Do I need a heater?

[Stoutman]

I'm half way through my first ever brew, and I'm wondering a little about my ambient temperatures. On average, the air temperature is 18-20C in my house, and I have no heater.

The yeast head was healthy right from the start, and has gotten smaller since (I'm on day 5 of primary).

Are my temps too low?

Will primary take ages at about 19C?

What effect does temp variation have on the final beer?

I was looking at the Young's 25W heater belt (Cheapest heater I can find because Im a penniless student!), but I notice it's not thermostatically controlled (alarm bells). Does anyone have experience of this belt, would it be okay to use in house-temperatures, perhaps just raising the brew temp a couple degrees?

I've got a big cylindrical plastic FV.

Thanks guys - a couple more of these kits, and I want to try AG brewing (AARRGH!)

[maxashton]

19c should be fine i think.
Could potentially be a degree higher in an ideal world, but 19c is fine

[Jim]

19C is a good temperature to brew at for ale. The yeast will generate heat, so the brew will actually be a bit warmer than room temperature (at least during the first few days of fermentation).

[alefric]

I haven't used a belt heater but i bought a submersible heater and this keeps FV at bang on 20 deg .A friend bought an aquarium heater on EBAY for £5 and it's the same thing!

[confused]

at 18 - 20c you are bang on the right temperature, just try and put your fermenter in the place where the temperature will change the least and you'll be fine.

If you can maintain that kind of temperature without a heater then I'd save your money. I brewed kits for years and never bothered with one. I now brew from grain and have been chucked out into the shed, hence I am in the middle of spending lots of time and money building a cabinet to maitain the kind of temperature you already have!

[Jaoqua]

My problem is actually the opposite at this time of year: how to keep conditioning beer cool. My house seems to have been at about 18C+ for weeks, apart from the odd cold night.

I am worried my first brew (now conditioning) will taste like a Boots brew bag effort, despite my best attempts.

How do y'all keep your conditioning brews cool when the air temperature is high? I gather I'm aiming for 12-15C.

[Jim]

..........How do y'all keep your conditioning brews cool when the air temperature is high? I gather I'm aiming for 12-15C.

I'm working on it!

Linky

[Jaoqua]

lol

I thought I'd stumbled upon Insanity Corner when I read the Other Brews forum but now I know who the serious nutcase is!

I was thinking of maybe throwing a wet towel over my keg!

But having said that, and having looked up ATC800 on the web I'm beginning to think...

[Jim]

........I was thinking of maybe throwing a wet towel over my keg!.....

Too low-tech!