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Date: 20 Jun 2006 19:37:46
From: Lefty Skywalker
Subject: Too Warm
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Hello everyone. It's nice to find an active Usenet group for this
stuff. I have a brewing kit in the mail and I'm looking forward to
using it.
Most of the things I've read so far say to ferment ales at 65-75F. But
I live in the Mojave and right now, with the swamp cooler going, even
the darkest corner of my house is at least 76F. During the peak heat of
the day it might head up to 80. Is the fermentation going to run away
on me?
I do have a solution, an air conditioner, but it's damned expensive to
run compared to the swamp cooler...
--
Daniel O. Miller
"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the
fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true
science. Whosoever does not know it and can no longer marvel, is as good
as dead, and his eyes are dimmed." - Albert Einstein
WWYD? (-o-) <* > Genesis 49:17
Real email address: darth dot lefty at golf mike able india lima.
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Date: 21 Jun 2006 16:42:11
From: ostaz
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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"Lefty Skywalker" <dmille15@hotmail.com > wrote in message
news:4498b0e5$0$16431$892e7fe2@authen.yellow.readfreenews.net...
> Hello everyone. It's nice to find an active Usenet group for this stuff.
> I have a brewing kit in the mail and I'm looking forward to using it.
>
> Most of the things I've read so far say to ferment ales at 65-75F. But I
> live in the Mojave and right now, with the swamp cooler going, even the
> darkest corner of my house is at least 76F. During the peak heat of the
> day it might head up to 80. Is the fermentation going to run away on me?
>
> I do have a solution, an air conditioner, but it's damned expensive to run
> compared to the swamp cooler...
>
> --
> Daniel O. Miller
>
> "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the
> fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true
> science. Whosoever does not know it and can no longer marvel, is as good
> as dead, and his eyes are dimmed." - Albert Einstein
>
> WWYD? (-o-) <*> Genesis 49:17
>
> Real email address: darth dot lefty at golf mike able india lima.
I have a friend in Arizona that uses wet towels wrapped around the carboy
and has success with that. He says it drops the temp 10 degrees. I live in
Southern California and I will try this as well for summer brewing....I
don't have air conditioning and the house can get into the 80's when it's
really warm.
Pete
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Date: 21 Jun 2006 08:53:52
From:
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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I also live in the Houston area, and have had little luck using a tub
of water (and a little ice in it) to set my carboy in, and draping with
a tshirt and blowing on it with a fan. The dry air there, as
mentioned, should help you considerably.
There are a few other options.
One, is building the Son of Fermentation Chiller, as outlined here:
http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/chiller/chiller.PDF
Or two, go cheap and easier and ferment in a large cooler, just putting
bottles of ice in the cooler with the carboy.
I have been brewing half batches, so it is easier to get a big enough
cooler, but have heard mentioned on basic brewing radio
http://www.basicbrewing.com/radio/
(great podcast by the way) that people have taken large coolers, stood
them upright, and put ice in them to keep a 5gallon carboy cool.
Here are some pics of mine that I put up a week or so ago. I now use a
digital thermometer with a probe on a wire, purchased for $7 to monitor
temps.
http://jlkeeney.googlepages.com/jerryshomebrew
Good Luck.
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Date: 21 Jun 2006 08:16:59
From: Kidder
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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You could just brew tripels and hefeweizens, exclusively. Aren't they
usually fermented in the upper 70's? Those brews are quite tasty.....
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Date: 21 Jun 2006 14:05:38
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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On Tue, 20 Jun 2006 19:37:46 -0700, <dmille15@hotmail.com > wrote:
> Hello everyone. It's nice to find an active Usenet group for this
> stuff. I have a brewing kit in the mail and I'm looking forward to
> using it.
>
> Most of the things I've read so far say to ferment ales at 65-75F. But
> I live in the Mojave and right now, with the swamp cooler going, even
> the darkest corner of my house is at least 76F. During the peak heat of
> the day it might head up to 80. Is the fermentation going to run away
> on me?
If it's your only choice then I guess you'll have to live with it, but IMO
that's way too warm for fermenting beer. Keep in mind that fermentation
creates heat, so the temp of the beer will usually be higher than the
room temp. Also, as the temps get higher the fermentation will be more
active, which means that it will create even more internal heat. Don't
be surprised with a room temp in the 80s that your actual beer temp is
in the 90s.
