What to brew with no central air

Alright y'all, I need some expertise. I live in lower CT and we're about to enter the months where it could be hot as hell or pleasant and mild. Our house has no central air and although it usually stays pretty cool in my brewery (which my wife INSISTS on calling "the downstairs bathroom") the temperatures may get up hotter than 70.

I'm looking to brew a style / batch / yeast that is fairly temperature resilient and won't be damaged if we get into the upper end of 75+. Any suggestions?

Maybe a hef??

you could also submerge your carboy in water and drop in frozen water bottles.

all I can say is, if you think it get hotter than hell in lower CT, dont ever move down South.

ever try a steam beer?

I didn't know you used the word "y'all" in Norwalk! I better stay over here...

+1 on using the brewery's bathtub as a swamp cooler

Believe me, I know exactly how hot it gets down there. My wife and I spend a ton of time in NOLA (hence the "y'all.) I would take their heat over ours. The problem with the heat up here is that it never gets hot enough that everyone just says, "To hell with this... Nothin's getting done today except trying to stay cool." It's always just cool enough that you can still run around like a maniac trying to look busy...

The other option and perhaps a better one is to "re-appropriate" the fridge in the garage from our kitchen remodel with a temp regulator and do some lagering. I've only ever done ales. Lagering intimidates me. Tell me it will all be ok.

How about a belgian dubbel or tripel? They like it hotter

I'd go swamp cooler unless you can afford to buy some stuff to make a proper temp controlled chamber.

Get a workable system going for fermentation temp control. Then you get to pick the style you want to consume and to he11 with what the ambient temp is.

Re-purpose that extra fridge
Swamp systems/evaporation
Fermentation chamber with ice or refrigeration unit
Dig a deep hole and apply the heat pump principle

Just get in touch with your inner Brewguyver and make something that works!

I'm considering a Saison. It's my understanding that they love the heat.

Oh please with its hot up there... its been mild to high 90s with obscene humidty levels and summer isn't here yet
The heat index right now is 109 °F
Its so hot I'm sweating like a whore in church


But really do a sasion using wyeast 3711 or maybe a simple blonde with WLP550.

If you've got a fridge available, definitely get a temperature controller for that, then you can ferment whatever you want whenever you want.

jecahn said:

Our house has no central air and although it usually stays pretty cool in my brewery (which my wife INSISTS on calling "the downstairs bathroom") the temperatures may get up hotter than 70.

Click to expand...

Now I know I'm not the only one, SWMBO keeps calling it a "powder room" and she wonders why I look at her like she's speaking in tongues sometimes...

swamp cooler - or if you gotta bathtub in the brewery, you could use that as your swamp cooler.

if you got a window, you could add an AC unit, or if you got an extra fridge, even betterer.

otherwise, you could do what I did for a couple batches when it was starting to warm here in VA. Cool the wort down to the the low end of the yeast range before pitching. I generally tried to get it to 55 or 60 degrees, then pitch the yeast. Its going to heat up on ya, but with a little luck, you'll get a good bit of the initial fermentation out of the way before it does. the beers i did that way turned out well i think

Another vote for a swamp cooler. You can get a plastic tub with rope handles from Wal-Mart for $5. Get some frozen water bottles and an old t-shirt and you are all set.

Saison. Wyeast 3711 or 3724. Montanaandy