Hight temperature ale

[Bruinpilot]

I am finding it hard to find a mini fridge which will also hold my ale pail. Here in Texas it gets pretty warm. Are there any good ales that can be fermented at my home temp in the mid to upper 70s?


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[gr8shandini]

How do you feel about Belgians? A saison would be perfect for those temperatures. Other than that, it's going to be pretty difficult to make a decent beer unless you can get the temps down. I haven't tried it, but a lot of folks on here have had good luck by placing the fermenter in a "swamp cooler" full of water and using frozen water bottles to control the temperature.

 

[morticaixavier]

yeah, saison doesn't mind the elevated temp but it's still better if you can pitch ~65 and let it ramp itself up to the upper 70's.

google son of fermentation chiller for a cheap solution or use a water bath with frozen water bottles to chill or a swamp cooler set up. You can easily knock 5-10 degrees off your ambient with any of these solutions.

 

[Jupapabear]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=467266

Check that out, it may help with the styles you want to brew.

 

[Jayhem]

Swamp cooler. You can get a 20 gallon plastic tub at Walmart for $10, put the fermenter in, fill with water, drape towel over fermenter with 1/3 of the towel below water level, the evaporation slowly lowers the temp and you can also rotate in frozen water bottles to drop it further. In the summer time the lower and more central inside the home the better for lowest temp. I know a lot of Texas homes don't have basements or cellars but those are the best place to ferment because of a more stable temp.

 

[beergolf]

Like the others have mentioned. A simple swamp cooler can be pretty effective at controlling temps.

Other than that the only yeasts I would recommend fermenting at that temp are saisons.

Belgians are often mentioned, but if they are not controlled for the first few days, they will produce fusels.

 

[morticaixavier]

Swamp cooler. You can get a 20 gallon plastic tub at Walmart for $10, put the fermenter in, fill with water, drape towel over fermenter with 1/3 of the towel below water level, the evaporation slowly lowers the temp and you can also rotate in frozen water bottles to drop it further. In the summer time the lower and more central inside the home the better for lowest temp. I know a lot of Texas homes don't have basements or cellars but those are the best place to ferment because of a more stable temp.

just to be clear, a swamp cooler is an evaporative cooler. it is made by putting the fermenter in some sort of tray or bin and putting ~4 inches of water in the bottom. drape a cotton towel or, my favorite, an old cotton black t-shirt over the fermenter so the bottom is in the water. start the process off by wetting the whole thing down. this will wick up moisture and evaporate it off cooling the fermenter. Don't put ice in the water as that will just slow the rate of evaporation and therefore make it less effective at chilling.

an water bath is when you get a large tub that will fit most of the fermenter height. fill with water up to as close to the beer line as you can and keep that water at whatever temp you want with ice bottles or (not an issue in texas I'll bet) a fish tank heater.

 

[gr8shandini]

. . .

Belgians are often mentioned, but if they are not controlled for the first few days, they will produce fusels.

True. I only brought it up since if one doesn't like Belgian beer, they're probably not going to like a saison. Sorry if this confused anyone.

 

[gr8shandini]

just to be clear, a swamp cooler is an evaporative cooler. it is made by putting the fermenter in some sort of tray or bin and putting ~4 inches of water in the bottom. drape a cotton towel or, my favorite, an old cotton black t-shirt over the fermenter so the bottom is in the water. start the process off by wetting the whole thing down. this will wick up moisture and evaporate it off cooling the fermenter. Don't put ice in the water as that will just slow the rate of evaporation and therefore make it less effective at chilling.

an water bath is when you get a large tub that will fit most of the fermenter height. fill with water up to as close to the beer line as you can and keep that water at whatever temp you want with ice bottles or (not an issue in texas I'll bet) a fish tank heater.

The trouble is that a true swamp cooler like this only works if you have very low humidity. I'm not sure what part of TX the OP is from, but I don't think it'll work very well for most of the state.

 

[Jupapabear]

Well it has been working for me in houston. I do add some ice sometimes when necessary

Jupapabear

 

[Bruinpilot]

I live in houston where it is pretty humid... I have never had a saison. I will buy one and see if I like it! I keep combing Craigslist and hopefully I can eventually find a mini fridge that will fit my pail... Thanks for the outpouring of great info though guys. I really appreciate it!


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[BigCypress]

Another option might be using smaller carboys for your primary. I only brew 2.5 gallon batches since the 3 gallon carboys fit fine once you take the shelves off the inside of the door (at least in mine ... measure before you buy). They are a little tall, so an airlock won't fit, but I use a blowoff tube instead and it works fine. Obviously you would split your 5 gallon batches into two carboys, so there's would be a little more cleaning/sanitizing involved, plus the cost of buying the better bottles. And there's the possibility of fermentation yielding two very different beers, even from the same wort. Optimally, you pick up a mini fridge that could house a fermenting bucket, but this is another option.


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[BigCypress]

Here's my fermenting fridge.


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[petrolSpice]

I'm brewing a saison right now. I let it free rise from 70F to 80F, then forced it up to 85F and have been holding it there for about 2 weeks now. First sample tasted great despite attenuating to 7.2% ABV. I added pureed strawberries and am going to bottle it next weekend.

No need to worry about being too warm with a saison yeast!

 

[gr8shandini]

Just curious, do you have space limitations that are driving you toward a mini fridge? You can find full size models for cheap to free all day long on craigslist, so there's not much reason not to go the whole 9 yards if you have somewhere to put it.

And if you are space limited, I'd go along with the others suggesting to just brew smaller batches. You'll have to brew more often, but that's not a bad thing. I've got a 10 gallon setup, but I'm also thinking of building a 1 or 2 gallon stovetop rig for "experiments".

 

[Bruinpilot]

I might be able to find the space for a full size but it is a stretch. I'm not entirely sure if my wife would approve... I also don't have a ton of space. My garage is filled with all my other toys! The smaller size fits and wouldn't rock he boat at all. But you are right. I can find full size fridges on Craigslist for less than the minis. I've seen them about $40!


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[BigFloyd]

The trouble is that a true swamp cooler like this only works if you have very low humidity. I'm not sure what part of TX the OP is from, but I don't think it'll work very well for most of the state.

They just don't work as well in the humid areas of Texas as they do out in the western half (which is pretty darn dry). Also, it depends on whether the swamp cooler is inside where the AC has dried the air out some or not.

Bruinpilot- if you can figure out a way to fit a full-size fridge or an upright freezer (both will work just fine), that's the way to go. Here are the links that will help you set up an STC-1000 controller for it.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/stc-1000-setup-beginners-433985/#post5538096

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-fish-tank-controller-build-using-wal-mart-parts-261506/


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

 

[Bruinpilot]

Thanks again for the wealth of awesome info!


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