temp woes

[raine]

right-I know this might seem daft but just what is the optimum temp for brewing? I live in a cottage so available space to store demijohns etc is limited. I have no airing cupboard and the cottage itself is a little on the cool side to say the least! Can I still brew successfully? I have a lean to but its either baking hot or freezing, its also very light so would this be suitable?
many thanks

[Peas'n'Kews]

The OH always put his demijohns in the airing cupboard.... Does that help??

[rustylady]

Constant temperature is better than alternating between hot and cold. But it does need to be reasonably warm.

[Two_Sheds]

20c is optimum isn't it? Having said that, my brewing room is about 18c most of the time, and everything brews just fine

[Kleftiwallah]

I plop my jemijohns onto a heated mat we bought for our arthritic 22 year old cat. Now he's proping up the plum tree his heated mat is doing a great job, three heat settings as well. Try the charity shops in your area. Cheers, Tony.

[Sanjo]

I currently have a beer brewing belt heating my demi johns. Last week it was around four of them so well spread out. Covered the lot with towels (as an aid to keeping the light off my reds as much as anything else) but I am down to the one demi john this week and it is too big now so have had to put an emty one next to it to spread it out a bit. It is also warming up my sweet corn in their little plastic bag in an effort to chit them. I wanted to utilise the heat as much as possible. I don't have an airing cupboard, or central heating, hence the belt.

[chefgage]

I have my demi John's in the kitchen as it is on average about 21'c , saying that it seems to take ages to stop
Fermenting, so I got hold of a brewing belt and that speeded things up

[Hilary B]

Beer brews nicely a bit warmer than is ideal for wine. As long as it isn't actually COLD wine will still ferment, albeit slowly, but the books say the results are better if it isn't too warm/quick.

[ohbeary]

Raine, the optimum temperature for wine is 18-20C using GP yeast, Champagne yeast is reasonably happy down to 17C, Gervin No 5 (white lable) for white fruit wines is good at lower temps and would be much better than GP yeast in preserving flavours, Champagne yeast makes a good firm sediment and doesn't blow off flavours during fermentation.

[raine]

Thanks for all your replies,i think i need to buy a themometer now!