What's a brewer to do in August?

[magnetick]

I recently decided I'm going to brew my own beer, after missing out on the amazing beer scene in Boise. I went to my brew shop and got equipped, but don't have anyplace in my apartment that will stay below about 72F. I got stuff for a brown ale that wants a 65F fermentation, but can wait on pursuing that until the weather cools down a little.

 

[SavoryChef]

use belgian yeast, they don't mind the higher temp

 

[beergolf]

use belgian yeast, they don't mind the higher temp

Be careful with that advice..Belgian yeasts do need temp control for the first part of fermentation. If you just let them go at 75 ambient you might as well call NASA and ask them if they want to but some rocket fuel. I made the mistake of taking that advice when I first started brewing. big mistake.

That being said there are a few yeasts that will tolerate high temps from the start. Mostly saison yeast are good for this kind of fermentation. They are the only yeasts that I know of that you can start out warm and keep them there.

The other option is just to get a tub of water that you can fit your fermenter in and then you can control the temp by simply adding frozen water bottles. Very easy to do when the weather is warm.

 

[Peruvian802]

Do you have a tub or barrel that will fit your fermenter? Add cold water and frozen bottles of water and you can easily drop that to sub-70 degrees where many yeasts will thrive.

 

[WayFrae]

Do you have a tub or barrel that will fit your fermenter? Add cold water and frozen bottles of water and you can easily drop that to sub-70 degrees where many yeasts will thrive.

Do this. Also you can add a t-shirt around your carboy/bucket and have a fan blow on it to help cool it down. I can keep my carboy at 62-64°F with this method in my basement. I don't even add frozen bottles.

 

[WileECoyote]

I recently decided I'm going to brew my own beer, after missing out on the amazing beer scene in Boise. I went to my brew shop and got equipped, but don't have anyplace in my apartment that will stay below about 72F. I got stuff for a brown ale that wants a 65F fermentation, but can wait on pursuing that until the weather cools down a little.

Hello, Brew a Belgian Saison, Yeast 3724, start fermentation at 75 deg and raise to 84 deg to finish active fermentation, I use a swamp cooler = ( $6 rope handle tub from walmart ) and a fish aquarium heater to regulate the temp, works great and dose not make rocket fuel.

You can also use the same $6 tub to brew that Brown ale by using frozen water bottles just like others already said !

Cheers

 

[J187]

People GREATLY underestimate how effective a swamp cooler is. It IS a pain in the ass, but it's VERY effective. I've used a 40 gallon target bin, filled half way with a rotation of 6 + 6 frozen 1 liter bottles to hold temps steady at 65-67 in the dead of August. Only rotating bottles every 12 hours or so.

 

[cj209]

I live in Central Ca and today it is 104 F, inside my house it is about 82 right now. I brew in the summer. I picked up a Cool Brewing Bag, its basically a large insulated bag that fits my 6.5 gallon bucket. It also fins a couple frozen 2 L soda bottles. I switch these out every 12-18 hours and it keeps my beers at 62-65 F. Google it, lots of good reviews out there.