Brew belt too much heat for 1g?

[FishNiX]

I'm brewing 1g of black courant. Started at 1.064, down to 1.011, but all signs of fermentation seem to have ended... (I know I know, visual signs of fermentation are not reliable). It's been hovering close to 65 in my basement.

Should I remove the belt or let it go with the belt for a few more days? Of course I don't have a floaty thermometer, but will be getting one. So far for me it's been belt on if it's under 70 and belt off if it's over 70.

BTW, this stuff is SOUR. (yeast is 71B-1122)

 

[Wade E]

I love black currants. Where did you get the juice? 75* wouldnt hurt your wine and would help it ferment. 758 is a good temp to keep your wine until is done fermenting and clearing and especially degassing your wine.

 

[FishNiX]

We have a local natural foods/vegetarian grocery store that sells all different types of 100% juice. These were on sale a few weeks ago. The juice is called "Just Black Courant" and it is, so its perfect for brewing (especially when it's on sale).

 

[Wade E]

It will take some time to smooth out but black currant is very full of flavor.

 

[jsavage]

I've used the brew belt on a 1G jug before. You need to watch it because it can get the temp up there pretty high, pretty quick. I has my first 1G batch go up to 88 F before I realized it. The wine turned out fine, but I was using EC1118 which is pretty tollerant of higher temps (package says up to 85F). Keep the belt up high on the jug, about as high as you can get it and that will keep it from heating up so fast. What I also ended up doing was wrapping a towel around the jug and then put the brew belt over that. That also helped a bit, but I still had to watch it and remove the power when it got around 75ish. Now I have one of those light timers you plug into the wall that I use when I'm trying to heat a 1G jug, bought at walmart for $10. It can be set in 15 minute incriments, so I have it set to 15 mins on, 30 mins off, repeat. That seems to work pretty good, with my ambient temps around 60ish. Good luck.

 

[Dugger]

What you can also do is stand some empty bottles with your fermenting one and wrap the belt around all of them ( or some such version of this) - this way your bottle only gets some of the heat so you can control it better. Another way is to put your bottle in a primary bucket and put the belt around the bucket.