My lovely 130° weather :) (best yeast options)

[BeerBandit]

I've yet to brew, and I'm learning as much as I can, daily. I will not be building a fermentation cooler any time soon, so my best bet would be the "swamp cooler method", I'm guessing. I'm wondering how well you guys think it would work in a house without central air. As I live in the desert, it also gets kind of "cold" at nights, as well. I'm really worried that I'm just going to end up with too much flocculation and a stalled ferment. The only yeast I've came across so far that I think would be up to the job would be hothead ale from omega. I'm open to any ideas, suggestions, lashings, or advice that anyone has to share with me. Also, I'd like to know where I should be looking to find out what kind of beers that specific yeast would work well with. I've never had a homebrewed beer, and I don't really try too many different kinds, as well. So, it's going to be a longgg learning curve for me, I'm sure luckily for me, I actually quite enjoy learning about things I'm interested in. Thanks for your time.

 

[BeerBandit]

I've yet to brew, and I'm learning as much as I can, daily. I will not be building a fermentation cooler any time soon, so my best bet would be the "swamp cooler method", I'm guessing. I'm wondering how well you guys think it would work in a house without central air. As I live in the desert, it also gets kind of "cold" at nights, as well. I'm really worried that I'm just going to end up with too much flocculation and a stalled ferment. The only yeast I've came across so far that I think would be up to the job would be hothead ale from omega. I'm open to any ideas, suggestions, lashings, or advice that anyone has to share with me. Also, I'd like to know where I should be looking to find out what kind of beers that specific yeast would work well with. I've never had a homebrewed beer, and I don't really try too many different kinds, as well. So, it's going to be a longgg learning curve for me, I'm sure luckily for me, I actually quite enjoy learning about things I'm interested in. Thanks for your time.

 

[schematix]

I don't think you'll find a single person around here who wouldn't say temperature control is #1.

Find a used fridge, or buy a small fridge dedicated for the purpose.

If you don't you're going to be the guy here that's asking one of the following:
-My beer tastes like jet fuel? Will it age out. Hint: No.
-My beer taste off. Will it age out: Hint: No.
-My beer tastes really fruity. Will it age out: Hint: No.

I hate to discourage people from the hobby but honestly if you don't have the ability to at least keep the fermenter in the mid to high 60s (low 70s would be a stretch) you're going to make some bad stuff.

Belgians are move forgiving, but they still taste funky.

 

[ong]

How do you feel about saisons? That might be your best bet, sans cooling.

 

[rlmiller10]

Are you around to babysit if for the first 5 days or so? If so a tub of water and some ice. The more water the better as it prevents those temp swings you are worried about. Put the fermenter in the water and add ice as necessary to keep the temp in the band you want.

you could also build a sort of redneck swamp cooler. A small aquarium size water pump and pump water over a rack with a cloth on it and a fan blowing over it. The water that is not evaporated drips back into the tub and is much cooler. Not sure it would be enough delta to get to good fermentation temp but it could lengthen the interval for ice additions

 

[Singletrack]

I suggest you put your fermentation vessel in a tub of water to hold the temperature, adding frozen bottles of water to keep it cool. Then you can use most ale yeasts.


Party tubs work well, but there are many alternatives.

 

[beermanpete]

+1 to the water bath. A saison is a good choice for hot weather. The saison yeast works well in the 70s and low 80s.

 

[ChelisHubby]

Do you have a Walmart and a Home Depot and 40 dlls. Buy a Ice Cube by Igloo 60 qt. then put your carboy in the cooler add 6 gallons of water then go to Home Depot and buy the pink insulation board it is a foam board you will need 2 of these now cut the foam boards to fit on top of the cooler with the carboy in the cooler.then cut the cooler lid to fit the top of the carboy as it should protrude out of the lid slightly . Now your water bath will use about 25% of the ice that the open bucket will. Keeping the water65 to 68 is simple even in a 85 degree house. I. use my brewing thermometer to monitor the water temps. The beer in the carboy might at the peak of fermentation be 1 degree warmer than the water temp. basically I change a frozen water bottle every 12 hrs the first 4n days and then one time a day after that and by the 7th day I will let it rise to what ever temp it wishes. please don't ask for photos as I am computer impaired meaning to damned old.

