Brewing at Higher Temps

I have had good success with my last few batches although the temperature has been over 80° where I live. I keep my fermentation vessels outside, usually in a brute trashcan, and under my house. Other then unwanted ester flavors, and aromas, which I have have not experienced yet, what bad can happen from fermenting at too high of a temperature?

Most varieties of ale yeast like to make fusel alcohols when allowed to ferment at higher temperatures. You'll know when that happens from the "hot alcohol" taste and the tendency to get headaches from drinking too much of it.

Trust me, your beer can be way better if you keep it cool. This can be as simple as bring it inside, wrapping a wet towel around it, and pointing a fan at it. You can also keep it in a big bucket of cool water and adding frozen water bottles to keep the temperature down. It doesn't need to be expensive. It's the single best thing you can do for your beer.

Alternatively, you can brew saisons (using saison yeast) which are meant to be fermented very hot.

Add some water to that brute trash can and a couple of ice packs and you'll notice that you probably will like your beer even more. there are a lot of things that can go wrong on any give brew day, but proper fermentation seems to be one of the biggest factors in making good beer great beer.

One of the problems with trash cans is that they are poor insulators. So in 80+ degree weather, the ice melts pretty fast.

Some company was selling insulated bags for carboys. Just drop a frozen two liter in there and it would keep it cool without having a freezer full of ice blocks. Seems like a decent idea for hot weather brewing. Not sure how consistent the temps, but better inconsistent and cool than inconsistent and hot...

You can insulate your water tub with a roll of fiberglass insulation, aka ‘pink panther’. 10 bucks for 32' of R-13 15". That’s enough for about five turns around a rope tub.

I just did it a few hours ago, but the early indication is that the frozen water bottles last 2-3 times as long. I have two tubs, so that’s with two turns around each one.

Thanks for the info. I would say my fermentors stay between 70-75 and maybe a touch above on really warm days where I keep them. I haven't experienced any off flavors yet, but maybe I've been lucky. I have a chest freezer that I plan on getting a temp control for, but I've been putting my money into an AG setup.

Many years ago I gave up the summer cooling battle and just started using Wyeast: 1388 Belgian Strong Ale. It makes a great IPA at temps approaching 80. A guy at my LHBS also sold me on Wyeast 3711 for warmer ferment (assuming you want a great summer Saison!)

IMO temp control is more important than all grain brewing. Buy the big sheets of 2" insulation at your local "big box" put them around a keg bucket with frozen ice bottles, cheap temp control!

Bordy said:

Thanks for the info. I would say my fermentors stay between 70-75 and maybe a touch above on really warm days where I keep them. I haven't experienced any off flavors yet, but maybe I've been lucky. I have a chest freezer that I plan on getting a temp control for, but I've been putting my money into an AG setup.

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I would put fermentation temperature control ahead of going all grain. You might not have really bad results but you certainly are not getting as good as you could with proper temperature control. This can be as simple as finding a cooler place to keep a swamp cooler or finding some way to insulate it better.

Maybe using the chest freezer for insulation for the swamp cooler.

Just bite the bullet and get a fridge and a temp control. Set it and forget it.

Bordy said:

I would say my fermentors stay between 70-75 and maybe a touch above.

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Is that the temp reading of the fermentor surface or the room? Either way, don't make the mistake I made of not accounting for the fermentation temperature spike in the centre of the fermentor which can go as high as 10F above what you're reading on the surface. That particular batch tasted of solvent...

Get the temperature controlled as a priority!

I have 2 cool brewings insulators, and keep all my brews cold with ice. I also live in Florida, and they work perfectly their for keeping all my beers at the perfect temperature. Except for the most sensitive yeast (like Irish that hates even small temp changes in its proper temp range)

jeuentes said:

Just bite the bullet and get a fridge and a temp control. Set it and forget it.

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This. You WILL notice a difference after your first Temp controlled batch assuming you did everything else right. Id say after sanitation Temp Control is the 2nd most important thing in producing a great brew. I ferment all my ales at 64-66F.

I skipped out on a temperature controller for my chest freezer, and just did a detailed adjustment of the thermostat. I would google/search this forum for how to adjust the chest freezer temp to make a kegerator or a lager chamber and save the money. Only takes a precision screwdriver and a regular screwdriver. Saves you about 50 bucks.

I ferment everything I brew in my pantry (I have to adjust yeast accordingly, house stays 68-72) unless I specifically go for a colder temp yeast, in which case, I set it on the shelf of the chest freezer with a couple of towels underneath it to keep it off the slightly iced over plastic. Chest freezer is 43 at the top, and just below freezing at the bottom (below the shelf).

Thanks for the input. I just won a bid on eBay for a digital temp controller, so definitely looking forward to using it. Has anyone used the probe that is built into the stopper that actually goes into the carboy? If so, is it worth the $25?

If your brewing a style and with yeast that can handle 80 saisons and such you would be fine but for most other things you will have undrinkable headache inducing beerr