1st time brewer ... Worried about fermentation temps in hot climate?

[aprichman]

You're seeing the beginning stages of fermentation, in 24 hours from now you should see a rocking krausen and lots of activity. Personally I would take the ice bottle out and let the beer free rise to ~63-64F before popping some ice back in. If your wort is too cold it will cause the yeast to go dormant before fermentation is finished.

 

[beernutz]

You could start off brewing a Saison using Wyeast 3724 which likes high temperatures and does well at 90 though you might actually have the opposite problem of finding a place that has a relatively stable but higher than room temperature. Saison's are awesome btw but as a beer snob you already knew that.

I used some variation of a swamp cooler for more than a decade to brew ales when I first started. While I think my output has improved since then by using a variety of different controllers (STC-1000 or Johnson or whatever) and refrigerators/freezers I've been where you are as to limited space and a skeptical spouse.

My advice unrelated to temperature control is to find a way to get your SO into your brewing corner. I did that by brewing a special spiced Christmas beer for a party we've had almost every year for the last 20. I also regularly brew beers that she likes such as my Blue Moon clone and the previously mention Saisons.

 

[RmikeVT]

Temp control should be #1. If you cannot keep it the yeast in the happy temp zone, I would not brew. If you have a brew store near by, pick up some saison yeast,like mentioned above, and maybe swap out the hops for something a bit more Belgiumy and brew away :rockin:

^^^What this guy said.

 

[RmikeVT]

I think everyone's first beer kit should come with Lallemands Belle Saison. So versatile and tolerant to temps.

 

[slym2none]

If anything, this thing is working TOO well. I came in this morning and was happy to see some action finally happening on top, but it had cooled down to 54 degrees! I changed from two 1 gal bottles to a 1 gal plus a 2l bottle, so hopefully that will allow the temps to get back into the 60s. Will the time spent at 54 hurt the ale? I used Safale US-05 yeast, and reactivated it in RO filtered water before pitching. Took a long time to get going, but it looks like things are starting happen, despite the cold temps. A layer of bubbles is finally starting to form!

Well, the ice-pack seems to be directly across from the temp-strip, so you might be getting a false reading, with it reading cooler than it actually is. Maybe twist the carboy so the strip isn't right at that one ice-bottle?

 

[KPBrews]

Well, the ice-pack seems to be directly across from the temp-strip, so you might be getting a false reading, with it reading cooler than it actually is. Maybe twist the carboy so the strip isn't right at that one ice-bottle?

Oops, forgot to respond in this thread.

I moved the ice bottle to the other side, no change, so it seems to be accurate.

I also grabbed a cheap digital aquarium thermometer with a probe (Amazon has them for like $2, so I bought a few some time ago, for my aquariums, and still had a couple of unused ones), and stuck the probe in, so I can check the temps inside easily to satisfy my curiosity, without having to unzip the top all the dang time and disturb things inside. The temps match, so it's reliable enough, IMO. (I still open it daily to swap water bottles, and so far, the cheap digital unit has matched the LCD strip every time) Very handy when I get nervous about the temps and want to check it... now I can just glance at the readout on top and know, with a reasonable level of confidence, what the temp is inside, without opening the whole thing up and disturbing the yeast party going on in there.

All that said, I've drastically reduced the amount of ice bottles in there (just one 2l bottle!), and it seems to be holding steady in the low-to-mid 60s now, which I think it just about perfect. Nice roiling gunk shooting around in the wort, too.

 

[KVANTAN]

Get a regular cooler. Freeze 2 x 1L plastic bottles with water. Put fermenting beer in cooler. Rotate frozen bottles into it and your freezer. Pack empty space with towels.