Fermenting Coopers Irish stout at 34c

Hello folks,

Did my extract brew yesterday and it's going to be a hot summer. Average temperature will be around 33-34c. You think this will ruin my beer?

I'm not an expert, but I believe that temperature will kill the yeast or make them produce a whole lot of fusel alcohol, which in turn will cause literally horrible headaches. I would recommend you research some cooling options. A wet blanket/towel around the fermenter and a fan could be a lo-tech, cheap solution.

But I'm no expert and other people might have better advice.

Way too warm to ferment. If no other way of cooling is available, the towel/fan may work, although your yeast will definitely be producing off flavors unless you can get it down in the mid 70s. Do you have a basement?

34*C ~ 93*F

schia said:

Average temperature will be around 33-34c. You think this will ruin my beer?

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Yes.

schia said:

Hello folks,

Did my extract brew yesterday and it's going to be a hot summer. Average temperature will be around 33-34c. You think this will ruin my beer?

Click to expand...

Don't worry about it too much. I let my brews ferment at those temperatures. Not ideal, but in our situation, that is the Malaysian way (Malaysia boleh :rockin, it is definitely not a problem. Some yeasts, though, produce off flavours, but unless you understand what off-flavors are, you won't notice them. Taste is very personal!

Have you thought of using a fridge for your fermenter? In Puchong, behind Kompleks Rakan Muda, you can get a temperature controller at around RM70 (yes, that is USD23, just to make our US friends a bit jealous). I used it to convert my fridge into a fermenter. Now I don't need to worry about temperatures. Having said so, this week I did have a problem, as my "fermenter" was in use when I did a new brew.

Homebrewers are an industrious lot - gotta love the adventure of brewing somewhere like Malaysia w/ the challenges of climate and finding ingredients.

Must be New Years there already! Cheers!

jmprdood said:

Homebrewers are an industrious lot - gotta love the adventure of brewing somewhere like Malaysia w/ the challenges of climate and finding ingredients.

Must be New Years there already! Cheers!

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The challenges are definitely there, but worth overcoming! :rockin:
The fun for me is partly to find anything local, even if not intended for brewing beer, and use it to get a good brew. Didn't use Irish Moss, for instance, as I thought it's not available (except from Singapore brewer shop), but then found out you can use what is called agar-agar, which is widely available in Malaysia.

So far my brewing temp has always been in the tropics and honestly I have yet to encounter a bad batch but then again it has always been a top fermenting yeast and i'll probably try a lager style when I have everything in order.

@schia,
I have just bottled a draught, doing a Canadian Style beer now, with added gula kelapa I bought from a shop in Puchong Permai. Fermenting's well on the way! Perhaps we can do a brew together one day!

Canadian style beer with coconut sugar? Nice! I can't wait for the field report on this and good luck.