Ambient temp: 73* and rising

Hello again, your local poor equipmentless newbie with another question!

I live in south Texas.

I don't have central air.

I'm sitting at my computer and it's currently... 75* degrees (just got warmer!). I'm quite comfortable. Often times it's 80+ and still comfy. No reason to turn on the A/C!

So, I figure home brewed beer isn't in my near future. Is there anything I can do to get brewing sooner? I live in a very small house, no basement (I live in a swamp, it'd flood!), and so, no cool place to store anything.
Also, I just realized that with my century old house, the temperatures fluctuate pretty drastically throughout the day and night, even in the winter. Is there a way to protect my brew from that?

Two words for you...

Fermentation chamber.

One word bac'atcha

Poor.

Srsly. I'm living on a bout 1000 dollars a month.

Many use a "swamp cooler" with great success. Requires a bit more maintenance, but is cheap and easy to assemble.

EDIT: See below for description

I see that you have quite a few limitations. Do you have room for a trash can that you can place your fermenter in, and then top up with water? The water's temperature will change much slower than the air's so ambient temperature changes won't affect your beer as much. You can add ice packs, frozen water bottles, etc. to chill the water more if necessary. That's what I do when I ferment lagers in my basement.

...or...

Get a ~15 gallon tub; put fermenter in tub; fill tub with water to level of beer; add frozen bottles or ice as needed to keep the tub water at the temp you want to ferment at.

Hmmm. Thanks, I shall search the forum for swamp cooler.

Is it good for lowering temperatures, or just maintaining a constant temp? I'm figuring that for about 7-8 months I won't be able to do much because the ambient temperatures in the house are just too darn high. We're talking mid 80s most of the year. (When it's 105 outside with 80% humidity... 85 is a pretty good house temperature)

How do you feel about Belgian Ales?

Some of these yeast strains will flourish in the mid-70s up into the 80s (and some say 90s). You'll still need a swamp cooler to get your wort down to pitching temp, but you should be able to make some pretty beautiful ales with your ambient conditions.

We don't get the hot temperatures that you do, but what I do in the summer is to put my fermenter in an igloo cooler. I fill the cooler with water, up to the level of beer in the fermenter, and then drop in a frozen water bottle or two. Even if the house warms up, the water bath stays cooler than ambient temperatures plus it takes a LONG time for that much water and beer to warm up so it really stops the temperature fluctuations in the fermenter!

Here's a photo:



The lid was hollow, so I removed it (and kept it to use my cooler as a cooler when it's not a Yooper Fermentation Chamber) and used some foam insulation sheets, cut to fit. I think that is four layers of that foam board. It works great!

HibsMax said:

I see that you have quite a few limitations. Do you have room for a trash can that you can place your fermenter in, and then top up with water? The water's temperature will change much slower than the air's so ambient temperature changes won't affect your beer as much. You can add ice packs, frozen water bottles, etc. to chill the water more if necessary. That's what I do when I ferment lagers in my basement.

Click to expand...

I *might* I'd have to move stuff around, but I just might.

kmos said:

How do you feel about Belgian Ales?

Some of these yeast strains will flourish in the mid-70s up into the 80s (and some say 90s). You'll still need a swamp cooler to get your wort down to pitching temp, but you should be able to make some pretty beautiful ales with your ambient conditions.

Click to expand...

I've never had any that I know of. I'll have to try! I may have to develop a taste for them. As it is, my favorites are czech and polish beers.

Yooper said:

We don't get the hot temperatures that you do, but what I do in the summer is to put my fermenter in an igloo cooler. I fill the cooler with water, up to the level of beer in the fermenter, and then drop in a frozen water bottle or two. Even if the house warms up, the water bath stays cooler than ambient temperatures plus it takes a LONG time for that much water and beer to warm up so it really stops the temperature fluctuations in the fermenter!

Here's a photo:

The lid was hollow, so I removed it (and kept it to use my cooler as a cooler when it's not a Yooper Fermentation Chamber) and used some foam insulation sheets, cut to fit. I think that is four layers of that foam board. It works great!

Click to expand...

:rockin:

Knittycat said:

Hmmm. Thanks, I shall search the forum for swamp cooler.

Is it good for lowering temperatures, or just maintaining a constant temp? I'm figuring that for about 7-8 months I won't be able to do much because the ambient temperatures in the house are just too darn high. We're talking mid 80s most of the year. (When it's 105 outside with 80% humidity... 85 is a pretty good house temperature)

Click to expand...

It serves as a good buffer so maintaining a relatively static temperature should be much easier but if you want it to act as a cooler then you will need more maintenance i.e., replacing your ice packs as they melt.

Yooper said:

<snip>
The lid was hollow, so I removed it (and kept it to use my cooler as a cooler when it's not a Yooper Fermentation Chamber) and used some foam insulation sheets, cut to fit. I think that is four layers of that foam board. It works great!

Click to expand...

Do you know if you could have drilled a hole or two in the lid and then filled it with "large space filler"? I love your idea, looks a lot better than my 32-gallon trash can. I'm off to Lowe's to see if I can get one the right size!

Saison

You could swing it with the swamp cooler.

In Yooper we trust.

I have a second fridge that I "borrow" for the first week of each fermentation. $50 for a digital temp controller and my brew ferments at a perfect 61F ambient for the first week. Best investment I've made for homebrew yet. When you taste beer fermented at the correct temperatures it will be worth investing in temp control.

A swamp cooler isn't going to help you out if the relative humidity is to high for water to evaporate.

Probably the cheapest solution is to get one of those 10 gallon party buckets and fill it with water. Add ice every once in a while. The temperature should change slowly enough for you to monitor.

ludomonster said:

A swamp cooler isn't going to help you out if the relative humidity is to high for water to evaporate.

