How important is ambient temperature when home brewing beer?

I want to start making beer but I don't want to keep it my kitchen. I would prefer to make it in the garage, but can't control the temperature there as well. How might that effect my beer making?|||If you are going to make a lager, it will effect the primary fermantion alot... I would make an Ale first... Stick with a simple british ale, nothing complicated.





As for the temprature, in the primary fermation, I have found that the warmer the room is the faster the fermantion will take place. The reciepe may state that it will take a week to get to the right specific gravity (it will change with each type of Ale you make), however in warmer rooms, that may but cut down to 4 days, or in cold rooms extend to 10 days.





How the beer tastes will change as well, however there are so many other issues that could screw up the taste more then temprature, I would not worry about it.





My suggestion would be to make the wort and do the primary permation in your kitchen (or bathroom) for the first week or so, in a room that 1) is more or less 70 F and 2) has a flooring that can handle a spill.


Once you bottle the beer (and it has to sit for another 4-8 weeks) that can be done in the garage.





One last suggestion: CLEAN EVERYTHING. pots, spoons, hoses.. take the extra time to clean and the beer will come out ok.





-luck|||There are two types of yeast, lager and ale. An ale is a top fermenting yeast, and lager is a bottom fermenting yeast. Lager is a German word that means "store". A lager is stored at a low temp, typically in the low 40s to low 50s F. An ale can be fermented at room temp. Both yeasts suffer from wide ranges of temperature extremes.





Your best bet would be to get a cheap used fridge and put it in the garage. Set it for a temp of around 45 F, and make lager.|||I ferment at about 60 degrees and age at 40. I realize this is considered too high a temp for lager, but I'm tired of long drawn out and stuck fermentation's.