Which weather, which beer?

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ChefJoeR

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Just recently learning (still consider myself a newbie) that different beers need different temps for fermenting, bottling, maturing. Now here is my thing, given that everyone here is most likely way better than I am right now (that was a little condesending:p), I need to figure what works best with my environment. Our house during the winter time is around 62 F at all times, during the spring and fall it can rise to about 68-70, then during the summer it has gotten as warm as 78. Yes I like to keep my bills as low as possible so I don't on the heater or ac as often as most. Now my basement ranges about 10 - 15 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. When it comes to brewing, do most of you work with the season and the temperature of your house, or do you have equipment that keeps things at a constant temp? I don't have the space for things like that, but in time, I am hoping to. So what are some examples of what I can be brewing per the season? Thanks.
 
I'm in the same boat as I have a 2 story house and my temps are quite different in different rooms depending on season, etc. I move my fermenters around depending on the temps and I also have a small space heater that I turn on to heat up a closet I use for fermentations. I think the important thing is to check the data on the type of yeast you're using (go to the White Labs/Wyeast, etc.) websites. Some yeast are more resilient than others, and most will give you different flavor profiles depending on the fermentation temps. I'm planning on doing a fermentation chamber or something, but that won't be until next year...
 
Different yeasts work at different temps. You should be sticking to ales right now, since you'll have to get temps into the mid 30's to lager. Your concern should be which yeast to use in which season (some yeasts can be used to brew multiple styles of beers)

Here is a link to the Whitelabs website. http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/homebrew_strains.html It has their yeasts, their temp ranges, the styles of beer they should be used for, and other characteristics about the yeasts. Hope it helps.
 
I live in a hot part of CA. During the cool months, I ferment my ales in my living room which stays 65-70. During the warm-hot months I ferment my ales in a dedicated small fridge that I keep in my garage, which has a Ranco controller that keeps my fermenting temp about 62-65F.
 
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