Heat Wave

[noreaster40s]

OK, so I brewed a 10 gallon batch a week ago which was last Friday evening. Here in the northeast we've had a few days of mid to upper 90 degree heat. Our old house doesn't have AC and the room where I keep the fermenting brew got up to at least 80 for the past few days. Not good, I don't think, for the fermenting but nothing I could really do.

So just how might this affect the taste down the road, or do you think it will be minimal. I'll find out eventually but curious about what others think. Thanks.

 

[Oddball]

I had the same issue this week, but fortunately my sister in law lives downstairs so I took three batches down to her basement. We have AC, but it got so hot outside our unit couldn't keep up. Short term solution = ice bath (which will be a pain in the ass to maintain), long term solution = fermentation chamber.....

 

[Oddball]

Oh yeah, as for it affecting your beer... It is definitely best to maintain consistently low temps, but exactly how this incident affected your beer you won't know until you taste it....

 

[Rev2010]

It will effect the taste a bit. More importantly though I've found when this happened to me the beer was more hangover prone - fusel alcohol discussion in another recently thread in here.


Rev.

 

[Airborneguy]

How did the initial fermentation proceed? Since it has been a week, if you used a good sized starter or otherwise had a healthy fermentation, it is likely that most activity was finished before the temps started to rise. If that is the case, you should be okay as warmer temps are far worse during active fermentation than later in the process. Either way, not ideal, but much better later than earlier in the game.

 

[noreaster40s]

Airborneguy, I was hoping that might be the case. The fermentation did start pretty well before the heat set in so I'm hoping for minimal impact. I'm going to be transferring it to the secondary tomorrow. This is the 2nd time I've brewed this particular recipe and the first time it came out great. The first was a 5 gallon batch and this one a 10. Hopefully it goes well.

 

[kh54s10]

If your fermentation was mostly done before the heat wave the off flavors will probably be small. Look into making a swamp cooler. It is just a large tub and ice bottles to control the temperature. I used one through the peak of summer last year and am still using it this year until I score a cheap fridge to make a fermentation chamber.

 

[Stauffbier]

+1 to a swamp cooler. It gets 105+ here this time of year, so I have to use them. My house was 80F today, but the water in my swamp cooler was a cool 61F. Another great option this time of year is to brew Saisons and varrious styles of Belgians that can handle a higher fermentation temp...

 

[dfaridoni]

+1 swamp cooler. It hit 109 here on fathers day, water in my cooler 63 degrees. Just keep your plastic ice bottles swapped out regularly and its no problem. I also carbonate in a rubbermaid container that i use frozen bottles in to keep the temp around 70 degrees for at least the first week. That seems to work as well.

 

[Beer-lord]

It's been in the low 90's for days and only goes down to 78-80 at night. Our A/C is set to 78 which is still warm. I got and love and bragg and love and bragg about the Cool-Brewing bag. It's worth the $55. I change ice packs no more than twice a day and some days, only once and my temps stay below 65. Mostly at 63 and if I did change twice a day EVERY day, I could get the fermenter down to 60.
I used a swamp cooler but the wager was a pain in the arse. This is the real deal and for me at least, works.
https://www.cool-brewing.com/

 

[Stauffbier]

It's been in the low 90's for days and only goes down to 78-80 at night. Our A/C is set to 78 which is still warm. I got and love and bragg and love and bragg about the Cool-Brewing bag. It's worth the $55. I change ice packs no more than twice a day and some days, only once and my temps stay below 65. Mostly at 63 and if I did change twice a day EVERY day, I could get the fermenter down to 60.
I used a swamp cooler but the wager was a pain in the arse. This is the real deal and for me at least, works.
https://www.cool-brewing.com/

At that price, considering I usually have as many as 3 fermenters full at once I could buy a used chest freezer online and get a temp control.. Which is my plan this summer.

 

[Beer-lord]

Yep, it ain't cheap but I don't think it's hot long enough to need 3 of these things. But for me, I usually only brew every 3 weeks or so 1 batch at a time. I can see where a fermentation chamber of sorts would be in your future.

 

[noreaster40s]

I just tried the swamp cooler idea since reading this. The real high temps are about over now though but thought I'd try it anyway.

 

[Stauffbier]

I swear by my swamp cooler. Don't get me wrong... I really want a chest freezer to ferment in, but I've gotten pretty good at fermenting with swamp coolers. Until I get a freezer I'm ok with swamp coolers. The key is to use an ice chest instead of a rubbermaid tub. The ice chest will maintain stable temps a lot better! Especially in a hot climate like mine...