Is brewing light beer a bit too hot OK?

Hi everyone-

Wanted to know what would be the best to brew next. My problem is ambient heat. I have no space for a refrigerator/freezer or for a son of fermentation chiller. SWMBO is not big on my taking up any more space for brewing. As a result, I ferment in my basement, which at least is much cooler than the house, but still gets too warm for fermentation. Today was 77 degrees, and it was 71 in the basement. Assuming we ever get up into the 80s or 90s (rare to get to the 90s, but last year it reached 106), the basement will probably get up into at LEAST the high 70s and possibly the low 80s.

My question is this- I am very tempted to brew Biermuncher’s Centennial Blonde recipe for something nice and refreshing, but given the warmer temps, is it likely to produce noticeable off flavors due to fermenting at higher temp (the recipe calls for 68˚F)? I think I read somewhere that you will notice the off flavors from fermenting at high temp much more in a lighter beer. Should I wait until we have a string of coolish days forecast and then pitch a HUGE starter so that it ferments out before the heat (I can just hear the people in Texas laughing when I talk about the heat of a 77 degree day) returns?

Or would it be safer to just brew a hefeweizen that should be OK fermenting even up to like 80 degrees (to maximize banana flavors ). Either one would probably be a nice refreshing brew for the heat of summer. What is the max temperature one can brew a hefeweizen at without ruining it? Perhaps I should brew that after the next batch when it is essentially guaranteed to be >80˚F for weeks at a time?

Not sure what to do about this-- I don’t want to be stuck brewing only hefeweizens during summer.

Thanks,
Klaus

I believe Saisons require a high fermentation, and the higher the better for them. Not sure what type of beer you are into though...

Buy SWMBO new diamond ring, and buy cheap used fridge.

Give SWMBO new ring and tell her about fridge.

ChristianAlpha-RuBrew said:

Buy SWMBO new diamond ring, and buy cheap used fridge.

Give SWMBO new ring and tell her about fridge.

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Buy the SWMBO a new fridge for the kitchen.. and take the kitchen fridge and make it a fermentation chamber =)

If you're going for a clean, lagerish ale, brewing cold is just about the most important thing you can do.

How bad brewing at over 65F (or whatever) is, though, is up to your tastebuds--if it's good enough, it's good enough!

But if it were me, the #1 thing I'd want to do to brew a clean light beer is to keep the fermentation temperature low.

kshuler said:

I can just hear the people in Texas laughing when I talk about the heat of a 77 degree day.

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It was 112 here in the Valley of the Sun today with only 2% humidity. Sweat dried before it could cool you off. But, I digress. . .

KillerKellers said:

Buy the SWMBO a new fridge for the kitchen.. and take the kitchen fridge and make it a fermentation chamber =)

Click to expand...

What he said!

Seriously though, if you want to control temps get yourself either a fridge or chest freezer with a temp controller so you can (in the basement of course). Obviouslly I've not addressed any of your questions or concerns. Good luck!

This is easy.

1. Goto HD, Lowes, Walmart, etc.
2. Get a large muck bucket
3. Fill with water
4. Place beer bucket/carboy in water
5. Put two liters of frozen water in large bucket.
6. You can also use wet T-shirt as well and a fan.

This will get you into stable 70s for temps and will be very cheap and not take anymore space.

I would not brew anything without some way of controlling the temperature. Even a saison. Temperature control is CRITICAL. Personally, I don't see how people can claim to make excellent beer when they just stick the carboy in a closet with no means of scavenging the heat of fermentation.

/rant

I'm sure a plain ol bucket would get similar results, but I use something like the roller cooler in the below link. My SWMBO is something of bottled water feign, so I have a ridiculous amount of frozen bottles in my chest freezer. The cooler itself is compact, and I can maintain temps anywhere I like in the 60's by rotating particular amounts of frozen water bottles in one to all of the four corners of the cooler. (As a for instance, I have a APA going right now that I started at a steady 62 with three bottles twice a day, and as active fermentation subsided I was down to one bottle once a day).

Ha, that was probably too wordy. Nutshell = Temp control doesn't take much more space than your fermenter already does.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001T8843M/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

whutever said:

It was 112 here in the Valley of the Sun today with only 2% humidity. Sweat dried before it could cool you off. But, I digress. . .

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Yes it was... it's cheaper to buy a fridge than to try and keep room temperature below 80 F!!

Take steps to control your temperature. If you really can't / wont do that, here's what I recommend.

Cooper's Ale yeast. The recommended temperature is 73F-80F, but they say it's ok to pitch as long as the temperature is between 64F-90F. I've made some pretty decent beer pitching above 90F with their kits. It's a very forgiving yeast strain. This was when I first started brewing. Now I'm much more careful about my temps, so I can't really say how other strains will preform except that some strains will be very nasty at 90+.

brian_g is right about the cooper yeast. It is pretty forgiving and does really like warmer temps. I have used it with a couple of their kits my wife bought me for xmas and it seems most active at around 74 degrees or so. If it gets a tad too warm (80 degrees) it will give off a mildly fruity flavor and aroma that is rather pleasant and mellows with age.

Toga said:

brian_g is right about the cooper yeast. It is pretty forgiving and does really like warmer temps. I have used it with a couple of their kits my wife bought me for xmas and it seems most active at around 74 degrees or so. If it gets a tad too warm (80 degrees) it will give off a mildly fruity flavor and aroma that is rather pleasant and mellows with age.

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GREAT! Thanks for the advice. Sounds like for now I will try to cooper's yeast, and hopefully by next summer I can convince SWMBO that we REALLY need a new refrigerator!

Thanks everyone!

Klaus

An excerpt from Phil Markowski's Farmhouse Ales---


"...At Brasserie Dupont, primary fermentation proceeds at the shocking 85 to 95 F (30 to 35 C) and lasts for five to seven days."....

Brasserie Dupont is the Brewery where they make Saison Dupont. In my opinion, not only one of the best of the saison style but one of the best beers in the world.

I'm only brewing Belgians this summer...

Take the advice on the Saison. It's really the only beer I'd let ferment at 90F.

Can you convince her to get a dorm sized fridge just big enough for a single carboy? You can hide those things almost anywhere. They also go on sale about this time as a 'back to school' promotion.

+1 on the Saison temps. I got advice from a pro brewer on cloning his and was shocked to see the ferm temps. My problem was that my chiller got more efficient through the chilling process and I actually started out at 75F instead of 90. The plan was to chill to 90 and then let it keep the temp up on it's own pace best as it can.

If I were wanting to do a blonde, I'd use the swamp cooler and just swap bottles for a couple of days, and use a forgiving yeast. It's true that temp control is critical, but you can still make damn good beer even if you don't have a chamber and electronic thermostat. It just takes more work.

I've brewed the Centennial Blonde in the summer using the swamp cooler method and it turned out great. I've also done it without temp control for the first 1.5 days and that was only the second batch I've thrown out.

If you decide on the Saison, ferment 90 or so, use up to 25% wheat malt, and limit the spices if using any at all. The flavor notes will come from the yeast. And the Saison Yeast is notorious for stalling out. The pro brewer warned that it could take 6 weeks to reach FG. Oh, and use some sugar to dry it out, and if AG, mash low, to also help dry it out.