Brewing in Texas

So my ale temps have been right on for my ales I have been doing recently, but with summer closing in I am worried. This is worrying me because in the summer we (and alot of others) keep our houses at around 78 degrees in the summer. How will this affect my fermintations? Any suggestions other than using a fridge. Lack of funds has my beer equipment on hold right now.

craigslist.com

if you are lucky then you can get a free one. You can keep it in a bucket of water with a fan blowing on it. I would splurge for a fridge

hopsalot said:

craigslist.com

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ITYM craigslist.org. HTH.

I use a rig like jcarson83's for lagers.

If you live in Houston I can tell you were to buy the parts for a fermentation chiller. I've been using mine and it works great. I'm also about to build a second one.

ChillyP said:

If you live in Houston I can tell you were to buy the parts for a fermentation chiller. I've been using mine and it works great. I'm also about to build a second one.

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I would like to know how you built the your fermentation chiller.

I live in the DFW area and in the summetime I also keep my house at 78 degrees. I put my carboy in a large rubbermaid tub filled with water and put a regular white t-shirt over the carboy so it will wick up the water. I place this under a ceiling fan and it keeps my carboy temps at 70 - 72 degrees depending on level of fermentation. While this is slightly on the high side for temps, I check out ferementation ranges on different yeasts to get one that is within this range and allow my brew to sit in the primary three weeks to let the yeast clear up any off flavors from the slightly warm fermentation temps.

HTH,
Dan

jgardner6 said:

I would like to know how you built the your fermentation chiller.

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It's easy. The guy who did the original plans, has taken down his website but i still have a copy of the PDF. Email me and I can send you the PDF. Also theirs a website by a guy named JT (Fermentation Chiller) He's updated the original plans. I've talked to him through email and he's help me on the digital thermostat. This is the one I'm about to make. Send me a message and I can get you the chiller.pdf

jgardner6 said:

I would like to know how you built the your fermentation chiller.

Click to expand...

It's easy. The guy who did the original plans, has taken down his website but i still have a copy of the PDF. Email me and I can send you the PDF. Also theirs a website by a guy named JT (Fermentation Chiller) He's updated the original plans. This is the one I'm about to make. Send me a message and I can get you the chiller.pdf

Thanks guys... my "better half" thinks my beer expenses are at a max. Therefore I was thinking about doing this; putting my primary in a rubbermaid bucket filled with water, then putting a frozen bottle of water in the water in the morning, after work, and at night, thus alternating bottles. Let me know what you think?

Runyank said:

Thanks guys... my "better half" thinks my beer expenses are at a max. Therefore I was thinking about doing this; putting my primary in a rubbermaid bucket filled with water, then putting a frozen bottle of water in the water in the morning, after work, and at night, thus alternating bottles. Let me know what you think?

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I did just this for quite awhile before I built my fermentation cabinet (see signature). I used a large rubbermaid tub that could hold 2 carboys, and had a healthy supply of 1 and 2 liter plastic bottles in our freezer. Once I got past the initial fermentation, I did not worry about temperatures as much, and would rack and store at room temp (~80 F).

Sure its not the "gold standard best" way to ferment and store your beers, but it sure beats trying to ferment at 80-85deg when that is all you have...