Amateur brewing advice PT2

[dylanbrews]

Hi again all,

As it stands my first batch of lager from the DIY kit has been bottled for a week now and I am ready to brew my Coopers Pale Ale tomorrow.

Since my first brew I have picked up a second hand fridge and inkbird to control my temperature and have 5L’s or chilled water ready to go - my 3 mistakes from my first attempt. 

Just a question about the temperature variance on the pale ale. I have the inkbird set at 18 as read as a desired temp for pale ale... And a +1.5 degree before the cooling kicks in, is this too high a change  in temperature? Any ideas? 

 

Also with my tap water I use for brewing it is close to undrinkable so I get filtered water from another household, on that note can I still add my sanitizer to my average tap water here to sterilize my gear without it causing an issue? 

 

Thanks for your time! Dylan

[Titan]

Not really but set the diff to around .5 or .3. Good luck with the brew.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Bear in mind if you set the variance low, have the temp probe taped to the side of the fermenter underneath foam of some sort, otherwise the fridge will turn on and off far too often. I find this a better way of controlling the brew temp. 

The brew will create heat while it ferments so if you had the ambient sitting at 18 +1.5 then the brew will be more around 22 during the most active part. You would have to have the fridge sitting around 15 to keep the brew at 18 then guess when to raise it so the brew temp doesn't drop near the end. Using the other method it stays at 18 until you change it. Much easier.