Fermenting beer in Panama

[avenrura]

Guys,

I have a bit of a problem when it comes to brewing beer in the tropics.

As I plan my budgeting, I realized that I have no place to adequately ferment the wort in Panama City (Republic of Panama). Storages do not have temperatures within the 66-72 F° range.
Having the A/C on all day is not an option since it is WAY TO EXPENSIVE here in Panama....

Any solutions that would actually work?

 

[FiddlersGreen87]

Chest freezer/mini fridge/regular fridge with temperature controller.

Cheap method-
You can also do the swamp cooler with a bunch of 2L bottles filled with water and frozen. Throw the fermenter in the tub (if you have one, I only had a stand up shower in previous homes) or a big enough rubbermaid bin or cooler. Fill it with water and add the frozen 2Ls. Monitor and replace as they thaw.

 

[HB_in_Subic]

I use the Chest freezer with external thermostat control. It works well for me. My climate here (Philippines) is very similar to where you are. Once you get your fermentation chamber worked out, your next battle will be mold and mildew.

Check out this thread for more ideas https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/brewing-hot-climates-467189/

 

[avenrura]

Thank you, @FiddlersGreen87

Do you think wheat beer at a fermentation temperature of 75-76 F° should be fine? Also, what about bottling? If we store the bottles in a fridge at a temperature of 58-60 F°, will the secondary fermentation get too messed up?

 

[avenrura]

I use the Chest freezer with external thermostat control. It works well for me. My climate here (Philippines) is very similar to where you are. Once you get your fermentation chamber worked out, your next battle will be mold and mildew.

Check out this thread for more ideas https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/brewing-hot-climates-467189/

Thank you! That was another idea I had!

 

[hijukal]

Brew saisons and other beers that don't care so much about low temperatures!

 

[FiddlersGreen87]

Thank you, @FiddlersGreen87

Do you think wheat beer at a fermentation temperature of 75-76 F° should be fine? Also, what about bottling? If we store the bottles in a fridge at a temperature of 58-60 F°, will the secondary fermentation get too messed up?

I think it'd still make a good wheat beer. I used to live in Hawaii, and my wheat beers never got any kind of temp control. They still came out fine, but if you're trying to control the esters and undesired off flavors that can come with fermentation I think 75 is a bit high. Remember, your actual temp inside the fermenter can be as much as 10+ degrees above the room temp. Now that I have my ferm chamber (chest freezer + temp controller) I keep the temps in the optimal ranges for that yeast.

Like I said there's lot of people here that do the swamp cooler method and have consistent success with this cheap option. I'm very happy I went with the chest freezer option because it allows me to not only control the temp in the environment but seal it off too.