fermenting @ 23-34c

[allanyork]

My apartment is at this temp. I can't change it. I'm not interested in cooling the wort with any outside manipulation. I'm trying to figure out what will be the best type of beer to make? Or what the best yeast type to use in this temperature is? I'm thinking there's not much much I can do and I should just use safle 5 or Nottingham ale yeast. The odd flavors will always be there, correct?

 

[eluterio]

I would make a beer that would hide some flavors like hoppy beers or wheat beers ferment well. Some yeasts like Wyeast 3068 gives a great banana flavor for wheat beers will ferment well at 23C. the other two im not too familiar with.

 

[ArcLight]

Allan,
This may be something that would interest you.

https://www.cool-brewing.com/

The other thing is it's only the first few days that's crucial.
If you could set the fermentor in water and add ice packs occasionally, you might be able to drop it a few degrees.
The trick is to avoid wide temperature swings (24C - 20 C in 60 minutes, then back up to 24 in a few hours, twice a day)

 

[skunkfunk]

Brew Belgian Saison. That is the correct ambient temperature range for a saison. Saison yeast can also be used in a few other types of beers, such as IPA.

 

[JoppaFarms]

Yup Saison is a great bet. I had a closet that remained at 80F no matter what the a/c was set at during the summer. I left the fermenter in there with zero temperature control and it was one of the best beers I've made yet.

 

[FatDragon]

Allan,
This may be something that would interest you.

https://www.cool-brewing.com/

The other thing is it's only the first few days that's crucial.
If you could set the fermentor in water and add ice packs occasionally, you might be able to drop it a few degrees.
The trick is to avoid wide temperature swings (24C - 20 C in 60 minutes, then back up to 24 in a few hours, twice a day)

An insulating jacket like this, or a water bath with ice packs (or frozen water bottles) added from time to time will help significantly for temperature control, with a towel wrapped around the vessel (draped down into the water) and a fan blowing on it if you want even more cooling. If it's too cold, an aquarium heater in a water bath will help boost the temperature up a bit.

 

[allanyork]

Yeah. I have been thinking about it and using a bath like system sounds like a good idea. Just to get that temp down a few degrees

 

[BigFloyd]

Yeah. I have been thinking about it and using a bath like system sounds like a good idea. Just to get that temp down a few degrees

You'll want to get the temp down more than a few degrees. 34*C is smokin hot when you're talking ferment temps for anything except a Saison.

Avoid Nottingham in your situation. If you let it go above 19*C during active ferment, it starts getting funky. At your temps, I don't believe you'll be happy at all with the result.

I'm not sure what you meant by "outside manipulation". Are you interested in doing the tub with frozen water bottles? Anything you can do to get it cooler (preferably under 20*C) and steady will help your beer.

 

[Jayhem]

The biggest 3 factors in making good beer every time:
1. Temp control
2. Yeast health and pitching rate
3. Sanitation

If you get those right it's pretty difficult to make bad beer.

 

[allanyork]

Sorry my post was ment to say 23-24. Outside manipulation meaning a tub of water around the wort container. So if I was to use a small tub with water a towel and 2l ice bottles, what temp to you think I could maintain?

 

[skunkfunk]

At 23-24 you could probably brew a decent hefeweizen without temp control.

 

[BigFloyd]

Sorry my post was ment to say 23-24. Outside manipulation meaning a tub of water around the wort container. So if I was to use a small tub with water a towel and 2l ice bottles, what temp to you think I could maintain?

24*C is a whole lot better than 35*C, but it's still on the very warm side for fermenting an ale and will produce unwanted flavors using US-05, nasty flavors with Notty. If that's the air temp, what's going on inside the fermenter can be upwards of 4-5*C warmer. Not good.

With the tub and bottles, it kind of depends on how cold your ice bottles are, how many you use and how often you swap them out, but with close attention you ought to be able to keep the beer temp down below 20*C during the critical first 4-5 days.

Pitching into cooler wort (around 16-17*C) will help you very much when it comes to managing the ferment temps. If you're doing a partial boil extract batch using top off water, it's pretty simple. Get what's in the kettle chilled (via ice bath in the sink) to below 32*C. Top off using water that you've chilled in the fridge for at least a few hours. Assuming equal amounts of each, combining the two should get the wort sufficiently chilled.

 

[allanyork]

If I could acheive 20c with that method I'll do it. Ill be brewing tonight. Thanks for all the help and very informative posts.