You'll have to decide for yourself if that is too warm. Taste is subjective,
what may be horrible to one person may be great to another. Things to
look out for at higher fermentation temps are by products from the yeast
such as esters and fusel alcohols. Esters will give the beer a really
fruity off flavor, where fusels give it a "rocket fuel" type taste and also
contribute to hangovers.
Personally, I like to do ale fermentations in the low to mid 60s.
> I do have a solution, an air conditioner, but it's damned expensive to
> run compared to the swamp cooler...
One trick is to put the fermenter in a pan/tub of water and fit a t-shirt
over the fermenter so that it drapes down into the water. Water will "wick"
up the shirt, making it wet, and then evaporate. As it evaporates it will
cool the fermenter below room temp. How well this works depends on how
humid it is where you live. The drier the air the better your results. I
would assume that humidity is pretty low in the Mojave, so you may be able
to get 5 - 10 degrees lower than room temp using this trick.
Another option is to get a seperate fridge or freezer that will hold your
fermenter. In many places, old fridges/freezers can be found for really
cheap (check out moving sales or local newspaper ads). It will still cost
you in electricity to run the spare fridge/freezer, but it should be
cheaper than running the AC to cool your entire house.
If you're interested in the fridge/freezer idea, post back here. Others
may be able to give you more advice on where to find one and how best to
set it up.
John.
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Date: 21 Jun 2006 10:00:08
From: Mark R
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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"John 'Shaggy' Kolesar" <spam@shagg.net > wrote in message
>
> One trick is to put the fermenter in a pan/tub of water and fit a t-shirt
> over the fermenter so that it drapes down into the water. Water will
"wick"
> up the shirt, making it wet, and then evaporate. As it evaporates it will
> cool the fermenter below room temp. How well this works depends on how
> humid it is where you live. The drier the air the better your results. I
> would assume that humidity is pretty low in the Mojave, so you may be able
> to get 5 - 10 degrees lower than room temp using this trick.
To expand on John's explanation with my own personal results...
I have a large 18 gal tub and put the fermenter in the tub, filled with
about ten inches of water. I figured more water equaled higher thermal mass
and better temperature control. I drape a t-shirt around the fermenter and
have a little 5 inch personal fan blowing on it constantly. The house
thermostat is set at 75 and the water in the tub stayed at a rock solid 64.7
degrees during the primary. At first I couldn't figure out how I was getting
10 plus degrees of cooling in humid SE Texas as most who use this method in
this area get no better than 8 degrees of cooling and often less. I was
fermenting in a small bathroom and the evaporative cooling also cooled the
bathroom down to almost 72 degrees.
This could work for you and get your fermentation temps down to around 70 or
maybe even lower which would be good for your brew. Keep in mind that my
results were in Houston where our driest days are probably twice as humid as
the wet ones are for you. Of course it would also depend on how much
humidity your swamp cooler puts into the air in your apartment. Good luck.
Mark R
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Date: 21 Jun 2006 18:04:09
From: Lefty Skywalker
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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Mark R wrote:
> "John 'Shaggy' Kolesar" <spam@shagg.net> wrote in message
>
>>One trick is to put the fermenter in a pan/tub of water and fit a t-shirt
>>over the fermenter so that it drapes down into the water. Water will
>
> "wick"
>
>>up the shirt, making it wet, and then evaporate. As it evaporates it will
>>cool the fermenter below room temp. How well this works depends on how
>>humid it is where you live. The drier the air the better your results. I
>>would assume that humidity is pretty low in the Mojave, so you may be able
>>to get 5 - 10 degrees lower than room temp using this trick.
>
>
> To expand on John's explanation with my own personal results...
> I have a large 18 gal tub and put the fermenter in the tub, filled with
> about ten inches of water. I figured more water equaled higher thermal mass
> and better temperature control. I drape a t-shirt around the fermenter and
> have a little 5 inch personal fan blowing on it constantly. The house
> thermostat is set at 75 and the water in the tub stayed at a rock solid 64.7
> degrees during the primary. At first I couldn't figure out how I was getting
> 10 plus degrees of cooling in humid SE Texas as most who use this method in
> this area get no better than 8 degrees of cooling and often less. I was
> fermenting in a small bathroom and the evaporative cooling also cooled the
> bathroom down to almost 72 degrees.
