Summer fermenting temps

I am curious, does temperature prevent most people from brewing during the summer months? My ac doesn't work all that great, and the coolest I can reliably keep my house is 74.

Is this a similar problem for anyone else?

Get a freezer chest and a temp. controller and you'll never fret again about the temp. at your house.

GraphixRyan said:

I am curious, does temperature prevent most people from brewing during the summer months? My ac doesn't work all that great, and the coolest I can reliably keep my house is 74.

Is this a similar problem for anyone else?

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I brew heffe's in the summer most come out with a lot of bannana flavor which i like.

Not to mention I have a basement that stays at 70-72 degrees.

I live in an apartment, so I'm pressed for space, and don't have A/C at all, so I made one of these, suggested to me by folks here on the board: http://bayareamashers.org/gadgets/Dave's Cheap n Easy fermentation chiller.pdf

Also search for "son of fermentation chiller" if you've got a little more room. Either one should do the trick.

You can also search "swamp cooler" on this site.

No, I used the swamp chiller approach to reduce the temp a bit in the past.

Here is a deluxe redneck version of it: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/temperature-control-budget-77158/

I now built an enclosure out of insulation board and connected it to an old small freezer. Temperature is controlled by a home thermostat and 12V computer fan.

The summer pretty much stops me from brewing beers I enjoy but it doesn't stop me from brewing. I don't have any AC at all at my house so my house has already been into the 90s this year. I just plan on brewing all Saisons this summer. The yeast for Belgian Saisons is happy up to 90 degrees.

steinsato said:

The summer pretty much stops me from brewing beers I enjoy but it doesn't stop me from brewing. I don't have any AC at all at my house so my house has already been into the 90s this year. I just plan on brewing all Saisons this summer. The yeast for Belgian Saisons is happy up to 90 degrees.

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Haha...that's exactly what I did before I made the cooler dealie. Nothing wrong with a fridge full of saison in the summer!

I probably brew more in the summer, but then the cellar stays around 70F.

I bought a small wine fridge so I can brew year round...

If you can keep your house in the mid-70s you can definitely ferment in the mid to upper 60's by placing your bucket/carboy in a larger container of water and adding frozen water bottles a couple of times a day.

On the otherhand, you can brew lots of saisons, belgians, and wheat beers in the 70s.

+1 for swamp chiller. I take my fermenter, put it in a partially filled sink and wrap a towel around the fermenter so it soaks up the water. I then put a fan blowing across it.

Keeps temps around mid 60s when room is around 74. The AC makes it a bit dryer so evaporation cools things down.

At what point does keeping the brew at its recommended temp no longer become critical? I usually found that once I reached my desired gravity and fermentation appeared to stop, I could take off the swamp chiller and let it sit for another week or two. Came out fine with no bananay flavors.

At what temperature do these "swamp coolers" stop being effective? My house is going to be in the 90s this summer. I was thinking of making one of these but will that only get me down to the mid 70s?

I bought a full sized freezer off Craigslist ($100) and a digital temp controller from morebeer ($130) so I won't ever have to worry about it. Room for 4 carboys and I don't have to worry even when it's 110* outside

steinsato said:

At what temperature do these "swamp coolers" stop being effective? My house is going to be in the 90s this summer. I was thinking of making one of these but will that only get me down to the mid 70s?

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Part of that depends on how technically advanced your cooler is.

If it's just a bucket of water with your fermenter in it, it's not going to be considerably cooler than ambient temperatures. If you insulate your cooler, you can get it cooler, and if you add a fan or direct AC contact, you can get it cooler, etc. In other words, the more like a isolated fermentation chamber you make it, the cooler you can keep it.

If you can add enough ice regularly, you can get it down to the 50s and keep it there. Unfortunately, cooling 5 gallons to the 50s when it is in the 90s would constantly require more ice than water.

Gah, I wish SWMBO would just let me have a damn chest freezer

ReverseApacheMaster said:

Part of that depends on how technically advanced your cooler is.

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Another major part is the relative humidity of the location of your swamp chiller. For instance, if your room is pretty dry, a swamp chiller will be really effective because as the water evaporates it cools down. However, if you're doing this in the Jungle where it is 99.99% humidity, then your swamp chiller will not get much cooler than ambient temp because almost no water is evaporating.

well here in New Mexico, humidity is not a word we use very often. In fact most houses don't even have air conditioners. We just us swamp coolers on the roofs of our houses. Basically a large box fan that sucks outside air through moist sponge like filters then blows the cooler air through a duct into the house. I guess I should start experimenting with some kind of build along these lines.

brew a saison. They can get hot and stay happy.

It's good to be a Yooper. My basement doesn't get warmer than 65 degrees, tops! Year 'round brewing. Yee haw!!