Probably the cheapest solution is to get one of those 10 gallon party buckets and fill it with water. Add ice every once in a while. The temperature should change slowly enough for you to monitor.

Click to expand...

Damn swamp stupid humidty . Thanks for the help everybody. It looks like I won't be brewing until October at the soonest then. It's just too damn hot. If I can find a cooler so I can make a yooper fermentor. Damnit, I like good beer. But I can't afford good beer but every once in a great while. And I refuse to drink bud or miller or coors XP
At least I've got aaaaaaal summer to acquire parts, no?

ludomonster said:

A swamp cooler isn't going to help you out if the relative humidity is to high for water to evaporate.

Probably the cheapest solution is to get one of those 10 gallon party buckets and fill it with water. Add ice every once in a while. The temperature should change slowly enough for you to monitor.

Click to expand...

Yep. Plus, I already had a few lying around - for soaking bottles, collecting chill water, etc.

$0 added expense.

I can keep it in the mid to low 60s with only a couple liter bottles of ice when my house temps get up into the high 70s

On my first couple of batches I used a swamp cooler. I used a big tub with rope handles I picked up at Wal-Mart for $6. Put the fermentor in, filled to just below the level of the beer, and covered the fermentor with an old black t-shirt that hung down in the water. The water would wick up the shirt and the sides of the fermentor, giving it more surface area for evaporation, which cooled the whole thing down. When it got warmer, I added a small fan to blow on the shirt and evaporate faster. That might not be as effective with your humidity, but it is definitely better than nothing (or not brewing at all!).

Knittycat said:

Damn swamp stupid humidty . Thanks for the help everybody. It looks like I won't be brewing until October at the soonest then. It's just too damn hot. If I can find a cooler so I can make a yooper fermentor. Damnit, I like good beer. But I can't afford good beer but every once in a great while. And I refuse to drink bud or miller or coors XP
At least I've got aaaaaaal summer to acquire parts, no?

Click to expand...

Seriously, consider Saisons. They're wonderful beers and like it hot. At least find out if they are something that you would enjoy.

If it makes you feel any better, many historical beer producing regions had to take the summer off as well because it was too damn hot. So you could think of yourself as an old school brewer.

Instead of giving up just MAKE a fermentation chamber. There are enough threads in the DIY section covering different options. Find a cheap (used) dorm fridge or chest freezer as thebase and go from there. Either that or just brew like mad for the few decent months where you are and stockpile. Of course to get good density of brew to space you'll want to at least consider kegging. With a ferm chamber you won't need to store so much for so long.

I'll definitely have to give them a go. The tough part is going to be finding some! I'll have to make sure to remember to stop in at a liquor store next time I make it to Houston.

Golddiggie said:

Instead of givjng up just MAKE a fermentation chamber. There are enough threads in the DIY section covering different options. Find a cheap (used) dorm fridge or chest freezer as thebase and go from there. Either that or just brew like mad for the few decent months where you are and stockpile. Of course to get good density of brew to space you'll want to at least consider kegging. With a ferm chamber you won't need to store so much for so long.

Click to expand...

I doubt he has the space for that :
I live in a very small house, no basement

HibsMax said:

Do you know if you could have drilled a hole or two in the lid and then filled it with "large space filler"? I love your idea, looks a lot better than my 32-gallon trash can. I'm off to Lowe's to see if I can get one the right size!

Click to expand...

I'm sure you could fill it with Great Stuff. But I just popped it off, and kept the cooler intact and I still use it as a cooler. It was actually pretty easy. I just cut the foam to fit, glued the layers together and cut the hole with a dremel for the airlock. I didn't want a hole in the lid (for the airlock) so I could still use it as a cooler.

Yooper said:

I'm sure you could fill it with Great Stuff. But I just popped it off, and kept the cooler intact and I still use it as a cooler. It was actually pretty easy. I just cut the foam to fit, glued the layers together and cut the hole with a dremel for the airlock. I didn't want a hole in the lid (for the airlock) so I could still use it as a cooler.

Click to expand...

I hear ya, why ruin a perfectly good cooler? I didn't take the same approach, I just cut a big ass hole right in the middle of my coooler lid. I have more coolers than I know what to do with, just not one the right size so I had to buy a new one.

Knittycat said:

Damn swamp stupid humidty . Thanks for the help everybody. It looks like I won't be brewing until October at the soonest then. It's just too damn hot. If I can find a cooler so I can make a yooper fermentor. Damnit, I like good beer. But I can't afford good beer but every once in a great while. And I refuse to drink bud or miller or coors XP
At least I've got aaaaaaal summer to acquire parts, no?

Click to expand...

At least if you have to spend this summer collecting equipment, you will be ready to go when you finally do get started. While I fully understand the desire to get started as soon as possible, do yourself a favor and make sure you are ready before you get started, and your beer will be better for it!

DrummerBoySeth said:

At least if you have to spend this summer collecting equipment, you will be ready to go when you finally do get started. While I fully understand the desire to get started as soon as possible, do yourself a favor and make sure you are ready before you get started, and your beer will be better for it!

Click to expand...

Sooooo, any suggestions of what to buy while I wait? :cross: I like bocks and double bocks, I'm a big fan of celabrator and spatin and pauliner.

Buy beers you haven't tried.

I don't think you need to wait out the summer. Just keep your carboy or fermenting bucket in a tub of water, and add ice occasionally. Or even a bathtub. You only need to keep it cool for the first 4 days or so.

Start learning your process. By the time October comes around, you'll be a better brewer and will be able to take advantage of the cooler weather

ludomonster said:

Buy beers you haven't tried.

Click to expand...

+1 And styles. Try new styles


EDIT: PS - If you're looking to homebrew to save money, best of luck to you. It's rarely cost justified, unless you include the opportunity cost of a different hobby.