Good yeasts for warm temps?

[jgod4520]

So, my cheap college apartment doesn't have an "auto" setting on the the thermostat. With temperatures getting cooler and the heat on, our apartment is 73 most of the time, but it gets up to 77 or 78 degrees some days. We try to turn off the heat before it gets that high, but it doesn't always happen.

I'd planned to make an ipa next, but as tolerant as wlp001 is, I feel like 77-78 degrees would be too much. I just did a wit, so I'm not really in a rush to do another wheat beer. Does anybody have any successful experience with beers other than wits and hefes at high temperatures, and if so, with what?

I've been considering a strong Belgian, maybe a dubbel, but I remember seeing something by Vinnie Cilurzo saying that most Belgian strains do best when they're kept cooler at first and then allowed to slowly warm up. What should I expect in terms of yeast character and phenolic/estheriness if, say, I used wlp500 or 550 at mid 70's temperatures all the way?

 

[yodalegomaster]

I would be going trying to brew a Belgian triple. same yeast and more real sugar, at those temps it will taste good and be done In a week.

 

[rjwhite41]

Belgian strains are your best bet.

 

[redalert]

+1 for Belgians. You can ferment a Saison mid 90's if you so choose and you'll get awesome flavors. From what I've read, many breweries do. If you ever had Saison Dupont which is the signature and most well known of saisons. They ferment at 85-95F!

 

[mk78]

^^ Yeah, was coming here to say saisons are definitely a good bet. If you use that Dupont strain you may even have to get it hotter to fully attenuate!

 

[Stardust]

What should I expect in terms of yeast character and phenolic/estheriness if, say, I used wlp500 or 550 at mid 70's temperatures all the way?

I used WLP-500 on a belgian style abbey ale and kept temps around 75F. It's now bottle conditioning/aging. I sampled some before I bottled it and it's going to be a tasty brew...even from a newbie like me

 

[specialkaye]

I've used Munson's Ale at the 78-80f range with great success. I'm doing another batch with that tomorrow. I've also used the WL400 at 76f-78f. Still waiting to see how that one turns out. It's a Belgian so I'm thinking it'll be fine. My actual temperatures swing more than what's listed though.

One thing you might want to look at is putting your fermenters into a larger volume of water, say a big container filled half-way or close to the level of the beer in the fermenter. That extra thermal mass will slow down the temperature swings on the yeast and might make them stay a bit happier. And, if you're going to do that, you could always throw a tee shirt over them and call it a swamp cooler. Two birds with one beer.