Fermentation with Brewbelt

[Georgy]

Hi All,

Now doing another brew and previously I've always been disappointed with my homebrew but I think this has been because I have always kept the brew at about 18degrees C, so this time I used a brewbelt.

After initially fermenting well, Im now concerned its been too hot, the little thermometer on the side of the fermenter says 28-30 degrees. Will the brew be ruined? I thought a nice warm temperature would be better as friends have used their airing cupboards before and had success.

4 days in SG is 1.015, brewbelt now turned off.

Any ideas?

[Barloch]

28 is tooooooooooooooooooooooooo high, its not too cold out, so i only put the belt on at night

18 degrees is fine for a brew, but probably drops at night

[Barloch]

double post

[Spooneys regular]

Ouch, thats too high mate. Possibly killed off your yeast! I use a belt with a cheap timer so its not on all the time. Also keeping it higher up the FV is better

[Loafman]

Quick thought... is your thermometer above your heat belt? if so, remember heat rises, so I'd turn off the heat belt for half an hour and see what the reading is then. If it drops to the low 20's very quickly then it may be convected heat from the belt giving the high readings.

Edit: Just saw you have already turned off your heat belt... D'oh!

[Mo06]

"Ouch, thats too high mate. Possibly killed off your yeast!"

Well Coopers say their brews should be brewed in the range of 18 - 32C, but they recommend 21 - 27C (this is taken directly from the Coopers kit instructions).

I brewed a stout at around 26C a few weeks back (the ambient temp in the kitchen here back then) and it tastes fine.

[Georgy]

Yeh the LCD thermometer was above the heater so this may have falsified the reading bu a couple of degrees but the brew felt warm, I have more yeast, shall I hydrate some and add?

Ambient temperature was probably about 20degrees and the brewbelt was definately hot!

Any advantage or disadvantage to moving it a bit to to get the settled bits mixed up a bit?

[Georgy]

"Ouch, thats too high mate. Possibly killed off your yeast!"

Well Coopers say their brews should be brewed in the range of 18 - 32C, but they recommend 21 - 27C (this is taken directly from the Coopers kit instructions).

I brewed a stout at around 26C a few weeks back (the ambient temp in the kitchen here back then) and it tastes fine.

Thanks, hopefully it may be ok!

Is there any way to get an idea if a beer will be ruined by tasting it before bottling it, or will it always taste like sh*ite before secondary fermentation?

[Spooneys regular]

Thanks, hopefully it may be ok!

Is there any way to get an idea if a beer will be ruined by tasting it before bottling it, or will it always taste like sh*ite before secondary fermentation?

Your best bottling/kegging and waiting. It'll be drinkable what ever the outcome mate

[Ditch]

Georgy; Cut ye losses and pain, mate.

Chuck the f**king thing away and buy a German made, 50 Watt fish tank heater with externally visible / settable thermostat. Around £15.00 on Amazon UK.

In fact; About the same price as One ruined kit ..... Why risk f**king another?

[barney]

Brewbelts are great,

it must be borne in mind that they heat at a temperature of °C ambient "plus". The plus side of things can be varied, as someone mentioned earlier, by positioning the belt at various heights around the FV.

I had three "settings" for my belt, round the bottom was ambient plus 6°, About a third up was ambient plus 4°, a third from the top was ambient plus 2°.

I eventually improved my system by fitting an STC100 temperature controller to the belt which can be pre set to maintain any temperature within a degree or so.

I have recently made more improvements to my system whereby the belt sits in an insulated cupboard which can accommodate up to four vessels and can maintain the temperature. The method seems energy efficient, the 25watt belt only switches on about 25% of the time.

Of course it is also a very hygienic method as nothing is in the FV except the beer.