Fermenting a Wheat @ 78° ?

[juse]

I'm ready to start my second batch & I'm going with a wheat this time. I was able to keep my first batch @ 70-72° in a carboy in a cooler in my closet with ice bottles, but I was wondering if I could just keep it in there at the room temp of 78° without a cooler at all. I'm thinking it would be okay for a wheat, maybe?

The reason I ask is because I got a Sanke keg that I want to use as a fermenter & this pig will not fit in my cooler. It won't even fit in my fridge without some mods. A big tub of water is not really practical in my closet, so I'm tempted to try it at 78°.

Anyone ferment around this range?

 

[sinoth]

My first batch is a wheat and I fermented at 75-80. I still have another two weeks for conditioning in the bottles, but when I tasted it at bottling it was good. Granted, I'm a noob here and my "good" might be "skank water" to others, but I don't think those temps will ruin your batch.

Also, you might consider some kind of cheap cooling for the keg. Right now I have a bucket in a big plastic box with some gallon jugs of frozen water. No standing water, just frozen jugs. With some insulation (blankets), I can keep the inside temperature a good 5-10 degrees below ambient, which might be enough for what you want.

 

[jpuf]

Man, that's up there... Could get awful fruity, but I'd give it a shot if I had no choice

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

My first wheat was around 75F, and it definitely had some banana esters in it. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I like my wheats to have more clove than banana. It will still taste mighty good, but expect some banana/fruit aroma for sure.

 

[BarleyWater]

It will definitely be a banana bomb fermenting that warm. Remember that fermentation is an exothermic reaction, so the fermenter is going to be about 5 degrees warmer than the ambient temps, that's putting you around 83 degrees, way to warm IMO. I would suggest sticking to the carboy and cooler method, wheats are really best when fermented around 65-68.

 

[Brew-boy]

Very warm for a Wheat beer. I would try any kind of home made gadget you could to keep the temp down.

 

[PT934]

what are you using for yeast?

 

[fratermus]

I've done it around that temp using Wyeast 3333 and got lots of banana. I prefer banana to clove, so no biggie. My cow-orkers liked it better than the weizen I did at 60F ambient.

I bet a trip to walmart would yield something suitable for waterbathing that keg. Or fall back on a carboy.

 

[juse]

what are you using for yeast?

I'm just using a Munton's kit

. Once I get the hang of it all, I'll brew my own stuff.

Thanks for all the info, everyone. I think I will stick with the carboy for now. I just got such a good deal on a couple of Sankes that I wanted to use them somehow. I'm not set up for kegging & have a nice huge ss pot already, so I figured making a fermenter would be cool. I'm sure I'll figure something out.

 

[j_jones84]

This is only my second post and I've only brewed 3 batches but... I place my fermenter on a metal pan and wrap it in an old towel. I pour cold water all over the towel. I think the idea is just like sweating. The evaporating cools the fermenter. I water before work, when I get home, before bed. Seems like I can get it down at least 5degrees cooler if not more.

Then again I am using one of those stick on "Fermometers" on the outside of the carboy so the center of the beer might not be as cold, but I believe it helps out.

 

[FishinDave07]

I fermented a hefe at 76F and it couldn't have tasted better! I served it at a party and "discretely" labeled both. Almost everybody wanted the one fermented hot vs cold.

 

[PT934]

I prefer a little bananna & clove, so a little warm is ok. When I have used american wheat yeast (liquid wyeast), I let it go wherever it wants. I did a batch that hit 80deg on the fermometer, so who knows what it was in the center of it all and it was excellent. Still very clean tasting. I thought it was going to be terrible.