76 Ambient continuous fermentation

[Johnman1971]

My home is 76 F throughout the summer season here in Florida. I'm about to make an all grain porter but don't know what yeast to pitch for this temperature. Any suggestions?

 

[copyright1997]

This doesn't answer your question, but with 76 degree fermentations I'd be making me some tasty saison's.

 

[day_trippr]

My home is 76 F throughout the summer season here in Florida. I'm about to make an all grain porter but don't know what yeast to pitch for this temperature. Any suggestions?

Woof. If that's your ambient you best plan for the wort to reach well into the 80s at the peak of fermentation. That's belgian or saison yeast territory - either of which would make for quite a different porter...

Cheers!

 

[castillo556]

That is pretty warm for a stout no matter what yeast you are using

Maybe look in a swamp cooler

eta: porter or stout

 

[Limestone_Cowboy]

yeah, it's saison season here. Got two cookin
now..

 

[sheldonsteen]

If you're committed to the porter I'd definitely go with a swamp cooler. It's not ideal but it gets the job done as long as you change out the ice bottles regularly enough to prevent huge temperature shifts.

 

[BigFloyd]

Welcome to brewing in the south during summer. Unless you're making saisons, you'll need to do some significant fermenter cooling.

Since you're in a humid climate, a true swamp cooler (wet t-shirt and fan) won't work that well. Either a tub of water with frozen water bottles replaced periodically or a fermenter fridge/freezer with a controller will work to keep the beer temp in the 60's where it will produce a tasty result.

It also helps a lot to chill the wort down to about 60*F before pitching yeast.

 

[CraigKing]

Do you have a crawl space or another under your house you could build a place to store your brew?

 

[Limestone_Cowboy]

It's tough to work against the summer without a controlled chamber.. if I was dead set on that beer I'd ferm with something really aggresive like Nottingham. That way you can feed a large cooler/water bath with ice cubes for 36 hours to keep 60's, and hope there's not much left to impart off flavors after just letting it go to room temp. Or keep feading it. Cubes are high maintainance, but anything bigger like bottles throws some big temp swings in my set up. I used cubes for my saisons before just letting them go after 12-18 hours.

 

[BigFloyd]

There's a danger to trying that with Nottingham. If it gets above 67-68*F (beer temp) while still actively fermenting, you'll get some pretty funky esters.

 

[Limestone_Cowboy]

I'm thinking that since it scrubs out so quick, that Nott might be ok to more-or-less condition at room temp after getting real close to FG with the cube bath. My last two roasty beers went like that a month or two ago. Seemed ok, at least to my taste.

 

[BigFloyd]

I'm thinking that since it scrubs out so quick, that Nott might be ok to more-or-less condition at room temp after getting real close to FG with the cube bath. My last two roasty beers went like that a month or two ago. Seemed ok, at least to my taste.

So long as it's getting to almost finished while being kept cool in the low 60's via the ice bath that should work fine, but requires some close attention.