Are there any yeasts that can handle higher temps?

Well, I just realized that I have NO beer left thats drinkable! That has made me realize that I need to brew more often than I have been, which is a good thing. My problem is that I currently only have room for one batch at a time in my fermentation fridge. Are there any yeasts that can produce good beer while in the mid 70's? I've never let any get that high before, but it seems I don't have much of a choice until I have the money for better/larger fermentation equipment. Any ideas would be appreciated, as I'd love to brew this weekend.

Most ale yeasts will ferment that high. Now the real question is. What style can you brew that will ferment out well and be able to handle the extra flavors and aromas that warm fermentation temps will produce. Saisons and Farmhouse ales will do great. Also I did a dubbel at about 75 and it was great. I would also say Belgian Darks Strongs and maybe dare I say A hefe.

Arneba28 said:

maybe dare I say A hefe.

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Once I split a batch of hefe and fermented them in 64F and 74F. The colder was far better, but the 74F one was quite drinkable too.

thanks for the input. I'll try one of the styles mentioned. I don't think I'll risk a hefe though, but a nice belgian dark strong ale sounds mighty good

if i am not mistaken coopers dry ale yeast is good till 75 without off flavors. just a thought or if u have about 3ft by 4ft area to use do a swamp cooler ( i use a tote with water in it and cover the primary with a towel that is still in the water and that is soaking wet too then just change out with ice packs and i can maintain 68 with the house being 74 i could get it lower i am sure with more ice packs but i am limited on them.) just another thought.

I just finished fermenting two Saisons around 80 degrees each. No fusels/off flavors so far. One is going into bottles tomorrow night and has a pleasant spice and dryness (1.057-1.010) to it. I used the WLP566 (Saison Blend).

For what its worth every batch I have made so far (18) has been fermented between 72 and 75 degrees and they have all turned out fine. I brewed anything from hefeweizen to pale ale to oak aged stout and i haven't noticed any off flavors.

I forgot to mention I've used a bunch of different yeasts (notti, cali ale, hefe, whitbread, pacman)

Why don't you just do primary fermentation in your fridge and let the beers condition at room temp (which I do all the time with no issues)? That would work fine, and you could still brew weekly.

Surfman said:

For what its worth every batch I have made so far (18) has been fermented between 72 and 75 degrees and they have all turned out fine. I brewed anything from hefeweizen to pale ale to oak aged stout and i haven't noticed any off flavors.

I forgot to mention I've used a bunch of different yeasts (notti, cali ale, hefe, whitbread, pacman)

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Same for me with no problems.

Mike

so conditioning can be done without off flavors at higher temps? I was under the impression that secondary temps should be the same or lower than fermentation temps. If thats the case, then I can do that. I also did some temp readings around my apartment and the lowest temp is about 74F right now since I don't have AC. I'd rather not do a swamp cooler since it's all carpet.

Lower temperatures make cleaner beer. There are many that use an ice chest for a fermentation chiller and bottles of frozen water are used as ice in it. Once you make a really clean ale you will realize that a refrigerator is needed for brewing. Just keep it at 65F and great beer is yours.

Keeping fermentation temps down is easier than you think. Put your carboy in a washtub or something similar, place a t-shirt or two over the carboy, then dump water on it so that you have 2" or 3" in the bottom of the tub. The shirts will wick up the water and stay wet and the temps will stay in the upper 60°F's without even worrying about the ice. Of course, if it is extremely humid in your area it will be less effective. But it works fine here in the south for my secondary.

If you can manage crude (or better) carpentry, or almost-carpentry, it's pretty simple to throw together an insulated box that will hold 2-4 carboys and a few plastic soda bottles of ice - versions with fancy temperature control setups (ice is in separate foam compartment, fan cycles on to blow air over ice when temp at carboys is too high) are out there, and need not be very expensive. Just cycle the soda bottles into your freezer on a regular basis. Given good insulation and low temperature differential (ale, not lager) ice use is pretty low, so you can keep up with it from your regular freezer.

schristian619 said:

so conditioning can be done without off flavors at higher temps? I was under the impression that secondary temps should be the same or lower than fermentation temps. If thats the case, then I can do that. I also did some temp readings around my apartment and the lowest temp is about 74F right now since I don't have AC. I'd rather not do a swamp cooler since it's all carpet.

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Yeah, the off flavors would be produced in bulk fermentation, so as long as fermentation is done, you can let it clear at 74. I just did it with my Special Bitter (fermented at 68), and it's the best beer I've made.

As long as you have the first 4-5 days at 68(or until fermentation is winding down), you can let it get up in the mid 70's with no off flavors. I still don't know why you can't make a swamp cooler? Get a rubbermaid tote at Walmart for $10, add water and frozen water jugs. It works like a charm and most of us use it during the summer.

make a dunkelweizen with munich and british chocolate malt and WLP300. ferment in the mid 70s and you will have BANANA BREAD ALE! tasty stuff, i promise...recipe as follows.

Partial Mash

3 lbs Wheat Malt
2 lbs Munich Malt
3 lbs Wheat DME
4 oz British Chocolate Malt

0.75 oz hallertau, saaz or tettnanger @ 60 min

One vial WLP300

:rockin:

Saison, Biere de Garde, and farmhouse yeasts are good for higher temps. My temps are usually 75-82 or so, which is why I'm brewing a biere de garde instead of waiting for it to cool down.

Pitch 2 pkgs of US-05 and it'll ferment clean at 75, since you'll be pitching over 300M viable cells.