Is my basement too cold

[Poorboy]

I will be starting my first batch of wine this weekend. It is chokecherry and I will be using Lalvin EC-1118 yeast. This time of year my basement stays about 60F. Is this too cold. The yeast says it is good from 45 to 95F and will the temp change how it takes to ferment.

 

[Dean]

while the yeast can survive in that temperature, they certainly are not going to flourish, nor are they going to get their work done in a timely fashion. I'd use a brew belt on the fermentation vessel to bring the temp up into the 70s.

I'm not a fan of cold fermentations for anything other than a delicate white from fresh grape juice. They are prone to infection, oxidation, and a whole host of other problems when you ferment on the cool end of the scale.

 

[grapeman]

Warm up the primary a bit like dean says and it will be better for it.

 

[Poorboy]

Will this temp be OK for the secondary or do I need to keep it around 70 also

 

[ibglowin]

Keep it at 70 through secondary, degassing and fining. After that pull the belt off and let it settle to ambient.

 

[Wade E]

I also agree with what is stated above. i only cool ferment my whites and light fruit wines and never kits cause they just arent designed for this. Get a brew belt or use a heating pad but beware that heating pads usually shut off after 1 hours useage and monitor the temps cause some can get very hot. A brew belt is designed for this purpose and even though they state not to use on glass I and many others have used them on carboys for many years with no problems. just dont take a brew belt and put one on a carboy that is like 40* as the temp difference can make the glass crack. Here is a picture of a brew belt and a link to where George sells them on this site.http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=5008

 

[AlFulchino]

do it upstairs then carry down later

 

[Goodfella]

do it upstairs then carry down later

I Agree

 

[Goodfella]

Also... Ibglowin brings up a good point about keeping the temps up for degassing. That will help a lot.

 

[ibglowin]

The thought of carrying ~55lbs of precious wine down a flight of stairs and perhaps dropping it or sloshing it all over the place is quite scary.

Hmmm

75 foot of Tygon. Check. Racking cane. Check.

Gravity transfer baby!

 

[AlFulchino]

or....drill a hole in the floor heheheheh..i have seen that done...ugh

and while its true that carrying a carboy down a flight of stairs is scary....it is good for the arms....but you will find that it gets old after a few years of doing that

i seem to recall that Steve Hughs (maybe it was him).....someone built a box and insulated it...they then put a light bulb inside and then the carboy...and then covered the box..it stayed warm enough for them to do what they needed for fermentation and degassing.....

 

[ibglowin]

My vote is for the basement. Why bother when its so easy to use the brew belt or heating pad.

I pitched my MM Renaissance Chilean Pinot Noir yesterday afternoon (yes, the madness continues....)

This AM the primary temp is 76 and the yeasties are already spitting out EEOH as fast as they can.

 

[Scott]

BREW BELT


Sorry for yelling

but a brew belt is the way to go!

 

[Wade E]

I used the light bulb a long time ago before I had my wine room and just kept it very close with no box at all and it helped quite a bit, the only problem is when I switched the light to another primary forh=got that 1 only had a little in there and actually burnt right through the bucket above the must!

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Until recently (when I started racking with a vacuum aspirator) I carried countless full 6gal carboys up and down my basement stairs. While I haven't had any accidents or even spills, it occurred to me - why take the risk? I completely agree with the BREWBELT idea.

 

[scotty]

The thought of carrying ~55lbs of precious wine down a flight of stairs and perhaps dropping it or sloshing it all over the place is quite scary.

Hmmm

75 foot of Tygon. Check. Racking cane. Check.

Gravity transfer baby!

ditto