Summertime brewing and fermenting temps

[southsidebrewingco]

Greetings all,

I was treated to a deluxe brewing kit by my wife early last fall for my birthday. She had ordered it from Northern Brewing (great customer service btw) along with extract kits for Bavarian Hefeweizen, American Wheat and Caribou Slobber. I also purchased a Cream Ale kit as I have never been a dark beer fan. The Hefeweizen turned out great that's going to be a go to beer for summer and fall for sure. The American Wheat just seemed way to hoppy for my taste in a wheat beer. The Caribou Slobber though dark is actually quite good and at 4 months old now is really mellow. The Cream Ale is my favorite so far its smooth creamy and just perfect for that one or two glasses. Anyway my question is during the winter I had no issue with keeping the fermenting temps down to where they should be but now as the weather is getting warmer what do I do?? I keep the carboys in the laundry room where the temps are cooler but I'm still worried its not going to be cool enough during hot weather. Space is an issue so any type of temperature controlled room or old chest freezer is out. What are my options....fan? wet towel with fan? Please give me some suggestions as I need to get some batches going.

 

[unionrdr]

A tray of water the fermenter sits in with a wet tee shirt & a fan will lower temps a few degrees. Or a swamp cooler with frozen water bottles.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Basement floors are great, but I am guessing you don't have one.....

I put mine in the tub with a few inches of water and a t shirt on it.

First, though I CHILL the hell out of it.

I pitch at 59F or so.

It is impossible to get a warm temp to go down without extreme help. Start cool and it will make the job manageable.

 

[flars]

The swamp cooler combo of wet towel and fan may be your best option. My set up for this uses a restaurant bussing tray as the water bath.
You could go with a tub of water and have three-quarters of the carboy submerged. Additional cooling with water filled and frozen plastic soda bottles.
Fermometer strips can be covered with clear packaging tape to keep them dry.

 

[southsidebrewingco]

I do have a concrete basement floor. For the most part it stays cool but with warm weather coming I am a bit nervous because I can be gone for a few days at a time. My guess is that the floor would keep my contents at about 70 degrees

 

[moreb33rplz]

I stick the carboy in a rubbermaid container with water up to the wort level, and stick frozen water bottles in. I can get 8-10 degrees below ambient if I change the bottles often.

 

[southsidebrewingco]

Better yet what's going to be the temp I can safely ferment a cream ale at?

 

[southsidebrewingco]

Looks like I will have to at least try the water bath and a small fan

 

[flars]

Better yet what's going to be the temp I can safely ferment a cream ale at?

This depends upon the yeast you plan to use. Optimum fermentation range can be found on the manufacturers web site.

 

[bd2xu]

+1 on the plastic tubs. Got mine at walmart for five dollars each. Regardless of the time of year I put my carboy or bucket in and fill up near the top, sometimes even floating my fermenter. Thought is that it keeps ambient temp swings from changing wort temp, heat given off by fermenting dissipates, and in the winter or when fermenting warm (saison yeast) I use an aquarium heater (can get wort to 90) and in hot months I float two liter bottles to cool. Works well. Regardless of ferm temps and ambient temp it helps keep everything stable. That said I can't wait to get another chest freezer for ferm chamber and lagering.

 

[cease]

I've been using a Cool Brewing bag I got from MoreBeer for like $50 bucks. It can keep my beer at 65 with an ambient of 80* (it's already hot in NorCal) with one two liter bottle of frozen water. I chose this because I did not want to hassle with the water and wet shirts associated with a swamp cooler.

Before I brew I usually put a one gallon bottle of water in and close it. After I chill my wort and put it in the fermentor I let it sit in the bag for an hour or two to let it hit 67-68* from the low 70's, then pitch.


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