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Hi yurmo. First is that a sweedish name??

Yeast does not like warmer temperatures. The higher the temp the faster it ferments and the more off flavors are produced.
Bread yeast will tolerate much more heat than our wine or whiskey yeasts before dying.

Bacteria growth is definitle promoted some of at the warm temperatures.
This is why the masters tell us to quickly cool the liquid to pitching temperatures.

Scotty,

There was a tv murder mystery which had a show with a mechanic named yurmo hill ( and yes he was the killer). The next day when I went to work at the auto shop I made the mistake of saying maybe one day I could be as famous as yurmo hill and from that day until I went to work elsewhere my name was yurmo hill. I just use it today as a pen name.

"Hey, guys. In years past i've hung up my siphoning hose when the ambient temps cool off in about September as i've historically just let my mash ferment in my garage at whatever temps occur in the largely unconditioned space. But this year i'm thinking i want to keep the hooch going in the cool weather. I'm in the southeast where it usually stays about 30-40F in the winter. But it will stay about 50-60F in the garage. I'm thinking about using an aquarium heater in the mash to keep it at optimum temps. You guys make winter hooch? How do you keep it warm?
Thanks."

"I use an aquarium heater during the cold months and it works great. There are a few things I learned though:

-- Get one that can be used in a salt water aquarium -- they're supposed to hold up better.

-- Make sure you keep it clean. They tend to have a bunch of these little nooks & crannies where infectious stuff can grow especially where the cord enters the heater casing. You can cut & cap one end of a piece of PVC tubing that's big enough to hold the heater. Then fill it with Star San or something like that to give it a nice bath before dropping it in your fermenting bucket.

-- The cord is a PITA. If it breaks the seal, an airlock is almost useless. All the CO2 will slip out where the cord comes through. So if you like to see bubbling, you'll need to put a hole in the lid of your bucket along with an appropriate grommet/seal.

-- Resist the temptation to keep things too warm. If you keep your wash nice and cozy warm, you'll see things take off like a rocket after you pitch. I was keeping the temperature at 30 C when using baker's yeast. It was awesome to watch! It would be bone dry in 4 - 5 days. But I was plagued with excess esters and fusels. The last time I used the heater this spring, I set it just under 20 C. It took twice as long but everything was much cleaner.

That said, this winter I'm going to try some lager yeast strains and see how they do before I go back to the aquarium heater. :)

--JB"

Another note on ferm temp...remember that fermentation is a --anarobic action-- which means it creats heat, just like rust. Of course you wont feel rust heating but you can surely feel your fermenter get and stay warm unless its in your barn and its 99F outside then you might not notice a difference. After the first few days and all the multiplying and the yeast have slowed a bit it will take on whatever ambient temp is avaliable and and then get to makeing hooch.

I have formulated an opinywawn that it can't be anything but slowed down a bit from cold or hot. It still alive till it hit 140-150 which about the same time frame in which enzymes die..or become denatured depending on which nut head a person might choose to consult.

ya know someone posted a --off flavor guideline--- I bet that gives temps for the creation of each compound ????

Well I was not a temp snob till starting to hang around these folks. Left many a bucket of wine fermenting in the uncooled play house during the hot summer when it was 110 in the shade...with no issues noted that could be considered heat related. Now I am squandering all my pension money to pay high electric bills to keep the mancave at 78. I aint going through this nonsense next year. The fermenters will be cleaned and stored by the middle to end of June. This is going to be a cool weather hobby like hawg killing etc.