any tricks for carbonating beer during the winter? I set my thermostat at 62 degrees during the day b/c I am at work. I thought about just raising the temp to 65 -67 or even getting a space heater for the room where the beer is but I really dont want to leave it running while im not home. I was just looking for ideas.



-J


Tags: homebrew carbonation temperatures, plastic wrap keeping carbonation in, homebrew beer carbonation

I have an old kegerator that i ferment in. I have a 60 watt light connected to a house thermostat that has an outlet wired to the back of it & a plug in out the bottem. So when it get to about 62 it kicks the light on then shuts off about 70
I always aim the light away & cover my fermenter too.
You could do the same thing maybe with a smaller light bulb on all the time. You could also make a box out of foam.

very interesting idea!


-J

So is my first batch thats been sitting in the basement for a week which prob in mid 50's not going to carbonate?!!

probably not. the temp should be around 65-70 degrees.


-J

I had some beer sitting at mid 50's & they didnt carboate till i brought them inside the house for a couple weeks. Keep them off the cold floor also(bathtub with curtain closed is a good idea!!)
They had fermented at that temp also & after they were carbonated they would spew foam for a minute when you opened them.

I have been leaving my bottles in crates stacked up, then put a 25watt heat pad in the middle one and wrap up the whole lot with a blanket. But now it's summer here so I'm going to need to cultivate some yeast out of a Coopers bottle (the only brewery that can keep brewing all summer in the temperature it gets to.)

I have an old, non-working fridge that I use to carbonate/bottle condition during the cooler months. I set an aquarium thermometer to 74, place it in a 10 gallon aquarium on the bottom of the fridge, and place the beer on the top shelf. The water keeps its heat well, especially in the fridge. The heat that the aquarium does lose stays in the fridge, keeping the yeast active enough to eat up priming sugar and fart out CO2. I would suggest covering the aquarium with plastic wrap to avoid high humidity and a stinky, mildewy fridge.