Hot Summer Brewing???

[Alan_Speakman]

Hi,

Looks like it's going to be a hot summer here on Cape Cod... Expecting temps of 90 to 100 degrees F here in the house. (The electrical service coming off the street is a measly 100 amps and that is max'ed, so AC is not an option... I suppose I could brew in the basement, but there's no sink down there, and lugging six gallons of wort down stairs isn't going to be fun... And even if I did brew down there, those temps can go into the 80s...)

Are there any beers/yeasts that can survive in these kinds of hot conditions?

Thanks in advance...

Alan

 

[jgln]

Hi,

Looks like it's going to be a hot summer here on Cape Cod... Expecting temps of 90 to 100 degrees F here in the house. (The electrical service coming off the street is a measly 100 amps and that is max'ed, so AC is not an option... I suppose I could brew in the basement, but there's no sink down there, and lugging six gallons of wort down stairs isn't going to be fun... And even if I did brew down there, those temps can go into the 80s...)

Are there any beers/yeasts that can survive in these kinds of hot conditions?

Thanks in advance...

Alan

Already have predictions for this summer? It always gets hot here in the summer. But I'd wait before I believe any forcasts that far ahead.

 

[Alan_Speakman]

Hi jgln (et al),

No, I don't have a crystal ball about the weather, but I should have mentioned the following in the initial post...

We've had this house now about 13 years, and it's always been a hot box: 90 F wasn't unusual... This fall/winter tropical storm Irene brought down the only real shade tree we had -- a massive maple. Now we're wide open... I'd bet dimes to donuts that we'll repeatedly hit 100 F inside this summer... (which really stinks because I work out of my home office!) Worse yet, no amount of ventilation (attic included) is going to alleviate the problem... Without that maple tree, we're going to get broiled...

So, no... No great weather forecasting going on here... Within the last week, the outside temp has been in the 40s, but the inside temp was already 72...

The only room that has AC is the bedroom, and I don't think the wife would be happy if I set up the fermenters there...

So I'm stuck, and already the thermometer is rising... That's why I'm asking if there are any kinds of brews/yeasts that can thrive in hot, humid temps...

Thanks,

Alan

P.S. This weekend, I'm having an old and trusted construction buddy over to discuss the cost/benefits of covering the roof with solar panels... Not only will that give us shade, but generate the necessary power for central air conditioning... But $25k is a monster... Short of that... How do I keep brewing in a hot box???

 

[fbold1]

Wyeast 3725 & 3726 have a temp. Range of 70-95 degrees.

 

[venquessa]

100A is a LOT of power.... oh, wait, you are USA, so on 120V?

Okay, so that's half of what we get in the UK for domestic premises, we used to get 60A/240V, but now get 100A/240V.

Still, 100A * 120V = 12Kw. A small aircon unit draws about 2.5kw to 3kw. If had 2 of them running, you would still have plenty of room for lights and one more heavy appliance like electric cooker or power shower.

Also, can you not contact the local electricity board / power company and ask if they can up the rating on your master fuse... assuming it's a power company fuse and not your domestic fuse. In the later case you could just upgrade the fuse yourself.

 

[petey_c]

As a side note, 100A is the smallest residential service. 200A is more common. Increasing the service size requires several things. Here in Long Island, a typical upgrade will run about $1800.00. But, I digress.
You could use a "swamp cooler" in the basement. One of those big azz party buckets with the rope handles. Fill it (or close to) with water and put frozen bottles of water in there to moderate the temps. Cover it with a towel or old shirt and boom, lower fermenting temps.

 

[venquessa]

And there is always 2 small chest freezers (from a SH shop or Recycle website). One set to 60F for ferment, one set to 70F for bottle condtioning. Might require modification for those temps though, or you could control it manually as when switched off they hold their temp quite well for 12-24 hours if you don't open them.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

And there is always 2 small chest freezers (from a SH shop or Recycle website). One set to 60F for ferment, one set to 70F for bottle condtioning. Might require modification for those temps though, or you could control it manually as when switched off they hold their temp quite well for 12-24 hours if you don't open them.

