Summer sucks for fermentation

[Bobby_M]

You know what is sad? I've been here 7 years and have not been to Blue Star yet. I hear great things about it and am meaning to go, but it seems like something always comes up. So, what brings you to SA? Enjoying the heat?

I'm here on business. I wasn't all that impressed with blue star's brews but then half the sampler was made up of beers I don't drink. They had a
1. golden lager (BMC like but better),
2. Belgian Wit,
3. same Wit with peach extract added
4. Pale (typical cascade bomb, not bad)
5. Dry Stout, not so good, very astringent.
6. American Barley Wine
7. Same BW aged in a bourbon barrel (I don't like BW or Bourbon).
8. Baltic Porter, not bad but not my speed either.

So, no IPA and no amber offerings. I found that a little weird.

 

[EdWort]

I'm down at the Hilton on riverwalk all this week. Blue Star was pretty good.

Blue star is pretty cool. I just finished taking the BJCP exam there last weekend. Neat place, good beer! You missed the Alamo Cerveza fest by a couple of days.

 

[JnJ]

I'm here on business. I wasn't all that impressed with blue star's brews but then half the sampler was made up of beers I don't drink. They had a
1. golden lager (BMC like but better),
2. Belgian Wit,
3. same Wit with peach extract added
4. Pale (typical cascade bomb, not bad)
5. Dry Stout, not so good, very astringent.
6. American Barley Wine
7. Same BW aged in a bourbon barrel (I don't like BW or Bourbon).
8. Baltic Porter, not bad but not my speed either.

So, no IPA and no amber offerings. I found that a little weird.

Guess I'll have to check it out myself. You sound like you have the same taste preference as me. Have you been to Dick's yet?

 

[mward]

Actually I wanted to see his design, there is a little more to it than "just build a box". Just like the walk-in frig, telling us about it is one thing, but pictures help other's ideas.

Sorry, I will take some pictures. My implementation is very very slapdash. I built it out of left over drywall, duct taped together, with some of that faux wood heavy posterboard type backing you have on those cheap pressboard furniture pieces. It bleeds out cold like a sieve but it's working for me. I keep planning on rebuilding it with 1" foam but I'm lazy and this is working.

 

[Cookiebaggs]

My basement has been at 68 degrees all summer too! :rockin:

 

[EdWort]

My basement has been at 68 degrees all summer too! :rockin:

Ahh, those were the days. I miss my new unfinished basement, with the doors on saw horses and the 8 carboys of beer & Apfelwein just bubbling away.....

No such thing where I live now. I have to settle for a 100 degree garage with chest freezers.

 

[mward]

Here are pics of my haphazard implementation of the airconditioner box. It was 102 deg today outside and my beer was sitting at 66 deg inside the box. I actually had to turn the air down (warmer).

 

[frothdaddy]

Nice setup. That's a great idea, even if you just threw it together and it bleeds out cold air.

 

[SuperSpy]

The heat is seriously a killer. Brewing in Guam you never get a break from it. Sure the white sand beaches and endless barbecues benefit from the 365 days of summer but fermenting at 84 degrees does not usually make a great beer.

I have played around with temperature control but nothing works as well as a fermenterator or turning the AC all the way down, but with electricity being six times what I was used to paying for in Texas, neither of those are realistic options.

I was told that putting a carboy in a tub full of water and then putting a t-shirt over the carboy will cause the water to soak into the shirt and will cool the carboy as it evaporates. Has anyone ever tried this method and know what kind of temperature decrease can be expected?

Nate

 

[mward]

I don't think the tshirt is gonna get you down 16 degrees. Try building a box like I did. I doubt the AC unit in there runs more than an hour a day total. If you built it with that pink 1" thick foam and actually made it airtight it would run even less.

 

[JnJ]

Here are pics of my haphazard implementation of the airconditioner box. It was 102 deg today outside and my beer was sitting at 66 deg inside the box. I actually had to turn the air down (warmer).

Thanks for the pix.

 

[frothdaddy]

Has anyone ever tried this method and know what kind of temperature decrease can be expected?

Nate

I live in Miami Beach, so I have the same problem as you, Nate. My A/C is set for 80F when I'm not home, and about 75F when I am home. I put my carboy in a tub of water and drape a towel over it in a windowless bathroom. I then add a frozen 1 litre bottle of water every morning before I leave for work. This has kept the carboy at a fairly constant 68F-70F, even when the rest of my apartment is at 80F or above. It's as easy as switching out the frozen bottle every morning.

My A/C just crapped out the other day, too, and even when it was wasn't working, and my apartment got to about 90 during the afternoon, my brew stayed cool enough.

Good luck!

 

[Buford]

Arg... a big storm came through last night and knocked the power out for probably around 6 or 7 hours (wasn't home for part of it). It got downright hot inside with no AC and the fermenter went up to 71 again, so I had to dump some ice on it. The force is not with me on this batch.

 

[Evan!]

The heat is seriously a killer. Brewing in Guam you never get a break from it. Sure the white sand beaches and endless barbecues benefit from the 365 days of summer but fermenting at 84 degrees does not usually make a great beer.

I have played around with temperature control but nothing works as well as a fermenterator or turning the AC all the way down, but with electricity being six times what I was used to paying for in Texas, neither of those are realistic options.

I was told that putting a carboy in a tub full of water and then putting a t-shirt over the carboy will cause the water to soak into the shirt and will cool the carboy as it evaporates. Has anyone ever tried this method and know what kind of temperature decrease can be expected?

Nate

That's not really effective in such extremes. Outside of a temp-regulated chest freezer or refrigerator or fermentation chamber, the most effective means of cooling is to fill some water or soda bottles with tap water, and put them in the freezer. Put your carboy or bucket into a tub or sink, and said sink/tub with cold water to about halfway up the carboy/bucket. Then add one or two of the frozen water bottles to the water bath. Always keep enough frozen bottles in the freezer that you are able to rotate them out as needed, once the existing ones melt. I can easily keep my carboy in the low 60's during the dog days of summer using this method.