Brewing when its hot as hell (Texas ?s)

Hey all,
I am new to all of this, but can tell already by looking through the forums and drinking lots of beer I have a feeling I am going to enjoy "The Obsession".

My wife bought the Mr. Beer kit for me knowing that I wanted to get into it but figured it would be better for me to screw up 2 gallons of beer instead of 5 in the beginning. I'll move that way shortly I'm sure.

I read through the sticky and found some great info but I have noticed that a lot of people are from up north. I live in Houston so finding some place to stash the beer for a month or two at 60-68°F is going to be impossible. I could maybe get my house to 72-74°F if I want an $800 electricity bill next month. Mostly our house stays around 78°.

If anybody else out there in the lone star state or elsewhere can give me tips and tricks for getting the best beer possible please let me know. Also if anyone knows of any homebrew shops in the Houston area that would be awesome.

Thanks in advance

Plastic buckets...towels...water...frozen soda bottles with water...i dunno. The Complete Joy has some tips i think.

yep, Just keep it in a tub with some water & rotate frozen bottles of water to keep the temp. where you need to. Anything like that will be better than 78F + the extra few degrees from fermentation.

I have two 5g carboys in a 66F ice water bath in the house right now.

Go to Target, buy the Haier Nucool refrigerator for $79. Buy an external thermostat for around $40. This will serve as a pretty decent fermentation chamber. You will be happy you did this. Ice bath maintenance for a month is a huge pita. Trust me on that.

You mostly need the fermentation temps under control during primary fermentation - a week or two. Then it's OK (though maybe less than ideal) to let it finish in the upper 70s. Here's what I use. Switching out a 2-liter frozen bottle each day easily keeps things below 70.

Lil' Sparky said:

You mostly need the fermentation temps under control during primary fermentation - a week or two. Then it's OK (though maybe less than ideal) to let it finish in the upper 70s. Here's what I use. Switching out a 2-liter frozen bottle each day easily keeps things below 70.

Click to expand...

It looks so clean!

My chiller is a trash can... check my sig. You really only need temp control for the first 3-4 days of primary fermentation, after that it doesn't matter.

Welcome.

Soperbrew said:

It looks so clean!

Click to expand...

Hehe. Doesn't always stay that way.

+1 on the refridgerator except i found a large fridge on craigs list and got a temp controller for that. if thats to much to make the initial jump into home brewing brewing a belgium is a good alternative. something like a saison would ferment perfectly at 78 degrees

oh and as far as brewshops there is brew-it-yourself in spring on the northside of town or defalco's on the south side of town

CL can be a good way to find a fridge, but I haven't had any luck with it in my neck of the woods. I did the ice bottle/bathtub thing for a couple of brews and then said screw it and built a chamber.

Welcome to HBT

Same here. I use a big ice chest to ferment in and drop a few frozen bottles in twice a day.

I have done them all, the ice baths in a cooler, plastic storage thing and a refrigerator with external thermostat. I much prefer the later with the less maintenance. Kinda hard when I am doing a lager and ale at the same time though.

It is hot here too, we haven't seen a 90 something degree day in a long time. I keep the house at 75 mostly but I have a variable speed swamp cooler so I don't get the $800 bill, I get the $57 bill that is with a pool too, which has a variable speed pump on it too.

Lil' Sparky said:

You mostly need the fermentation temps under control during primary fermentation - a week or two. Then it's OK (though maybe less than ideal) to let it finish in the upper 70s. Here's what I use. Switching out a 2-liter frozen bottle each day easily keeps things below 70.

Click to expand...

How big are those carboys and what size is that cooler? I like the way that looks as opposed to trying to use my big red bucket with my 6gal carboy in it. A rectangular cooler would fit in my closet a lot easier than the bucket.

With minimal freezer space, is there an alternative to using gallon jugs for my soon-to-be-completed Son of Fermentation chiller?

Thanks everyone

Well you really only have to worry about the week or two where active fermentation is taking place. I'm in San Antonio, I have fridge I use for fementation, but once its been in there for 2 weeks or so, I might pull the carboy out and let her sit at room temp to make room for a new batch.

