Brewed last saturday, it stayed around 20 untill finnished Tuesday. When it gets colder I will ferment on the landing.

[ChrisG]

I just started using a brew belt and it seems to work really well. It is controllable but only buy moving the belt higher on the bin.

Tested the temp of my latest brew in my garage and it at 22 degrees so I'm happy.

[martyn142]

OK. Thanks for your contributions. I may just see what this one turns out like and decide then whether I need a belt or immersion heater.

[RichardG]

I've just started brewing, and my first brews were done in the cupboard under the stairs. The temp there was always around 23 - 24 and I've had no problems. Beers turned out great!

[Jaoqua]

Definitely get a temp reading. I bought a cheap thermometer from Homebase (£2.50, I think) and I was surprised at the temperatures around my house. Some will recommend a max/min thermometer.

As it was I started a brew in that warm spell we had and I couldn't find anywhere consistently below 22C for conditioning. As a result (maybe) my brew is still cloudy after conditioning.

[Secretagent]

Thanks guys i will check out the temps and go from there.

[Miso Jace]

I have a small similar question. I share a flat with 3 other people, and I'm trying to work out the best place to brew without pissing people off. My room is the first thought, as it's not too cold and I have a big wardrobe I can put the brew in while it's on the go, but I'm worried that I won't be able to get the correct temperatures I need for brewing.

What would be the best way to adapt to these surroundings? What temperature should I aim for throughout all stages of the process, as I will probably need to create them artificially with heaters/fans.

[stevezx7r]

The simplest method of controlling your fv temp is to use a couple of large (beach) towels soaked in cold water. Drape these over your fv and it will knock upto 5C off. These need changing every few hours as the heat makes the water evaporate, so you need to keep an eye out.

As it's moving into Autumn it's not going to be too hard to keep the temp below the magic 25C but once Summer kicks in again it's back to open windows etc.

Also, get a couple of thermometers, as has been said a min/max with an alarm are ideal and cost around a £5, maybe less at a car boot

[Secretagent]

Thanks guys.
The bedroom is a steady 18 so i'll do the ale there.
The garage is 14-15, is that an ok temp for lager? Cos it will get colder over the next few weeks.