 

[eRicphtgr]

I've yet to brew, and I'm learning as much as I can, daily. I will not be building a fermentation cooler any time soon, so my best bet would be the "swamp cooler method", I'm guessing. I'm wondering how well you guys think it would work in a house without central air. As I live in the desert, it also gets kind of "cold" at nights, as well. I'm really worried that I'm just going to end up with too much flocculation and a stalled ferment. The only yeast I've came across so far that I think would be up to the job would be hothead ale from omega. I'm open to any ideas, suggestions, lashings, or advice that anyone has to share with me. Also, I'd like to know where I should be looking to find out what kind of beers that specific yeast would work well with. I've never had a homebrewed beer, and I don't really try too many different kinds, as well. So, it's going to be a longgg learning curve for me, I'm sure luckily for me, I actually quite enjoy learning about things I'm interested in. Thanks for your time.

well I suggest you better get yourself a refrigerator and buy a thermal controller.

I bought this controller from Alibaba. There is a probe you put inside your fridge. You can set the ON and OFF temperature. It will turn ON and OFF the fridge accordingly.

Fermentation temperature is one of the most important key to a "drinkable" beer. If you are seriously go into homebrewing, let's invest a bit on those fundamental elements.

 

[BeerBandit]

Thanks for the responses, everyone. For some reason, I thought that the water bath was called the swamp cooler method. Anyways, that's what I plan on doing until I build a chiller. It's pretty much the first thing I'm going to work on building. Going to make a stir plate as well, but I could do that with my eyes and arms tied behind my back

 

[treacheroustexan]

The best investment you can make! http://www.cool-brewing.com/store/#!/Fermentation-Cooler/p/36423376/category=0

 

[BeerBandit]

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I was planning on the bucket bath route for now. For some reason, I thought that was what people were referring to as the swamp cooler method. I am already well aware that temp control is a huge factor in beer, and that's why I'm concerned. I also plan on building a fementation cool as soon as possible. I accidentally double posted this, so I'm going to delete this thread after giving you guys some time to read this response. Thanks again


(Someone merged my double post. Thank you)

 

[beermanpete]

The swamp cooler method is an extension of the water bath. A cloth (tee shirts seem popular) is wrapped over/around the fermentor with the lower end in the water so it can wick up the water. A fan is used to blow air across the wet cloth. Evaporation of the water cools the fermentor somewhat.

 

[Singletrack]

Hmmm, curious. I was the first to respond to this thread, as displayed at the time I posted. But now I'm 4th to respond. The original post is both post 1 and 2, for some reason. And, BeerBandit lives in the desert but doesn't know about swamp coolers. (I realize they aren't common anymore.)


And now I see that there was a double post and I probably was first on the second one. So there's 10 min of my life I'll never get back. In return for that bit of my life, what desert do you live in? Your city would also be acceptable. Just wondering if swamp coolers are still a thing at all for cooling people, never mind beer.


Oops, ALWAYS mind beer, but you know what I mean.

 

[bassmang4]

Move. 130 deg w no AC. Sounds terrible.

 

[BeerBandit]

I know what a swamper is, lol. Just must've been tired on the night that I thought I recalled a few people referring to the bucket bath as the swamp cooler method. My bad. I live in the I.E. on the southeast side. A lot of people out here use them. I do, as well, but, I haven't used it this summer. Didn't feel like climbing up and servicing it and changing out the huge ass filter caked with hard water deposits. I have some window ac units. They only work so well on good days (130-135f), but, I manage to live, haha. As for the ten minutes of your life, I apologize


As for moving due to the heat, you kind of get used to it. The "winters" are nice, tho. I can get by only wearing shorts. I'm going to actually wear clothing this winter so I don't get too used to being comfortable. You can only take off so much clothing come summer time. Lol

 

[bassmang4]

There's no such thing as bad weather...just a poor choice in clothing. But as you say, you can only take so much off. So that probably only works for cold. It is a Swedish saying after all. Hot is 80F there.

 

[BeerBandit]

A lot of people consider 80f to be on the cool side where I live, haha

 

[isomerization]

You could consider using Kviek yeast as well: http://www.omegayeast.com/portfolio/14158-2/

Rated to 98F!

 

[madscientist451]

Do you have a basement? Maybe its cooler down there? Is the ambient temperature in the house 130?
Do you have any rooms in the house with a window A/C? If your ambient temp is 130, the swamp cooler isn't going to help your beer. You still won't be able to get the temperature to an acceptable level.
Go on craigslist and get a cheap used chest freezer and a temp control unit.
You can then brew with confidence, even make some lagers in the summer.

