Anyone ever ferment in a green house?

[shinejar]

I have read about sunlight effecting the worts' flavor, but if one was to wrap a carboy with black plastic, or better yet, ferment in a black barrel, and place it in a green house where the mean temp is 78 F (but on a really sunny day the temp might get to 100F or better),

...do you think that would be a suitable environment for fermentation?


The Co2 released would be well liked by the plants... I think.

[Husker]

Problems with a greenhouse are:

1. The light (but that can be worked around)
2. The variation in temp. Hot (well pretty warm), to cool. From day to night.
3. Lotsa pollen and other "unknown" nasties.


Well, #1 can be worked around, but using opaque fermenters (or like you said, cover the fermenter with something black.

#2 can sort of be worked around, by insulating. When the mash comes up to temp, if it is insulted, it should hold its temp "somewhat well". This one can be an issue, as a temp that varies, will give lots more off flavors.

#3 is not truely an issue, it is just when working in a dusty / pollen'y environment, you run a much higher risk of infection.

If you do this, then post your results. It may work fine, but I bet the fluxuations in temp, are not going to make for the best mash possible.

The C02 issue is certainly a Plus for your plants.

H.

[shinejar]

Thanks Husker,
I put one carboy(covered) in the green house today and one in the shed where I have been doing most of my fermenting. The shed is all floamed insulated and stays about 58F in winter and 70F in the summer. Got tired of the lengthy winter ferments in the shed, and thought the green house might do.
I'll post the results of the two in a couple of days.
I'm hoping the daytime heat in the green house might speed things up. At night the temp only drops a little. I 've got a few 55gallon black barrels(used for picklin') filled with water in there. The barrels absorb the heat of sun in the day, and slowly release the heat in the night. I've yet to run a heater in there for three years now. Plus my GH is double layered with a four inche air pocket between each. My tropicals love it out there in the winter so I don't think the temp varies too greatly to effect the mash. We'll see ...and I'll post.
Thanks

[Husker]

It may work excellent.

My dad has a small green house out the back of his house. The roof is just 4 sliding glass door (panels). His fluxuates some. It gets pretty cold here (and they lost power for about 5 days a few weeks back). I think his GH fluxuates 10-15°F or so. If you can keep yours steady (say 5°F fluxuation), then the GH might work VERY well.

Again, pay attension to cleanliness, and try to keep the light out.

H.

[muckanic]

The temperature variation shouldn't be that big a problem, as the brew should settle out at the mean day/night temperature (due to the thermal inertia of water). If the floor is made of masonry, there's another option for temperature control: the amount and type of packing under the fermenter.

[goose eye]

you gonna start killin yeast over 100

- what type yeast you usein. chek the tempeture range

[marquee moon]

I fermented winter ale in my greenhouse last October.
The brew had a good cold break followed by oxygenation and pitching of “Gervin English Ale Yeast”- my favoured yeast.
The brew took much longer to ferment out- I can’t remember exactly how long, but probably something like two weeks instead of my more normal one week. On bottling, I noticed the young beer was more cloudy than usual (my yeast usually settles out to form a very gelatinous sediment). The beer never became as bright as I normally expect- a very slight haze persisted.
The taste was different too- a bit more of a homebrew “twang”, if you know what I mean.

I figured the high daytime temperatures stressed the yeast out a bit. However the main problem I reckon is that there’s all sorts of wild yeasts in my greenhouse. My greenhouse is organic, and it’s loaded with ripe veggies in October, so I bet it’s a real soup of moulds, yeasts and fungi. Not ideal for a controlled mono-culture fermentation. I’m sure the weird flavours and slight haze was a due to a wild yeast.

I’m not going to do it again- back to the spare bedroom from now on.

(also remember that if you ferment in black plastic it'll REALLY heat up, so even if you dont get any wild yeast infections, you'll be fermenting warmer than the ideal)

[shinejar]

Thanks for the input guys! I might re-think the greenhouse, ....I don't know if I'm just lazy or what, but I'm allways trying to think of better ways. I guess I'll put this one to rest ;(
Makes sence about the wild yeasties in there, but the plants would dig the co2( maybe I 'll just let the carboy I got in there sit for a few more days, for the plants). I'll then cook the two batches seperatly and post the results.
Thanks again gang for the advice.

[Husker]

If you NEVER EVER open your fermenter within the GH, then you should be able to get away with it. Fill the fermenter outside the GH (in a clean environment), then carry it in. Also, do NOT open it to transfer to a secondary (if you do that). Again, carry the primary to a clean location, the empty it into a secondary (and recharge your primary if doing something like a sour mash).

But yes, working in an area with lots of wild yeast, pollen, dust, etc, you will have to be VERY careful.

The idea is a nice idea (harvest the heat from the GH, and allow the Co2 to help your plants). However, unless you are very very careful, contaimination is likely.

