Hot weather

Hey all. Well, last Saturday I got to brew my first beer. It was the Autumn Amber Ale from Midwest Supplies and their starter kit. Things went really smooth and turned out great. The only thing that I am a little concerned about though is that the fermenting temps were to darn high. I stuck it in the coolest spot I could think of actually. I live in Oklahoma and the temps have been in excess of 100 F. The temp in the house stays around 75-80 at the most. Well, I went to work Sunday and had to swing by the house late afternoon that day and checked on my baby and the temp said it was 82 F which is the highest temp on the sticky thermometer. I never noticed any bubbling in the airlock while I stood there watching it for a few minutes. It has since slowly gone down to 74 F where it is right now. I took a hydrometer reading and it was near where the final gravity is supposed to be. The great thing is, it smelled like beer...really good beer. The taste wasn't bad either, tasted like really good flat beer. I'm planning on letting it sit in primary for at least 3 weeks before I bottle it up. So, I guess my question is, did it ferment to hot? Obviously I'm not gonna throw it out, but my next kit will be here soon and if there is anything I could do differently, I would like to keep the fermenting temps down if I need too. Geez, I'm rambling, somebody stop me! What can I do in the hot weather to keep the temps down while fermenting?

75-80 is too hot for most ales (with the exception of saisons and the like). Do a search for swamp cooler for a cheap way to keep temperatures down and in check.

I just recently moved to the swamp cooler method. It works great. Just go to Home Depot and find a container that you can put your fermenter in. Fill the outside container with water. Fill various bottles (plastic soda bottles, gatorade bottles, etc.) with water and freeze. Throw the frozen bottles in the water as needed to keep the temp down. When they melt, throw them back in the freezer and add some fresh ones.

OR just brew a saison. 80 - 90 degrees is great for a saison.

I'm in Oklahoma too. Hottest year I can remember. I'm moving to Saisons until October. Just as well. That's all I've been drinking. It's too hot for all the dark beers I love.

So, if it fermented to high, what can I expect in the flavor of the beer? Surely it will be better than a Bud Light, right?

Sure... if your from esterville.

I am in Mediterran (Europe) and it is 29-35°C (85-95 F) during day here, so its pretty hot for fermentation.

I knew that I have to do something if I want to brew during summer, so I decided to make mini fermentation chiller from styrofoam (with ice bottles in).

Check the results:


This was after one night in box with 4 bottles (1.5 L) of ice, so I had to take two of them out to warm it up!!

Now it is sitting at 18°C (64 F), and I switch bottles once at day.. pretty cheap and simple method.

I've switched to 1.5 gallon batches. I have an apt. fridg and I can ferment in a 2 gallon paint container from HD. It fits w/room for the air lock. After one week I move it to a Colman cooler w/bottles of ice. I can fit two of the 2 gal. buckets in the cooler w/o the air lock. I'm just using clear plastic packing tape and punching tiny holes in it w/a pin.

I can easly maintain 64 in the fridge and low 70's in the cooler. I'm thinking of a 7.1 cu ft freezer to replace the Colman cooler and free up the fridg for conditioning or lagering.

Oh yea, I'm doing BIAB nowl.

I kinda ran into the same issue as you with outrageous high heat due to my apartment just being so damn hot. I was hitting 74F at night with the AC on and up to 78-80F during the day so I just wanted to share what I recently did.

I just picked up this 20 gallon bucket from lowes (http://www.lowes.com/pd_115370-84240-TU0015_4294856872+9_44?productId=3009292) which was only like $8.

I threw my primary ferementer in there and filled it up about 1/4 of the way with cool water than froze a poland springs 1L watter bottle and threw it in there overnight. I awoke to the temp being 64F, yay! I then swapped out the water bottle with another one that I put in the freezer for the day and it gets to like 66-68F. Yay!! I also have a towel over the bucket and fermenter so its dark and only have the airlock sticking out.

Good luck!

just noticed diS's post as well, awesome idea with the Styrofoam! I may go with this method when I switch over to 2 fermenters.

elpenoso said:

Sure... if your from esterville.

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OP, what he means is that at higher temperatures, ale yeast can throw off a variety of off-flavors, including esters. Esters can be perceived by our taste buds in a couple of different ways, including 'fruity' or 'solvent'.

I think you've got a great attitude - you made beer, its handmade, its going to be good, and for the next batch maybe you'll use a swamp cooler or a fermentation chiller like DiS.

Ok. Thanks for the info and all the great tips. I will definitely be making a cooler of some sort. Thanks again, y'all are great!

fellow okie here. got tired of the swamp cooler and went to lowes and purchased a 7.1cf freezer. hooked up a external thermo. 2 batches sitting at 72* as we speak.

is this heat ever going to END!?

edie said:

fellow okie here. got tired of the swamp cooler and went to lowes and purchased a 7.1cf freezer. hooked up a external thermo. 2 batches sitting at 72* as we speak.

is this heat ever going to END!?

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Yeah, I will eventually be buying something of that sort in the future, but I'm just starting out and taking it slow. I'm hooked, that's all that matters.

As far as the heat, well.....I'm sure it will cool off by December. It's to firkin HOT!

idk about where you are but up here in mass its only supposedly going to last until tomorrow. yay, the day i have to go put a lift kit in a clients jeep. and mow the lawn. and build my sons swingset. no.fun. hopefully it cools down tonight before i start my wheat kit. either way it should be fine, it stays a cool 65-70 in my basement under the stairs.

didn't take but 2 batches before we'd bought a used freezer. enough of the bottling!

its a great hobby/obsession. some day i hope it pays for itself!

EYEPEEAY - this is Oklahoma's 29 day of 100+ temps. seems everytime they put up a 7 day forecast all you see are 100's.

edie said:

didn't take but 2 batches before we'd bought a used freezer. enough of the bottling!

its a great hobby/obsession. some day i hope it pays for itself!

EYEPEEAY - this is Oklahoma's 29 day of 100+ temps. seems everytime they put up a 7 day forecast all you see are 100's.

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I thought about kegging, but w/bottling and small batches I have a mu ch greater variety of beer in the fridge to choose from.

EyePeeAy said:

idk about where you are but up here in mass its only supposedly going to last until tomorrow. yay, the day i have to go put a lift kit in a clients jeep. and mow the lawn. and build my sons swingset. no.fun. hopefully it cools down tonight before i start my wheat kit. either way it should be fine, it stays a cool 65-70 in my basement under the stairs.

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100 degree temps are norm in Oklahoma for July and August. The problem is, we have been getting them since May this year...and no rain

40watt said:

100 degree temps are norm in Oklahoma for July and August. The problem is, we have been getting them since May this year...and no rain

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Think positive. The weeds in your yard are not growing!

C-Rider said:

Think positive. The weeds in your yard are not growing!

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Lmao. If only that were true. We have tons of weeds designed to grow in a desert.

You don't have to shovel sunshine. I hate cold.

Malticulous said:

You don't have to shovel sunshine. I hate cold.

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That's why I live in Hawai`i~

Malticulous said:

You don't have to shovel sunshine. I hate cold.

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I get sick of both pretty quickly. This allows me to ***** and complain for most of the year.