Controlling Fermentation Temperature in microbrewery

For brewery plant, Controlling the temperature of actively fermenting wort can have a major impact on the flavor of the finished beer. Fermenting above the normal temperature range may produce excessive fruity-flavored esters or harsh-flavored fusel alcohols. I once brewed a batch of ale during the summer and allowed the fermentation temperature to exceed 80 °F (27 °C). The finished beer tasted like a batch of Juicy Fruit gum!

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Keeping it cool

A simple way to help cool your fermenting wort is by employing evaporation, the same way our bodies cool themselves on a warm day. Rather than allowing the wort itself to evaporate, place the fermenter in a large tub or pan of water and cover it with a t-shirt or other material that can wick the water out of the pan and let it evaporate from the outer surface of the fermenter, cooling it in the process. This method works best when the air surrounding the wet t-shirt is dry and/or circulated by a fan, allowing for increased evaporation of the water. Evaporative cooling using this technique can keep a fermenter approximately 5 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 to 8.3 degrees Celsius) cooler than the surrounding air.
It is easier to keep fermenter cool.

Keeping it warm

During certain times of the year a garage or basement brewery may not be warm enough for ale or mead fermentation. It then becomes necessary to invent ways to keep a fermentation warm without spending the energy (and money) keeping the whole house or brewing area at the proper temperature.
Perhaps the easiest method to warm a fermenter is to cover and wrap it with a blanket or other insulating material to retain the heat produced by the fermentation. A self-adhesive thermometer strip makes monitoring the temperature of the fermenting vessel simple.
If conserving the heat produced by the fermentation is not enough, there are also ways to add heat to the system. In the past, I have used an inexpensive submersible aquarium heater to warm water held in a large tub in which my carboy was placed. A self adhesive thermometer strip on my carboy allowed me to monitor the temperature as I adjusted the thermostat on the aquarium heater to achieve the desired temperature.
The flip side of using an insulated box (such as the Son of Fermentation Chiller mentioned earlier) to keep fermentation cool is to rig a light bulb inside the box to keep it warm and control the light by means of a temperature controller. Care must be taken to be sure the hot bulb will not contact any surface that could melt or catch fire.

Shoot the moon

Whatever method you choose to control temperature during fermentation, it will be time and money well spent. The yeast that you use, and the environment it has to work in, has arguably the greatest impact on beer flavor of any part of the brewing process. Each strain has a temperature range where it performs best. Managing fermentation temperature to get the most from a particular strain of yeast can move your brewing up to another level, or allow you to explore new styles of beer that you may not have been able to brew before.
Thanks for your reading.
Helen Lee
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