Seasonal brewing?

Just wondered how many of you that live in a four season climate avoid brewing in the peak of winter/summer and do most of your brewing in the spring and fall.

I'm kind of busy right now because I brew in my garage and don't want to deal with the dead of winter temps here. Summer, I just don't want to deal with high fermentation temperature problems. My basement temps will still run over 70* in high summer here.

I timed my brewing this year so I could do things like Saisons when the temps were at their highest.

I do most of my brewing in the Spring and Fall with a batch or two in the dead of winter when cabin fever sets in. virtually nothing in summer. Too much else going on.

I try to brew based on the seasons, but I end up making whatever I want anyways. I find you can find some many alternative yeasts to really suit your situation.

I tried brewing this summer for the first time (i.e. it was the first summer since I started brewing). didn't work real well - lowest temp I could get was something like 72 degrees F. I'll probably avoid it in the future - until I get myself some kind of fermentation fridge.

petep1980 said:

I try to brew based on the seasons, but I end up making whatever I want anyways. I find you can find some many alternative yeasts to really suit your situation.

Click to expand...

I'd be interested in hearing about an ale yeast that would make a decent IPA in summer temps. Care to give me a hint? I'm still kind of new to this and no expert.

Tomorrow is my last outdoor brew day of the year. It just gets too damn cold in the winter for it to be at all enjoyable. I'm researching a permanent indoor system now. I hate not being able to brew the way I want to all year round.

waldoar15 said:

I'd be interested in hearing about an ale yeast that would make a decent IPA in summer temps. Care to give me a hint? I'm still kind of new to this and no expert.

Click to expand...

I've done an IPA in the summer with WLP008 ... worked well for me, no off flavors. My basement doesn't get above 70 here in summer .... maybe 71 tops. I may have been running at about 69 or so when I did this, but it worked out very well.

I did a couple Belgians this summer which do OK in the 74 F basement. I also did a IIPA with US-05 and kept it in the low 60s by keeping it in a cooler with ice packs. desperate times call for desperate measures. Now that its cooling off in the basement, I have a 'wynonas got a big brown bitter' (India Brown Ale++) fermenting, and on deck is another IIPA.

Fingers said:

Tomorrow is my last outdoor brew day of the year. It just gets too damn cold in the winter for it to be at all enjoyable. I'm researching a permanent indoor system now. I hate not being able to brew the way I want to all year round.

Click to expand...

I hear ya. I could continue to brew in the house, but I just don't want to hear the yaking from the woman. It's just not worth it.

You can have temp control without a fridge in the summer. It was over 90 degrees when I had a beer fermenting. I put it in a bathroom with the door closed and the fan on and the air temp in that room went down into the 80's. Then with the fermenter in a tub of water and ice bottles got my beer down into the 60's.