Sunny South Florida Home Brewing

Hey Everybody, about to do my First home brew and I have a couple of questions for the experts!

Living in South Florida it is almost always pretty hot. I can keep my house around 79 degrees during the day, will this be to hot? Any tips for summer brewing?

Does any one know any LHBS around the Fort Lauderdale area?

Thanks for all the great info on this site!

Hi welcome!

79 is going to be too hot for most beers. You really want to keep most ales at around 65 (I normally ferment 62 or so for very clean beers). The cheapest way to do this is just to put your carboy in some sort of tub or cooler and put in frozen water bottles to keep it at the right temperature. You can measure the temp of the water and assume that the wort is fairly close to that.

Awesome! Thank you for the quick advice!

I have a spare bathroom with a tub, I guess that would be the easiest way.

Thanks again! I am very excited to start a new hobby.

Do you have a basement? If so, is it any cooler than the rest of the house?

batfishdog37 said:

Do you have a basement? If so, is it any cooler than the rest of the house?

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Well if he put them in the basement in South Florida, I'm sure the rising water from the water-table at 10 feet below the ground may keep the beer cool

JeepDiver said:

Well if he put them in the basement in South Florida, I'm sure the rising water from the water-table at 10 feet below the ground may keep the beer cool

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LOL you got it!

i just brewed my first beer.... south mississippi.... i keep my house between 70 and 75 depending on which part of the house...

long term, you might want to consider buying a used refrigerator and one of those external temp controllers.

i had to replace a refrigerator in one of my rentals and i pulled the old one out and cleaned it up and i'm using it now to ferment.

i just transferred it to secondary last night and grabbed a sip and it actually tasted like beer!!!! tasted very clean as well.

i thought about the tub and ice and figured that it would work for me short term, but long term, i'd get tired of doing that and when i went out of town, i'd have nobody to switch out the ice bottles.

good luck!

deepsouth said:

i just brewed my first beer.... south mississippi.... i keep my house between 70 and 75 depending on which part of the house...

long term, you might want to consider buying a used refrigerator and one of those external temp controllers.

i had to replace a refrigerator in one of my rentals and i pulled the old one out and cleaned it up and i'm using it now to ferment.

good luck!

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Have you noticed an increase on your electric bill when adding another fridge. I've seen some cheap old fridges around but thought it would spike my electricity cost.

Sumadi said:

Have you noticed an increase on your electric bill when adding another fridge. I've seen some cheap old fridges around but thought it would spike my electricity cost.

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man, i wish i could help you answer that one.... i've got three separate a/c units in my house and three refrigerators.... my power bills run between $250 and $500 per month depending on how hot it is outside.

deepsouth said:

man, i wish i could help you answer that one.... i've got three separate a/c units in my house and three refrigerators.... my power bills run between $250 and $500 per month depending on how hot it is outside.

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Thats cool... Thanks for the tips anyway!

Sumadi said:

Thats cool... Thanks for the tips anyway!

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i can let you know when i get my next bill if i see anything noticible.

You might try a Son of Fermentation Chiller or Mother of Fermentation Chiller (which I just built) if you are concerned about space and/or electricity. Do a quick search and you will find them... I brew in Central Florida and I wanted a little more control than the tub of ice bottles offered.

-Craig

deepsouth said:

i can let you know when i get my next bill if i see anything noticible.

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I would a appricate that! I have to have some evidence so I can convince my SWMBO!