 

[BeerBandit]

My ambient temp is probably only about 90 in the warmer parts of my house. I'm going to throw a window unit in a spare room in the back of the house which will help a lot, I'm sure. No basement. It will be cooling off a good deal within two months. I'm probably going to try to hold out on my first brew until then. I was looking at some cheap inkbird and stc 1000 temp controllers maybe an hour ago. And I will be looking into building some sort of fermentation cooler as well. I've yet to come across anything that can hold like four to six fermenters. I definitely don't plan on going through that much beer. But, I figure the more beer I brew, the more experience I can get. I've got plenty of friends and family who would gladly take the beers off my hands. And some would even buy the ingredients for me to make them different beers as well. I'm also pretty worried about flocculation and stuck fermenters, since the temp actually drops quite a bit at night. It might not be too bad without the ac on, but, I definitely notice it in my room where my ac is always on at 4-5am when I'm waking up. I suppose I can add this to my never ending list of things I need to learn.

I must've overlooked that yeast, isomerization. I'll go check it out now, lol

 

[BeerBandit]

Ohh. It's the hothead ale yeast. I thought I had mentioned it in the first post?

 

[isomerization]

Ohh. It's the hothead ale yeast. I thought I had mentioned it in the first post?

Guess I missed it in that wall of text

But seriously, if you're in an actually desert, you'll probably need to invest in a temp controlled freezer of some kind. I might of missed this too, but how are you going to chill the wort?

 

[BeerBandit]

I tend to write great walls of text. I'll have to work on that. I plan on immersion chilling with recirculating ice water, and then recycling the water, of course

 

[FatDragon]

I.E.? Inland Empire? How do you live in that heat (I'm assuming it's 130 in the sun, since even the hottest places rarely reach 130 in the shade) without an AC, and not even running your swamp cooler? I've lived in a place that does occasionally reach 130 in the shade, and you just can't live in a place like that without cooling your house...

Now that I'm done questioning your life decisions...

I've used Omega Hothead in a room that was upper 90's ambient, so probably 105-110 wort temperature (since a hotter fermentation is typically faster and more exothermic than a slower one), and still gotten good results. I have put Belle Saison through the same rigors and it works out alright as well, though it's better around 90.

 

[Singletrack]

Ah, so that would be the Mojave desert. (For those wondering if the OP had a basement, the "j" in Mojave is pronounced like an "h.")

Thus concludes your geography tidbit of the day. Happy brewing OP, and stay cool.

 

[BeerBandit]

I'll have to check the temperature in the shade tomorrow. As its almost 9pm, and only 105f right now

I am indeed in the Inland Empire in the Mohave desert. (Yes, I spell it with a "h) I love how you both are pinpointing my exact whereabouts. I can give my zip code, or even my address, if need be

Dragon, why exactly did you ferment under those conditions? Just trying different things out?

 

[FatDragon]

I'll have to check the temperature in the shade tomorrow. As its almost 9pm, and only 105f right now

I am indeed in the Inland Empire in the Mohave desert. (Yes, I spell it with a "h) I love how you both are pinpointing my exact whereabouts. I can give my zip code, or even my address, if need be

Dragon, why exactly did you ferment under those conditions? Just trying different things out?

Haha, I wouldn't say pinpointing your exact whereabouts, just trying to clarify your IE comment. I've lived in Apple Valley and Lake Havasu City so I know what it's like, though we always had AC. I can't imagine living there without it - I don't mind being out on a hot summer day there but there's gotta be an air-conditioned refuge to fall back to.

As for why I have taken those yeasts so hot, a mix of necessity and curiosity. The room where I ferment doesn't have AC and my wine fridge fermentation chamber is no match for Wuhan in the summer, so after using Belle Saison in the lower eighties a couple times - because that was the best the wine fridge could do - and receiving a slant of Hothead from a friend, I thought why not let these heat-tolerant strains run loose in some real heat?

 

[eRicphtgr]

Haha, I wouldn't say pinpointing your exact whereabouts, just trying to clarify your IE comment. I've lived in Apple Valley and Lake Havasu City so I know what it's like, though we always had AC. I can't imagine living there without it - I don't mind being out on a hot summer day there but there's gotta be an air-conditioned refuge to fall back to.

