How do you guys measure room temp?

[Stout@TheDevil]

I'm in California so I'm mostly trying to make sure the place I put my fermenters doesn't get too hot. I can't seem to find an amp. Would the thermometer I use to measure liquid temp be accurate? Say in a closet or garage? I'm working on a chest freezer, heating pad set up for the future, but for now, am I just rolling the dice by setting them in empty closets?

Thanks.

 

[Nosybear]

For most ales, you want 68 degrees F +/- about 2 degrees. A little warmer or cooler won't matter so much as long as the temperature is fairly stable - temperature swings tend to cause more harm than a steady temperature a degree or two off. And it's not that accurate anyway - yeast can make enough heat to warm the carboy several degrees! So if I were using ambient temperature to keep my fermentation cool, I'd shoot for about 65 degrees, constant temperature.

 

[BOB357]

Yes you can use that thermometer, but it will take it a few minutes to read air temperature.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Water is more dense than air and takes longer to change temperature. It would be the median temperature of the place you want to ferment in. I condition my storage keg in my garage it always seems cool in there.

The only other way I know of to keep ferment temps stable is the swamp cooler method.

 

[White Haus Brews]

I'm almost a year in and have never used any sort of temp control (also live in CA too). It's on the list of things to upgrade but I think it gets more attention/blame than it deserves. As long as you pick a yeast that works well in the range you'll ferment in you've got nothing to worry about. For example in the middle of Summer I brewed a Saison I knew could ferment into the 80's and only get better because of it. Cheers!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

room temp in my house is 70 to 72, in most yeast that's the end temp for fermentation, never start it there you'll ferment too fast and too hot

 

[ChicoBrewer]

California has many many many different climates. I live in the northern central valley and we can hit 110 in the summer 28 in winter. I can tell you that getting a temp controlled fermenter had a huge impact on my brewing. I ferment other things besides beer. Not sure if my correlation is correct but I could never get beer or pickles or sauerkraut or kimchi right until I got my chest freezer fermenting chamber. That was the single biggest breakthrough in my short brewing career and worth every penny. If I lived on the coast I might have a different opinion but I think the two most important controls in brewing are mash and fermentation Temps. Cold crashing is an awesome thing.

 

[Hawkbox]

My basement is pretty reliably 19C except during the hot parts of summer where my temperatures when completely bug nut. I have my garage set for 8C in the winter for lagering purposes now that I realize I can use my garage for that.

 

[White Haus Brews]

Chico I definitely agree it may depend on where you live but more importantly on if you have somewhere dark that can be maintained at a reasonable temp. I'll definitely give you cold crashing though because I do wish I could do that!