Summer is upon us..Tempature Question.

Home Brew #1 - Gone
Home Brew #2 - Going in the keg tomorrow.

So that empty primary is calling my name every time i walk by it. Thinking of trying a Belgian Pale Ale using this yeast http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=136 Now it says 65-85 degrees. My brew closet in the basement is right now at 64 degrees but might inch up a tad as hotter days roll in.

Think i would be ok ??

RDWHAHB. If you are worried buy a brew belt to get the temp you want.

My concern is not that its too cold. More that it might get too warm.

New to brewing so i dont know the tempature of that closet once the 100 degree days roll in. Its a fruit cellar so its underground and exposed concrete walls so i dont think it would get too warm. I am guessing maybe 70ish? Just know the yeast create there own heat too so still unsure of how warm is too warm.

If you are worried it will get too warm you could always put together a swamp cooler. I just brewed a Grand Cru using a plastic tub w/ rope handles filled with water and a tee shirt over my bucket that worked perfect for me. My basement stays pretty cool so I didn't need to add frozen water bottles to keep the temp down but you could if you need to.

Also, I brewed with the seasonal Wyeast 3538 Leuven Pale Ale and it turned out awesome! I would recommend it if you can get it, especially if you are planning a Belgian Pale...

kingmatt said:

Also, I brewed with the seasonal Wyeast 3538 Leuven Pale Ale and it turned out awesome! I would recommend it if you can get it, especially if you are planning a Belgian Pale...

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I looked at that yeast but this sentence "Phenolics developed during fermentation may dissipate with conditioning." lead me to think they would need to age longer then the other yeasts ??

A super cheap/easy solution that I used (after having it suggested to me) is to just leave your fermentor sitting in a tub of water. If you need extra cooling, put a cotton cloth (old t-shirt) around the carboy and hanging down into the water so that it can wick it up.

Easy evaporative cooling. More importantly, water mass will hold a more constant temperature than air mass. Variations in temperature are worse for yeast than too-high temps.

Did this between my first and second batch (only two I've done), and I noticed a very significant difference.