how to raise fermentation temp for a witbier

Ingredients
1

I have a Witbier recipe that I want to try brewing but it calls for starting fermentation at 68 and then gradually raising it to 72. The yeast being used will be White Labs WLP004 (Belgian Wit Ale). I was wondering how people tended to do this? I don’t have any specialty equipment like dedicated fridges or freezers, I just wrap the fermenter in a blanket near an internal part of my house. What options do I have or alternatives to raising the temp? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

Tim

2

move it to an even warmer part of the house?

or get one of these: Beer Home Brewing Equipment & Supplies

3

Water bath with aquarium heater is what I use.

4

+1 - With a decent quality heater, you can heat to the upper 80’s

5

+2.  I used an aquarium heater in a tub last year. Went to ferment a Dupont saison and realized my fermwrap was dead, so I improvised with this setup - luckily had an aquarium heater laying around the garage. Actually worked well.

6

You might find the temp will raise by itself. If not, the fermwrap with a temp controller has worked really well for 5 gal batches (linked above, it looks like), and I use small aquarium heaters with built in temp control for my 1 gallon batches. Both work great!

7

^ This. If you pitch at 68°F (and don’t under-pitch), it will probably end up somewhere in the mid-70s at high krausen.

Make sure you use something to handle the blowoff. That strain is notoriously krausen-y.

8

What would happen if the temp was too low?
Not to hijack the thread but I made a wit yesterday and I put all 10 gals in a conical and I was supposed to have help moving into the warm basement but that help never showed and now I’m headed off for Easter to the in-laws.  So, the beer is sitting in my garage where the temp is probably around 55F today.  It’s bubbling away slowly after 24 hrs and will likely continue to increase over the next few days.  I’m using the Wyeast Belgian/Canadian.

I realize that it will likely have a diminished “Belgian” character at colder temps but how much of the character of a wit comes from the yeast as opposed to the coriander/orange peel and wheat in the brew?

I have no way to warm the beer that I’m comfortable with using when we are away for a few days.

9

I set my fermenter on top of the refrigerator or the computer desk, whichever is warmer.  Cheap ‘n’ easy.

10

I use fermwraps even on 15 bbl conicals with insulation. Work great!