Too hot to brew?

[dpatrickv]

I think 75% of my brew days this summer have been when its over 90 degrees. Brutal decision making this year. Just drink enough fluids and stay on top of it.

 

[241]

Love the variety of responses in this thread. For reference, I brew on a single tier gas herms.

Hottest brew day this year it was 105 in the garage. At least it was shaded. Takes less time to heat water!!!

Don't be a panzy. 90's ain't bad. If you are making excuses then you aren't into brewing enough. If someone wants to brew, they will brew!

Haha I guess I am a panzy when it comes to being hot. I sweat a lot and am of the same mindset as madscientist451:

I brew for fun and its just not fun for me brewing when its hot out. My version of fun is floating down the local river and drinking my homebrew.

When I'm hot and am burning up - whether in my garage or on the patio - I'm not having a good time, and I brew to enjoy not only the end product, but also the process. At least to me I can taste the difference in the end result - a beer that I enjoyed brewing vs one I was just trying to get done.

But I did make a trip over to the hardware store to get some fittings for my kegwasher pump, so I can use it to recirc chilling water based on recommendations from this thread:

 

[tnorman93638]

I have a shade (think Pop up canopy) just outside of my shop (garage) that I brew under. I sit in the shade inside the shop most of the time but when I'm outside I'm still in the shade. Inside the garage I have a fan blowing and if it gets real hot I have a window A/C that I picked up at a yard sale. Water temps are over 85+ during the summer. So. I do what others have suggested. Use hose till water gets close to 100 then ice water with a pond pump from harbor Freight. 20-30 min at the most till chilled to 70 or less. Set up a TV and drink lots of water and beer and enjoy.

 

[beernutz]

Most of what I do here in Mobile where it is both hot and humid has already been mentioned.
-I stay in the shade if possible which I'm lucky to have plenty of in my backyard
-I use a large stand-up oscillating fan aimed at where I'm sitting or standing
-I stay hydrated by alternating between glasses of homebrew and ice water or gatorade
-I use a pond pump which doubles as a keg washer to push ice water through my CFC
-I keep a towel handy because like a few others who've posted I'm a big time sweater
-I start my brew day early so as to finish before the heat of the day sets in. My last saison batch I started at 6:30am and was done by 11. Of course then I spent the next 2+ hours doing neglected yard work but the brewing part of the day was at least tolerable.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah, me too. I need a towel to wipe the sweat off with when cooking or brewing. Then maybe change cloths after brew day is done when it's hot out.

 

[fimpster]

I did a few brews this summer in 100F/38C+ . A few beers, lots of water, no problem.

 

[val214]

I feel your pain. I am in Long Beach and this weather is crazy. I usually start at around 6:15 am and get done at around 11:00am right before it gets super hot. I use a 5 gal cooler with 20lbs of ice and March pump to cool down my wort. I can get it to pitching temp in about 20min. Never brewed in 104* weather. Might give that a shot tomorrow.

 

[MVKTR2]

My last brew day my tap water was 77, I'd thank God for 60F tap water! Suck it up buttercup.

Seriously it gets dangerously hot in most of the U.S. but the humidity from Texas to Virginia as well as the sustained duration of truly high temps makes quite a difference in certain areas. I'm in south MS where you soak through your clothes walking to the mail box in the evening during the hottest summer months and used to laugh at the people in Louisville KY when I lived there. Yes, it got just as hot and almost as humid but for short spurts. Meanwhile people that live in central FL laugh at people in MS when we say it's hot and humid because when we're having 3-4 week hot streaks without a break they're in the midst of 2+ month streaks. It's relative to what one is used to I suppose.

As to dealing ... a pre-chiller in an ice bath is a blessing for wort chilling, being used to the environment, taking breaks/applying cool wet cloths, and applying common sense like brewing in shade or buying some cover all go a long way.

Cheers & happy hot brewing! Btw I LOLed at the cover story on HBT last week talking about fall being in the air! Good one!

 

[cannman]

Brew day starts about 4pm winter or summer for me. It's a work schedule thing.

 

[CA_Mouse]

In this heat lately, I've gone to brewing late in the day/early evening. Still light outside but dark and a lot cooler by the time I'm chilling and putting into the fermenter.

Consequently, in the Winter I start at 5am when it is in the low 20s... Never under estimate how warm a mash tun is when you hug it!

 

[LabRatBrewer]

No Chill works for me during our endless summers.

 

[GaBrewZoo]

I brew next to the pool under an umbrella, and jump in the pool when I get too hot.

