Advice For A Brewer In Florida

Summer is right around the corner (or already here). What advice would you give to a new home brewer in Florida dealing with hot temperatures this summer.

Is there any types of recipes that do well better in warmer temps?

Better types of yeast?

Or anything else that I'm missing that would help me brew during hot temps?

Put your brew buckets in front of the a/c duct. Cover them with an insulated blanket. Use an ale yeast that works at room temperature.

Look up Swamp coolers and saisons.....both will do you good.

PassionForThePint said:

Summer is right around the corner (or already here). What advice would you give to a new home brewer in Florida dealing with hot temperatures this summer.

Is there any types of recipes that do well better in warmer temps?

Better types of yeast?

Or anything else that I'm missing that would help me brew during hot temps?

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I'd gue3ss it gets hotter there than here in Hawai`i even though we are farther south. I use a big plastic tub, placing fermenting bucket in it w/some 1/2 gal blocks of ice. Cover w/wet towel. Mine is under my back deck which is always in the shade. Right now outside it's 80* and in the tub it's 68*.

french saison wyeast 3711 - loves the heat

Refrigeration was invented in the 1800's I believe. You may have heard of it.

Craigslist sometimes has good deals on refrigerators. You might want to search in your area.

Temperature control seems to make much better beer. There are companies that make controllers for refrigeration that hold the temperature at the range where yeast works best.

Youch, way to be a d-bag, RM. Constructive criticism, learn it.

Here, I'll fix it for you. Instead of "Refrigeration was invented in the 1800's I believe. You may have heard of it." say "I would use a craigslist refrigerator if space is not an issue, then you can control the temperature whatever climate you're in."

it's all about the delivery...

Anyway, what sort of budget do you have?

RM-MN said:

Refrigeration was invented in the 1800's I believe.

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What is this refrigeration you speak of?

Gunslinger711 said:

Youch, way to be a d-bag, RM. Constructive criticism, learn it.

Click to expand...

+1 on that

I'm in Tampa and have been brewing for going on 5 years. I'd be glad to help you out if you want. I've done all grain brew day demos for a couple of other forum guys and enjoy passing along the knowledge. I started with no temp controls and still made good beer. PM me if you're interested.

I'm getting ready to go all grain in the next week. The last year I brewed a good amount of extract and I've been keeping the apt at 72-74 and my ales have all turned out well. I'm down in Lauderdale.... A few buddies are doing the same with good results...

cclloyd said:

I'm in Tampa and have been brewing for going on 5 years. I'd be glad to help you out if you want. I've done all grain brew day demos for a couple of other forum guys and enjoy passing along the knowledge. I started with no temp controls and still made good beer. PM me if you're interested.

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I'm interested in hearing your ideas for temp. control in the Florida heat. Maybe you would be kind enough to post here so others can learn too?

RM-MN said:

Refrigeration was invented in the 1800's I believe. You may have heard of it.

Craigslist sometimes has good deals on refrigerators. You might want to search in your area.

Temperature control seems to make much better beer. There are companies that make controllers for refrigeration that hold the temperature at the range where yeast works best.

Click to expand...

Beer was invinted in ~6000 BC more than likely in a desert region, so I don't think refrigeration is a requirement.

I used to live in Jacksonville, FL. I'd brew away and chill as quickly as possible with city water and then move my fermenter into the house (airconditioned to 68 degrees). I'd put my beer in the tub with a towel wicking water and a fan blowing across it to evaporate the water. It would typically sit right around 68-70 degree with active fermentation.

- If you can afford it, buy a temp controller and a Craigslist fridge. Next to sanitation, fermentation will be the biggest influence on the consistency, quality and the liklihood of achieving your ideal beer characteristics...
- Also, something that'll help you chill faster... If you currently use a copper/ss immersion chiller and own a beverage cooler, then you can do this. Fill your cooler with water and ice. Buy yourself a cheapo (Harbor Freight) sump pump or pond pump (submersible) to pump ice water from the cooler up and through your chiller. It'll get your chill water down to 30ish (especially if you pour in a bit of salt).

I turn the A/C down to 72, put the fermentation vessel in a "muck bucket" with water, ice and a wet towel over it. I do not use a fan.