Chest freezers will require temp controllers to regulate them at those temps. A dual stage temp controller will greatly reduce the power the freezers consume. I use one as a fermentation chamber, the freezer rarely runs.

 

[Jayhem]

And there is always 2 small chest freezers (from a SH shop or Recycle website). One set to 60F for ferment, one set to 70F for bottle condtioning. Might require modification for those temps though, or you could control it manually as when switched off they hold their temp quite well for 12-24 hours if you don't open them.

I've still yet to see a chest freezer that can be set to run as warm as 60F.

I'll be using the swamp cooler method to ferment beer this summer in my basement, once the fermentation is past high krausen I'm hoping my basement will be around 70 and the fermentation can finish without going over 72F.

OP: Just a thought, as I know a bit about home insulation and venting: Have you inspected your attic? If your house is getting that much hotter than ambient summer air temps outside even with all the windows open there is a real problem in your attic, most likely the attic is not properly vented. At the very least you need to have vents on each gable end and sofit vents on the eaves of every roof with unrestricted air flow to the vents on the end of the house. Many older houses have improperly insulated attics that block the sofit vents and I can tell you from experience this problem can raise the temp in the attic from 100 to 130F! Ever since I installed my rafter vents to the sofits my attic stays only 10-15F above ambient in the summer, amazing. I plan to install a peak vent this spring which should help even more. I have a 2200 sq ft house with no A/C other than a window unit in the master bedroom and with window fan venting the house never got over about 90F inside even on the hottest summer day we had in VA in 2011. I like it hot and humid though as I grew up in New Orleans.

 

[JonM]

Saisons. They love warm temps. I fermented my last Saison in the un-air conditioned crawl space on the second floor in the dead of summer, and it's one of my favorite batches ever.

 

[txaggie]

Saisons. They love warm temps. I fermented my last Saison in the un-air conditioned crawl space on the second floor in the dead of summer, and it's one of my favorite batches ever.

Exactly! Saison was one of the first things that came to me as well. I haven't made one, but I've read they do really well in hot temperatures.

 

[Seven]

Are there any beers/yeasts that can survive in these kinds of hot conditions?

• Build a temperature controlled fermentation chamber or swamp cooler
• Brew saisons

In general, temperature control is most critical for the first week of primary fermentation. After that you can ease up on keeping it cool and let it warm up a bit without any ill effects.

 

[Darwin18]

I've still yet to see a chest freezer that can be set to run as warm as 60F.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...on-controls-a419-digital-temp-controller.html

You plug your chest freezer into it, drop the probe into your freezer, set the temperature you want, and walk away.

 

[Jayhem]

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...on-controls-a419-digital-temp-controller.html

You plug your chest freezer into it, drop the probe into your freezer, set the temperature you want, and walk away.

Now that makes sense. I could probably use this on my spare fridge to ferment this summer since I lack a spare chest freezer. Heck, you could use this in conjunction with a window A/C unit to keep it from getting too warm in a fermentation room as well, chest freezer would just be 100 times more energy efficient.

 

[GreenDragon]

+1 to the johnson controller. I live in Kansas. We had 47 days in a row last summer where the temp was 100+. I picked up an old fridge off CL, slapped a johnson controller in it and have it set to 62F.

I'm having the opposite problem currently.. my fermentor fridge is in an unheated/cooled garage and it's too cold to ferment out there right now and the inside of the house is too warm

Edit: BTW I appreciate all the vendors supporting HBT, but that Johnson controller is a crap ton cheaper off Amazon!

 

[Alan_Speakman]

Thanks for all the input!

* I did have the house inspected, and the recommendation was indeed better insulation and ventilation...

* Saisons? Super...

* Like the idea of the Johnson controller...

For the moment, I'm re-habbing my closet into a micro climate-controlled fermentation/storage area...

With a little bit of luck and the suggestions provided here, I can keep that area cool with a bit of ice and a heavy blanket for the opening...

I'll keep you posted...

Thanks again,

Alan