Cheap Fermentation Control

With a plastic tub, I can accurately control my fermentation temps between 55-90*F. The ambient temp of my basement is around 64 degrees right now, and keeping it under 60*F is easy by just tossing in a handful of ice cubes a couple times a day. However, I want to control temps for my belgians, and soon saisons, so I needed a way to keep the water temp above ambient temp.


I bought an aquarium heater and an aquarium powerhead. This heater and this powerhead work well. The powerhead doesn't need to be strong, but the heater should be 100-150 watts. I've been able to hold the temperature at 79*F and could easily go higher. I need another 50 watt heater to get the water temp around 90*F in my basement though. It's easy and accurate. I do recommend spending a few more dollars and getting a heater that has a temperature control knob, instead of just low to high; they're just easier to use, and seem to be a higher quality.


A fridge with a temp controller would be nice, but the temp control alone is $60 and the cheapest you're going to realistically find a fridge that will work is around $50. I spent just over $50 on everything. A couple downsides are that every couple days I need to add in a couple quarts of water to make up for whats evaporated, and I won't be able to do lagers, which is ok because I dont have a place to condition them anyways.

IPA Experiment

Wanting to get to know different malt and American hop profiles in IPA's, I decided to brew three different one gallon batches, each with only one hop variety. I decided to use Amarillo, Simcoe, and Nugget - these are pretty common hops in American IPA's, but most of my attention has been spent towards Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook so far. I'll probably do more of these batches in the future, and Ahtanum and Sterling are on the list. They were all fermented with US-05. Here are the recipe's:

Nugget IPA:
OG: 1.067

2.75 lbs. 2-Row
0.5 lb. Vienna Malt

0.2 oz. Nugget 13%AA (60 min)
0.2 oz. Nugget 13%AA (20 min)
0.2 oz. Nugget 13%AA (10 min)
0.2 oz. Nugget 13%AA (0 min)
0.2 oz Nugget 13%AA (Dry Hop)


Simcoe IPA:
OG: 1.067

2.75 lbs. 2-Row
0.25 lb. Crystal 10
0.25 lb. Carapils

0.2 oz. Simcoe 11.9%AA (60 min)
0.2 oz. Simcoe 11.9%AA (20 min)
0.2 oz. Simcoe 11.9%AA (10 min)
0.2 oz. Simcoe 11.9%AA (0 min)
0.2 oz. Simcoe 11.9%AA (Dry Hop)


Amarillo IPA:
OG: 1.061

2.5 lbs. 2-Row
0.5 lb. Munich Malt

0.25 oz. Amarillo 8.6%AA (60 min)
0.2 oz. Amarillo 8.6%AA (20 min)
0.2 oz. Amarillo 8.6%AA (10 min)
0.15 oz. Amarillo 8.6%AA (0 min)
0.2 oz Amarillo 8.6%AA (Dry Hop)


One gallon batches are a bit tougher to brew considering you're boiling off half your volume. I used Fermcap so I could fit as much as possible into the jugs. I was able to bottle just shy of one gallon from each batch, which is around 8-10 bottles. Not the best return, but I don't mind for experimental batches. They smelled and tasted great at bottling time, the Simcoe standing out the most.