I built a "Son of Fermentation Chiller", which works real well and doesn't tie up a refrigerator. See plans here:

http://knoxhomebrewer.com/index.php...atio-nchiller&catid=38:diy-projects&Itemid=82

I bought a CL freezer ($40) with a 2-stage Love controller ($70) for use here in VA. All told, ~$150 after buying the outlets, extension cord and project box...

I am setting up a dorm fridge (GE 4.3cu) to work as my fermentation box. My 6gal carboy fits in there with just taking out the shelving and the door panel. I would suggest picking one up since this would let you maintain the temp cheaper than setting your entire house temp to lower temps. You can pick up an A419 temp controller for a pretty good price and just plug the fridge into the controller and set the temp to about 65. The fridge will just kick on if it gets lower than that temp.

I have very limited space due to living in a townhome, so this was about all I ended up having the room for at this point, at least as far as a fermentation box goes. If you can I would suggest you look for one that is about 5cu just in case. The 4.3cu that I have is a bit small and my buckets will not fit unless i carve some of the insulation out of the door.

Everything I've used has been covered extensively on this forum - not by me but it's nothing groundbreaking.
I've femented at ambient temp (mid 70's), tried the swamp cooler method, built a fermentation chiller chamber, and eventually bought a chest freezer and Johnson controller.
The ambient temp fermentation produced what you would expect - a drinkable (sometimes quite tasty sometimes not so much) finished product with esters and flavors dependent on the type of yeast and overall ferm temp.
The swamp cooler method kept the ferm bucket in the upper 60's but was generally a pita and SWMBO bitched about it whenever she didn't have any real issues to complain about.
The fermentation chamber I built out of a travertine tile crate lined with the extruded polystyrene insulation board. It was big enough to hold 3-4 buckets and the cooler of frozen jugs. It was on casters so it is easy to move but quite large and could not be brought into the A/C. It worked really well in the winter time - with two active primaries and 4 frozen gallons of ice it would hold in the mid 60's as long as the ambient temp wasn't higher than 83-85F. When summer sets in here the garage temp is easily over the 100F mark so it's use was limited. It is now just used for storage.
I finally got in a position where I could spend a little money and bought a new 14CF chest freezer and Johnson controller. I can now maintain any desired temp in the peak of summer with no issues. This has probably had more positive impact on my finished product than any other change I've made.

I plan on brewing a lot of Saisons this summer. You can really do a lot with them, Black Saisons, Hoppy Saisons, regular Saisons, Wheat Saisons, etc., etc.

Didn't think I would come back to this thread today and have so much great advice. Don't even know where to start, but thanks everyone that's left some advice.

I'm going to start going through it now. Just browsing through it, it looks like I might have to save up and do some investing on some equipment.

I put my buckets/carboys into igloo drink coolers- placing frozen water bottles on top and or bottom. I use a 10 dollar digital thermometer I picked up at an aquarium store to monitor temps. Change out the the frozen bottles in the AM and again in the PM. Easy to keep around 65, a little more attention required for lower temps.

If you're on a budget, check yard sales. I found one for .50 cents

PassionForThePint said:

Didn't think I would come back to this thread today and have so much great advice.

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Ya I was quite surprised how quick people are to respond here as well. Also the wealth of knowledge that is shared. Best forum I have ever been on.
:rockin:

C-Rider said:

I'd gue3ss it gets hotter there than here in Hawai`i even though we are farther south. I use a big plastic tub, placing fermenting bucket in it w/some 1/2 gal blocks of ice. Cover w/wet towel. Mine is under my back deck which is always in the shade. Right now outside it's 80* and in the tub it's 68*.

Click to expand...

Im not sure why, but this setup just looks really cool with the rocks

I've just fermented in the back of a closet away from the sides of the house, and never had any issues. Talk to your lhbs and they can help you pick out good yeast that won't need too much babysitting.

PassionForThePint said:

Didn't think I would come back to this thread today and have so much great advice. Don't even know where to start, but thanks everyone that's left some advice.

I'm going to start going through it now. Just browsing through it, it looks like I might have to save up and do some investing on some equipment.

Click to expand...

Just in case you don't know what a "muck" bucket is...it's what I showed in my picture.

Good luck in what ever you work out.

Craigslist chest freezer.

Johnson controller, either A19 (analog) or A419 (digital).

Until then, whoever posted the Wyeast 3711 comment is correct. Great saison yeast, loves warm.