First timer - Hi!

Hello everyone,

I have been reading through the forums the last couple of days and I would like to thank everyone for sharing so much information. I've learned a lot! Right now I am brewing a northeastern amber ale at my apartment in San Francisco. Normally the weather here is perfect for ales, but last weekend the outside temperatures got up to 86 degrees on my brew day!

The coolest spot inside my apartment is a dark closet that's insulated from outside walls. The closet was around 80 degrees for the first 24 hours of fermentation. It couldn't have been more than 2 degrees hotter than that. I believe this heat caused primary fermentation to be especially speedy -- it topped off 18 hours into the fermentation with over 1 bubble per second, and now 42 hours into the fermentation all bubbling has basically stopped and the krausen has completely fallen. (There's some nice leftovers on the side of the bucket, though! It got about 4 inches up.)

The OG was 1.063 and current gravity is 1.024. Even though work in the primary is almost done, my plan is to wait until Friday or Saturday to transfer to secondary. Temperatures in the closet are now at 76 degrees.

Does this sound like a good plan? When can I expect some clarity in the beer (e.g. for the yeast to drop)?

In the future, I plan to do my brews in the basement, which has a nice stable temperature in the high 60s. Already I'm looking forward to a better environment for my beer!

Cheers!
Jon

High 60s is just about perfect for most ales.

Remember that in the first couple days of active fermentation, the temp of your wort may be several degrees higher than the ambient temperature.

Next fermentation where it is now you could try the T-Shirt trick. You put the carboy (if you are using one...did not say) in a shallow basin filled with cold/cool water and you put a T-Shirt on the carboy. The T-Shirt will wick the water from the basin, which will cool the carboy. I have actually done this several times and it works pretty good. A fan pointed at it even makes it better.

Nice idea, Beer Snob . I am actually using a plastic container as my primary fermenter, though. (Which will double as my bottling bucket later on) I think the trick would still work on the plastic, but you're right that it would be a lot more effective with a glass carboy. I'll keep it in mind if the basement is actually too cold! (I just guessed that it was in the high 60s -- but it feels about that.)

Makes a difference. Low 60s with ale yeast and they will mostly go dormaint.

I second the wet shirt or towel. I did that and the temp dropped to 68 degrees. Before I did the wet shirt, or towel in my case, the temp was 75-76. Makes a difference with a fan. I am now in the process of building a chiller box. The wifes rolls her eyes and says that I am always getting too serious about the hobbies. What ever!!

panacea said:

Hello everyone,

my apartment in San Francisco. Normally the weather here is perfect for ales, but last weekend the outside temperatures got up to 86 degrees on my brew day!
Cheers!
Jon

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Where in sf are you? Id guess the mission, i lived all over that city for 8 years and dont remember it getting much above 75 too many times. I remember the mission being both the hottest part of the city, and the coldest.

do you shop at sf brewcraft on clement?

Dont worry about the high temperature, your Ale will be a bit on the fruity side but thats quite nice anyway. To help drop the yeast out you should consider transfering the beer to a glass carboy and storing it somewhere cooler. If you do this, you could leave it for another week or two.

If you dont have a carboy or don't want to move it, just wait until all activity has ceased in the airlock before you bottle.

Bjorn Borg said:

Where in sf are you? Id guess the mission, i lived all over that city for 8 years and dont remember it getting much above 75 too many times. I remember the mission being both the hottest part of the city, and the coldest.

do you shop at sf brewcraft on clement?

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Haha you know too much about me. I live on the top floor of a 4-story apartment in the Mission (so we get LOTS of sun), and I do shop at SF Brewcraft. In fact, I was over there this evening and the owner gave me and a british guy a quick course in partial mashing. He didn't teach me anything I hadn't read before, but it was nice to hear it straight from an experienced brewer .

mysterio said:

Dont worry about the high temperature, your Ale will be a bit on the fruity side but thats quite nice anyway. To help drop the yeast out you should consider transfering the beer to a glass carboy and storing it somewhere cooler. If you do this, you could leave it for another week or two.

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Awesome, thanks for the predictions . I was worrying that the fast ferment would create some large off flavors. We'll see! I'll take your advice and move the carboy to my basement when I do the switch this Saturday.

panacea said:

Haha you know too much about me. I live on the top floor of a 4-story apartment in the Mission (so we get LOTS of sun), and I do shop at SF Brewcraft. In fact, I was over there this evening and the owner gave me and a british guy a quick course in partial mashing. He didn't teach me anything I hadn't read before, but it was nice to hear it straight from an experienced brewer .

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Cool. I used to live on 24th, deep in the barrios, surrenos style (surx24). Anyway, yeah brewcraft is cool. We used to call the owner 'bubblethroat' cuz he always sounds like he needs a lozenge. If you can, go to his brewing class if they still teach it. Have you been to Anchor yet? Its on 18th/potrero. Its free, and well worth it. You get to drink for a good half hour at the end of the tour, (its plenty of time to have enough 'samples' to walk out of there with a buzz.) When i went Fritz (the owner and beer Guru) actually hung out with us for a few minutes.

You should be alright temp wise, whats that famous Samuel Clemens quote?, "the coldest winter i ever spent was a summer in san francisco"
If not move out to the sunset, its foggy all year and cold as sh*t!