Brewing without climate control

[Johntodd]

I'm so new at this I haven't made any beer yet ... but I want to.

But the only place I can put my stuff has no climate control. I'm in west Tennessee, where we have cool, crisp winters with occasional freezes and prolonged hot summers. Works great for our 600-day a year growing season.

I'm thinking lager in winter and ale in summer? I know my wine does fine with all this, and I've made many a nice bottle of wine. My wine is so good we can't keep any inventory!

Also, my wife wants some Shiner Bock (clone - I already found recipes).

What are your thoughts on what types of beer I can brew without climate control? Keep in mind our forebears did it, and they were good to go! I also have a high tolerance for variations - as long as it isn't just really crappy, I'll be happy with a "nice" beer as opposed to a "great" beer.

Thanks!
-Johntodd

 

[Wheelspin]

Why settle for 3rd best ? Temp control of fermetation is one the biggest steps you can take to making much better beer. OK beer is never an option.

Find an old chest freezer on Craiglist, buy an STC 1000 temp controller and you have a very good fermentation chamber that you can control both heat and cold.

 

[Johntodd]

Well, I always appreciate the quest for quality, but I just don't want to get into all that. I want simple, simple, simple, like how I make my wines.

I can see putting a fan on it to blow, or a heating pad under the fermenter with a jacket, but that's about it for me.

I'm looking to the "natural" solution: What beers do best in cold or hot weather? It's probably a function of the yeast?

 

[sumbrewindude]

Brew beers that fit best within the temps that you can maintain with a swamp cooler.

Initially I wanted to all kinds of crazy beers, but after a couple batches I stepped back and took a look at what I could get away with temp wise. Winters I brew lagers, springs I brew ales, summers I brew saisons/hefes/Belgians, falls it's browns/ales again. Sometimes I mix them up a bit, but I run the ragged edges of where the yeast wants to work.

I finally got a mini fridge that I can now convert, so now my beers are so "scheduled" if you see what I mean.

But it can be done.

 

[flars]

There are three ways to make bad beer. Temperatures to low for the yeast to work, dormancy. Temperatures that are to high, hot fermentations will produce fusel alcohols. Temperature swings, stresses the yeast which will produce off flavors.

Temperature control is important, especially no temperature swings. Is there not one place in the house a fermentor could sit? A closet or under a stairway? A shielded light bulb for heat or a tray of water, swamp cooler, for cooling?

Lager yeasts are used cool, Belgian yeasts are used warm, but neither tolerates temperature swings.

 

[Trox]

I just stick with ales year round and use a swamp cooler in the summer to keep my fermentation temps in the 60s. You can do a lager hybrid substituting an ale yeast for the lager recipe. I've noticed the Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast has a clean crisp finish in the cream ales I've created using it.

 

[Johntodd]

OK, I can see putting it into an insulated box, perhaps a large cooler. Or wrapping it with a jacket. Or both. I think we have hit upon an agreeable solution. It's still simple, but can mitigate temp swings.

I know lager will go slower, but I've got the devoted space for it. It's totally fine if it has to sit 3-4 months in the same spot to do it's work.

So the temp swings are a worse thing than a steady temp thats not quite in the ideal range?

 

[beerinthebloodco]

I use a product by cool - brew that is a fermentation cooler. It's just a soft, round cooler with a zipper top. You add frozen bottles of water about every 12 hours or as often as needed to retain proper temperature. It's the simplest temp control I have come across and it has helped my beer quality in a big way.

 

[ajstrider]

I have a walk in closet that I use. It of course has no windows, and has an air duct vent in it. During the winter, I close down on the duct a bit and the outer walls keep the temperature between 60-70. During the summer months I open the vent all the way and it stays in the same range. This works out great for ales. I just have a thermometer I hang in there to see what the temperature is.

 

[Johntodd]

I've looked up my average winter temps in my area, and they are 35 to 50 F. Seems like good lager weather. So if I wrap the fermenter I can mitigate the temp swings and that'll do it? Am I missing something? I read in one of those books that lager can even freeze and still be recovered.

 

[JimRausch]

Hey John- welcome.
1st caution- I'm in Maine and Maine is not Tennessee. But, I've been brewing some pretty fine beers for what will be 3 years in December, with cheap and simple temperature control methods. I do Lagers in the winter, English/Irish ales in early spring, summer ales late spring, take the summer off once the temps hit 75-80, English ales again early fall, Altbiers and cider/graf in late fall. Do your research on yeast strains to find the ones that work best in the temp. ranges you're expecting.
Check threads on 'swamp cooler'. My beers live in one. Even if the environmental temps are good for my yeast strain, the thermal mass of the water helps keep the temps stable. I do tend to check temps twice daily while she is actively fermenting(1st 4-5 days). After that, once daily is good. And I've found by comparing, that the temp of the water bath is usually within 1-2 degrees of the core beer temp.
Lagers, once they are finished with fermentation, and I've transferred for the lagering process, stay in the swamp cooler out in my garage where yes sometimes there is a inch of ice in the morning. The beer hasn't frozen ...yet.
So, yes good beer can be made with low-tech methods.

 

[JohnSand]

I'm with the low tech school. I use a big picnic cooler, or now an insulated trash can in summer. In winter the basement is usually around 60, fermenting raises temps to the right level. If it's really cold, (last winter) I put it by the heater. It's true that more equipment makes good beer easier, but you can do it reasonably with less gear. When using the coolers, I add water in the cooler, ice as necessary, check the temps with a fish tank remote thermometer.

 

[number40fan]

What if I told you that there was something that you could put your fermenting beer in and not have to worry about it for the two weeks that it takes to complete (ales), even if it was hot or cold out? Would that be easy enough for you?

 

[govner1]

I'm so new at this I haven't made any beer yet ... but I want to.



But the only place I can put my stuff has no climate control. I'm in west Tennessee, where we have cool, crisp winters with occasional freezes and prolonged hot summers. Works great for our 600-day a year growing season.



I'm thinking lager in winter and ale in summer? I know my wine does fine with all this, and I've made many a nice bottle of wine. My wine is so good we can't keep any inventory!



Also, my wife wants some Shiner Bock (clone - I already found recipes).



What are your thoughts on what types of beer I can brew without climate control? Keep in mind our forebears did it, and they were good to go! I also have a high tolerance for variations - as long as it isn't just really crappy, I'll be happy with a "nice" beer as opposed to a "great" beer.



Thanks!

-Johntodd

I'm curious about the 600 day a year growing season. Do you have a different calendar in west Tennessee?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[number40fan]

http://www.sears.com/kenmore-7.2-cu-ft-chest-freezer-white/p-04618702000P?adCell=pvt_1_1

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/black-box-fermentation-temperature-controller-480058/

^^Could make your own that doesn't look as nice for less.

And something for heat (heating pad, low watt light bulb).