Room Temperature where you ferment?

[reefman]

I keep my house temperature at about 60F at night, and 63-64F during the day. How can I keep a reliable fermentation temperature of 70-76F under these conditions? I really can't turn up the house temp.

 

[Runningwolf]

a simple brewbelt will work. http://www.finevinewines.com/Product_Match.asp

Brew Belt

Designed to wrap around most primary & secondary fermenters.
N/A $21.99 $21.99 Stocked

 

[reefman]

that little thing really does the tricK? Looks too small.

 

[Tom]

Yep It will work

 

[millwright01]

It works real well. My room is a bit cool as well and since I started using the belt no more issues. I wouldn't be without one now.

Jason

 

[Green Mountains]

Once again, size is not the point.

these belts will easily keep your primary temp ten degrees higher than the room .

 

[Wade E]

Brew belt is what I use in my basement and yes I and many others use it on glass even though it states not to. Ive been using them on glass carboys for many many years with no incidents at all. I would not put one on a carboy that was 40* though as the severe temp change may cause it to crack like a windshield with a heater on it.

 

[summersolstice]

Almost of the Lalvin yeast strains (D-47, K1V 1116, EC 1118, etc) I use for my wines and meads do well below 60F and, in fact, may benefit from cooler fermentation.

 

[Sacalait]

In a pinch you can use a heating pad. Put the pad up next the fermenter vessel and tie it snugly with twine. I use an aquarium thermometer floating in the must to monitor the temp.

 

[reefman]

My kit did not come with that yeast, can I substitute the (D-47, K1V 1116, EC 1118, etc)
in place of the yeast in my kit?

 

[summersolstice]

The yeast that comes with a kit is the strain the kit manufacturers feel works best with their kit. However, they may well have an arrangement with a yeast supplier. I've seen generic, no-name, yeasts come with kits and I've also seen Red Star yeasts in kits in addition to Lalvin. What kind and variety is your kit?

 

[reefman]

It's called Summer Breeze Wild Berry White Zinfandel.
I bought it from Fine Vine Wines, LLC.
Here's the link:
http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDet.asp?PartNumber=8230

 

[summersolstice]

It's called Summer Breeze Wild Berry White Zinfandel.

D-47 would be perfect for this wine and it has an ideal temperature range of 59F-68F. What kind of yeast came with the kit?

 

[reefman]

My apologies, I had to dig through the trashcan to find the envelope, but it is Lavin EC 1118, but the directions are emphatic and say to ferment at 70-75F. So I don't need to worry about the temp??

 

[Green Mountains]

You probably can, but you'll find a brew belt beneficial frequently going forward with future wines, kit or otherwise.

 

[reefman]

I'm going to get a brew belt for sure, but the my local shop is not open till Wednesday, so hopefully they have it in stock.
Thanks!

 

[summersolstice]

My apologies, I had to dig through the trashcan to find the envelope, but it is Lavin EC 1118, but the directions are emphatic and say to ferment at 70-75F. So I don't need to worry about the temp??

EC 1118 is a very vigorous yeast and has a wide temperature range - 50F to 85F. It probably isn't the best yeast for your particular kit but it's very forgiving and will ferment in almost any conditions, and that's likely why it's used in the kit.

 

[jdeere5220]

Almost of the Lalvin yeast strains (D-47, K1V 1116, EC 1118, etc) I use for my wines and meads do well below 60F and, in fact, may benefit from cooler fermentation.

Can you expand on that? Is there somewhere I can read more about this? Why do you say it may benefit?

My WE kits say to keep it between 65F-75F, and my basement is more like 64F, so my brewing has been held up by needing to use the brew belt and I don't want to spend another $20 for another + the electricity. My primaries have been getting done ( SG < 1.010) in 3-4 days. If I can safely do fermentation without the belt I could get my batches coming along faster!

One other question: If the ferment does get slowed or stopped by cool temps, is it stuck forever or will it pick right back up as soon as you warm things up? In other words, if I try running a bit cooler am I risking losing an entire batch?

 

[Becks the Elder]

We too have problems with maintaining a high enough temperature to ferment our wine. In the end we put a tubular greenhouse heater a couple of inches behind our carboys (we have 20 gallons on the go at a time) and it worked like a charm. Brew belts would cost around £20 each here in the UK but the heater costs between £25-30 and heats all the wine from a single unit.

 

[Torch404]

Beck's what is the power consumption of your greenhouse heater? I believe brew belts are about 23w (if memory serves) about the same as a CFL.

I've been using the Lavin yeast here with no problems. On cold nights the primary goes in front of the fire, temperatures range from 40-65F here so it's a little warmer then a lot of places.