 

[unionrdr]

Around here, brewing in the morning is a lot cooler than evening. Evenings are when the heat is really cranked up. And my ghosts & fatalii's are coming today or tomorrow, Gonna heat this shiz up for real! And some scorpions on the way too. Gotta save some of the seeds to start plants with.

 

[ChelisHubby]

Brew day starts about 4pm winter or summer for me. It's a work schedule thing.

Dang 4pm in the summer where you are could require a couple extra home-brews you have my respect it is a little cooler where I live. I do my best to brew in the morning.

 

[frozennorth]

I bet the malls are better there.

Malls? We don't have no stinkn' malls.

 

[nyer]

I just mashed in and it's already 92 and very humid in my garage. Before I'm done it should be about 100 with the burners going and I'm running a commercial icemaker to get ice for chilling. I can't even cool off in the pool, it's 91.

 

[Vesteroid]

This thread would be a bit funny to the tens of thousands of people who work outside every day. We can't spend 5 hours standing but they can spend 10 hour working.

Pretty sad actually.

 

[JonM]

Ah, Wisconsin. Three brewing weekends in a row - last two weekends I brewed and sweated my ass off. This weekend, I needed a sweatshirt and a Packers stocking hat.

 

[beernutz]

This thread would be a bit funny to the tens of thousands of people who work outside every day. We can't spend 5 hours standing but they can spend 10 hour working.

Pretty sad actually.

How do you know the people posting here don't work outside?

 

[unionrdr]

63F right now, supposed to be no more than 66F. Took out stuff to warm up to room temp to get the ordinary bitter going.

 

[brewshki]

I live in Southern California and my last three brew days have all been 95 plus. First lesson I learned was, don't do it hungover. The dehydration hits you way quicker. Second lesson keep eating because you almost can't drink fast enough and not eating makes the problem much worse. Third lesson was to not try and beat the heat by brewing in the morning. You won't be able to do it quick enough and then you are trying to chill right in the early afternoon where the sun is perfectly shining on your kettle. I brewed last night and started chilling at about 8 pm. Couldn't get it cooler than about 90*F so I had to transfer and then stick it in my chest freezer with a session IPA that needs to be bottled soon.

 

[ntculenuf]

This is how I brew when its hot. And of course a cooler full of ice water for my chiller.

 

[unionrdr]

I hear that! The last time we went down to SoCal to visit our daughter in November of that year, it was in the 50's at night. But by 8:30AM, it was already 89F! You guys get some serious heat down there. Not like the Texas panhandle though. In the summer when we were going through, it was like 140F+ in the sun, 130-something in the shade.

 

[NewJersey]

I don't mind the heat or cold for brewing.
The heat makes it tougher to chill though for sure.
I have city water from a reservoir stored in a water tower in my town. (There's several actually) when I brewed on Thursday the water temp was nearly 80°
I just got a plate chiller and feed it with water that goes through an IC in an ice bath.
For 10 gallon batches this is merely adequate
Cmon fall!!!

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah, the tap water is hovering around 80F here as well. I filled the sink around the BK with ice, then went to top it off with "cold" tap water. It started melting the bloody ice! I had to add more once I got the water up to level. Still waiting for it to get down to 75F or so.

 

[worlddivides]

I can totally identify with the OP (I live in the same area).

I brewed a few days ago when it got up to 100 degrees. I sweat A LOT, so I have to be careful not to sweat into my brew kettle (not that it would change the beer or anything. I just don't like the idea of sweating like crazy into my wort).

I used my immersion chiller to get it down to about 86 or so. When the ambient temperature is 100, the ground water is going to be pretty warm. Then I used ice I bought from the convenience store to chill it down to 72. Pitched my yeast, then lowered the temperature down to 67, and have kept it there since.

I'm not a fan of brewing in the heat, but you can't control the weather, so why not?

 

[slym2none]

2-1/2 gallon extract batches and a 19.5K BTU main gas burner on the stove mean I can do my boil in the kitchen, no matter what temp it is outside.

 

[iijakii]

This thread would be a bit funny to the tens of thousands of people who work outside every day. We can't spend 5 hours standing but they can spend 10 hour working.

Pretty sad actually.

Standing? You need a brew chair!

 

[unionrdr]

Finally pitched the yeast, the rehydrate about1 degree higher. Big PM brew day tomorrow. New stove coming Wednesday has a 5th turbo burner we're both looking forward to.

 

[OleGoatBrewing]

Heat shouldn't do anything to the beer until you get to the cooling stage. I pre-chill my cooling water - http://www.olegoatbrewing.com/blog/pre-chilling-water/

Here is a write up I did.