As for why I have taken those yeasts so hot, a mix of necessity and curiosity. The room where I ferment doesn't have AC and my wine fridge fermentation chamber is no match for Wuhan in the summer, so after using Belle Saison in the lower eighties a couple times - because that was the best the wine fridge could do - and receiving a slant of Hothead from a friend, I thought why not let these heat-tolerant strains run loose in some real heat?

I've ever tried one batch 10L of belle saison out of temperature control (because of my mistake) and it has been 35C on the first 3 days. It has already stop bubbling when I found out.

End up the flavor doesn't really out run too much. But you can still taste the sour. :smack:

 

[eRicphtgr]

Haha, I wouldn't say pinpointing your exact whereabouts, just trying to clarify your IE comment. I've lived in Apple Valley and Lake Havasu City so I know what it's like, though we always had AC. I can't imagine living there without it - I don't mind being out on a hot summer day there but there's gotta be an air-conditioned refuge to fall back to.

As for why I have taken those yeasts so hot, a mix of necessity and curiosity. The room where I ferment doesn't have AC and my wine fridge fermentation chamber is no match for Wuhan in the summer, so after using Belle Saison in the lower eighties a couple times - because that was the best the wine fridge could do - and receiving a slant of Hothead from a friend, I thought why not let these heat-tolerant strains run loose in some real heat?

out of curiosity, how do you brew your Durian Hefeweizen???

 

[BeerBandit]

I know victorville, apple valley and Hesperia very well. Along with havasu. I live in needles. Lived out in victorville for a few months when I was younger. And I was dating a woman in havasu, so we were always back and forth between our two houses. Anyways, I DO have ac. It's only window units, but, it's definitely better than nothing. My neighbor across the street doesn't have anything. He just hangs out outside most of the day. That's crazy.

How did the hothead beer come out? I am trying my best to wait for the weather to cool off, and for some better sales (hopefully) before I start buying everything to get started. But, I am really wanting to just buy some hothead, agar, and vials and plates so I can start getting a feel for yeast cultivation, propigation and slanting and all that nerdy stuff before I'm even ready to brew. Definitely want to save money on yeast once I start

 

[FatDragon]

out of curiosity, how do you brew your Durian Hefeweizen???

Very poorly. I refuse to share it with others because I don't want to make them drink a crappy beer. Every time I crack one open for myself I feel like I'm doing penance for screwing up the beer that badly.

I know victorville, apple valley and Hesperia very well. Along with havasu. I live in needles. Lived out in victorville for a few months when I was younger. And I was dating a woman in havasu, so we were always back and forth between our two houses. Anyways, I DO have ac. It's only window units, but, it's definitely better than nothing. My neighbor across the street doesn't have anything. He just hangs out outside most of the day. That's crazy.

How did the hothead beer come out? I am trying my best to wait for the weather to cool off, and for some better sales (hopefully) before I start buying everything to get started. But, I am really wanting to just buy some hothead, agar, and vials and plates so I can start getting a feel for yeast cultivation, propigation and slanting and all that nerdy stuff before I'm even ready to brew. Definitely want to save money on yeast once I start

I go to Havasu every summer (except for this year) to visit my dad and brothers who still live there. I can't say I know the Victor Valley area very well anymore, though, since I haven't been there, save for a highway drivethrough, in maybe 15 years. I've been through Needles innumerable times, but never stopped but to get gas (rarely since it's so much cheaper on the AZ side of the border) or fast food.

The Hothead beer turned out pretty good. The only full sized batch I've used it on was a caramel amber ale that ended up tasting like a sessionable quad, thanks to the fruity contributions of the yeast and the dark stone fruit flavors of a darker-than-intended homemade candi sugar. Since then I tossed the saved yeast into a few extra liters of pale ale wort to keep it alive, but thanks to laziness I never tasted the resulting beer.

 

[rlonardo]

The best investment you can make! http://www.cool-brewing.com/store/#!/Fermentation-Cooler/p/36423376/category=0

This thing works really well. I lived in an apartment with no central air and kept my brews in a bedroom that easily exceeded 80-85F in July/August. With my 6.5 gallon carboy I would keep 2 1 gallon jugs and a 2 liter pop bottle on a frozen rotation. Swapping out every 24 hours or so I was able to keep fermentation temperatures 62-65F. When I wanted the temperatures a little warmer I would use my Inkbird temp controller and a heating pad to control the high end.

Right now it's even a little cheaper on Amazon and eligible from free Prime shipping:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008EKD7CQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20