Sorry I wasn't very clear on my question. I'd just be using the chiller for the primary 2-week fermentation. The chiller is "powered" by 2x 1-gallon frozen jugs. I'm wondering if there's another method or means of conveyance for the ice. I can't fit 2x 1-gallon jugs in my freezer.

And no Peltiers please, I'm not smart enough!

Thanks

bradjoiner said:

oh and as far as brewshops there is brew-it-yourself in spring on the northside of town or defalco's on the south side of town

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I typically bew ales in the warmest months because they have the shortest fermentation time as well.

To add: DeFalco's is on Stella Link just south of 610 and Brew-It-Yourself is on I-45 just north of Rayford-Sawdust on the feeder on the East side of the freeway (northbound side).

whenindoubtpilsout;
Take your pick, half gallon milk jugs, 2l soda bottles, 20oz soda bottles, 16.9oz water bottles or commercial igloo hard gel packs. Whatever you can easily freeze and rotate. The gallon jugs will just take longer to melt than the smaller bottles.

Thanks a lot, oldschool. Does anyone know if blue ice is slower to thaw than ice? I believe that is the case.

Just went to pick up some polystyrene for the SOF Chiller and got something else instead, per the dude's advice. P-2000 is a (relatively) new insulation material that is about half the price and flexible. Plus at 3/8" thick it has an R-value of 14.68, compared to 2" thick polystyrene's R-value of 10 max.

I'll keep everyone posted.

I have been doing wine for several years in Houston (Pearland) and just started beer again. My house stays about 74 and I just let it go at that. Why worry too much, it will turn into beer anyway. I just find a cooler dark place in the house and it seems to work just fine.

bradjoiner said:

oh and as far as brewshops there is brew-it-yourself in spring on the northside of town or defalco's on the south side of town

Click to expand...

Well I don't want to solicit on the introductions page but I think we (along with the new HOMEBREW'T store next door) are actually going to be the closest shops to you and would love to meet you one day. Please stop by if you get the chance.- Jeff

leadtrumpet said:

I have been doing wine for several years in Houston (Pearland) and just started beer again. My house stays about 74 and I just let it go at that. Why worry too much, it will turn into beer anyway. I just find a cooler dark place in the house and it seems to work just fine.

Click to expand...

Yes, it'll be beer no matter what. It's just that most ales taste better fermented in the mid-60s, not at 74 degrees or higher.

Often, the fermenting beer will go up to 8-10 degrees higher than room temperature during the active fermentation period since fermentation itself produces heat. Anything over abut 72 degrees will start to have off-flavors, like fruity flavors. Anything over about 75 degrees can have hot alcohols like fusels, and more off-flavors. Wine doesn't seem to be nearly as impacted by warmer fermentations, but ales are very different based on fermentation temperatures.

Yooper said:

Yes, it'll be beer no matter what. It's just that most ales taste better fermented in the mid-60s, not at 74 degrees or higher.

Often, the fermenting beer will go up to 8-10 degrees higher than room temperature during the active fermentation period since fermentation itself produces heat. Anything over abut 72 degrees will start to have off-flavors, like fruity flavors. Anything over about 75 degrees can have hot alcohols like fusels, and more off-flavors. Wine doesn't seem to be nearly as impacted by warmer fermentations, but ales are very different based on fermentation temperatures.

Click to expand...

I would agree, I just don't have the facility to keep it tan ideal temp right now. I just checked the temps on my primary's and found them to be 74.3...just under the 75 mark and it's nearing 100 outside. I also try to use recipes that allow for that higher range of fermentation. Another thing I am trying, kinda by accident, is to 'lager' the ale. This seems so far to be keeping away any off flavors, but we'll see.

I just brewed my first batch since moving to MD from MA. Man does it get hot down here! After the first day of active fermentation the temps were still on the high side, so I ran to Dick's and picked up an igloo marine cooler (needed to get one anyway). Threw some ice and cold water in, and within an hour temps were down to the mid 60's. I've found that 1 liter soda bottles work well. Good balance between taking up space in my freezer, and staying power when in the ice bath.