I do not have the GH available to give it a shot. However, my winter fermenting in the basement is SO slow. I simply quit, and will start again when things warm up. However, if I did have a GH, I would certainly give it a shot. I bet a multi generation sour mash would start to have problems, because no matter how much you try, wild yeast will find its way in, one way or another.

Good Luck, H.

[Tater]

Yeast wise I dont see it any worse in a greenhouse then in a open shed in summer.You start your yeast right wild aint gonna take it over Temp wise it could be if 100f is reached.I thought fans on thermostats were used to keep temp from getting to high in them.Cardboard box keep sunlite off it and hide it as well.If greenhouse has dirt floor could allways bury ferminters to their tops ground temp will stay the same.

[shinejar]

Thanks guys,
I'm waiting a little for this to go into effect, the temp here is going up to 71 tom, which means the GH will be over 100F. As described here, very bad for yeast, so out of the GH with it and into the brew shed. Damn my job for keeping me away from home and my wonderful hobbies. ( it'ld be ok if I could tend to the Gh during daylight hours)
I do like the idea of putting it into the ground, but here I think the mean temp of that is around 65F( would still be a slow ferment) If only I could get my wife to sleep with it or at least yell at it occassionally.
( that would get anythings' temp up)
Thanks again
-Peace

[junkyard dawg]

Those lower temp ferments pay off pretty good. If you can bury it and keep a constant 65°, thats worth a try... I have had great results with the low temp and slow fermentations. I've done a few apple and a few more grain fermentations at lower temps and I like what I got. None of the stinks that come with say a turbo yeast... My hot ferments have had some of the same stinks... Low and slow gives you more flavor from what you started with. If you ferment apples at 65° and 100°, the 65° is gonna taste a lot more like apples than the distillate from the 100°

This could all be due to other factors along my learning curve, I dunno. Go for consistent moderate temps and you'll be ok. Avoid the extremes...

[vinifera]

Can only agree with junkyard. Low temp fermentation gives you a better distillate.

If your GH isn't far away from the brew shed you could use a hose to lead the CO2 into the GH.

[shinejar]

Man, I wish the water table was'nt so high here. I think 2 55gal pickling barrels barried in the floor of the GH would be ideal then, as long as I was careful on the sterile bit. I've been pretty lucky so far, avoiding infections in the 9plus years of brewing. (Just for saying that I'll probably start getting some funk now)
I was thinking about placing a very clean sump-pump in them to rack off into carboys for secondary. Might be on to something, in the ground, in the GH, my very own plant-friendly micro-environment.
Sometimes our ground water table here is only in the 3-4 foot range. I can just see it now, racking off some and ..."Pop", out of the ground it comes. I'll work on it. Great ideas though.
Lately, I've been putting washes in this 55gal pickling barrel that has a spigot attatched about a foot from the bottom. Before adding weight to the barrel I put it up on a 4foot platform. Come racking time, I don't have to anything but put a hose from the spigot, then to the carboy, and turn the valve. This really beats racking with a syiphoning hose. If the barrel was in the ground, however, this would not be as easy of a task. So, I thought submersible-pump.

Anyway, Ill keep pluggin' away at it till' I get it figured out.

I think you guys might be right on the slower ferments tasting better. I've not paid attention to this with the likker so much as I have with the beers I've made. Most, if not all, taste better with a slower ferment.
Still think getting the old lady to yell at my wash should do the trick (if I wanted a faster ferment)
-Peace

[Husker]

Still think getting the old lady to yell at my wash should do the trick (if I wanted a faster ferment)

That might spoil it, instead of fermenting

[tox]

Hi all,

I ferment in the gh all the time. I have just put a tpw on this arvo and it was going crazy within an hour. This is the first tpw I have done in the gh as I have been doing rum ferments for the past month or so. It does get hot and humid, considering I am in QLD and it is winter, its probs 35c in the gh. I have not done a tpw for a loooong time but should be able to discern any yeasty off flavours attributed to the heat if it has made a significant effect.

On a side note, I age stuff on chips in the gh due to the fluctuations in temp. It seems to get more flavour quicker than being in the cupboard in the house.

Regards to you all.

[GreenEnvy22]

I'm trying this for the first time. I wheeled in my two brutes (20 and 32 gallon), where I have a bunch of seedlings. I have some level of temp control in there with heaters, fans, and a window that opens as it warms.
Temp mostly stays between 15-20C (this time of year), with spikes upto 30C for a few hours in the afternoon, but I think the ferment has enough thermal mass that those higher temps won't hurt much. Wort temp is staying fairly constant around 24C so far, 30 hours in.

[The Baker]

Plants should love the carbon dioxide.
Our local tomato grower, with maybe thirty acres under glass, pipes it to them in soft tubes-with-holes-in.
I think from the heating (gas) system for the huge tank that supplies warm water to keep the tomatoes warm...

Geoff

[GreenEnvy22]

plants do seem to love the CO2, everything is growing well.