>
> This could work for you and get your fermentation temps down to around 70 or
> maybe even lower which would be good for your brew. Keep in mind that my
> results were in Houston where our driest days are probably twice as humid as
> the wet ones are for you. Of course it would also depend on how much
> humidity your swamp cooler puts into the air in your apartment. Good luck.
>
> Mark R
Yeah, that last bit is my worry.
I think I'll try it, though. I'm going to buy one of the party tubs at
the supermarket. That way I can add ice, too, if the T-shirt isn't
cutting it. And it will keep any spillage off the floor.
The kit I bought comes with two "better" bottles and two buckets. Not
sure which is the primary fermenter, thought I suppose it's one of the
bottles. I wasn't planning to rack it to the secondary this time out.
(Am I getting the lingo right? :-D ) Start simple and work up... But
if the secondary phase didn't need the temp control of the primary, it
might be worth doing just to get out of the extra work. Any thoughts
along those lines?
I priced little fridges; the 4+ gal type looks like it might work, with
a thermostat added a la that syrofoam chiller thing. But that's $100
I'll hold off giving the Waltons until I find out if the near-free,
half-assed method works.
--
Daniel O. Miller
"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the
fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true
science. Whosoever does not know it and can no longer marvel, is as good
as dead, and his eyes are dimmed." - Albert Einstein
WWYD? (-o-) <* > Genesis 49:17
Real email address: darth dot lefty at golf mike able india lima.
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Date: 22 Jun 2006 14:50:49
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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On Wed, 21 Jun 2006 18:04:09 -0700, <dmille15@hotmail.com > wrote:
> I think I'll try it, though. I'm going to buy one of the party tubs at
> the supermarket. That way I can add ice, too, if the T-shirt isn't
> cutting it. And it will keep any spillage off the floor.
Sounds like a good plan.
> The kit I bought comes with two "better" bottles and two buckets. Not
> sure which is the primary fermenter, thought I suppose it's one of the
> bottles. I wasn't planning to rack it to the secondary this time out.
> (Am I getting the lingo right? :-D )
So far so good. ;)
> Start simple and work up... But
> if the secondary phase didn't need the temp control of the primary, it
> might be worth doing just to get out of the extra work. Any thoughts
> along those lines?
Temp control is much more critical during the primary. Depending on
exactly when you rack to the secondary (there's a lot of grey area) there
is usually very little fermentation activity occuring. The secondary
is mostly about aging and settling.
> I priced little fridges; the 4+ gal type looks like it might work, with
> a thermostat added a la that syrofoam chiller thing. But that's $100
> I'll hold off giving the Waltons until I find out if the near-free,
> half-assed method works.
The thermostat is going to be the most expensive part. There are lots
of places where you can find free (or almost free) fridges/freezers if
you don't mind getting a used one. Lots of times when people move, they
want to just get rid of their appliances and offer them for free to anybody
that is willing to come haul them away. I've gotten several this way,
including a full sized upright freezer that will hold 4 carboys.
IIRC, www.craigslist.org and www.freecycle.org are two good resources
for finding people giving away things like that. Both have subsections
based on your local area.
IMO, you could probably get away with the wet t-shirt trick for awhile
and then save up for the fridge/freezer and thermostat for later.
John.
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Date: 22 Jun 2006 16:18:12
From: bregent
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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In article <4499ec71$0$16470$892e7fe2@authen.yellow.readfreenews.net >, Lefty
Skywalker says...
>>I'll hold off giving the Waltons until I find out if the near-free,
>>half-assed method works.
Not really a half-assed method - many of us have used it for years and the truth
is that it works great. In the Mojave, I'll bet you'll have no problem either.
I've only used a fermentation fridge for lagers; for ales, evaporative cooling
works just fine.
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Date: 21 Jun 2006 18:07:08
From: David Edge
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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On 21 Jun 2006 14:05:38 GMT, John 'Shaggy' Kolesar <spam@shagg.net >
wrote:
>On Tue, 20 Jun 2006 19:37:46 -0700, <dmille15@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello everyone. It's nice to find an active Usenet group for this
>> stuff. I have a brewing kit in the mail and I'm looking forward to
>> using it.
>>
>> Most of the things I've read so far say to ferment ales at 65-75F. But
>> I live in the Mojave and right now, with the swamp cooler going, even
>> the darkest corner of my house is at least 76F. During the peak heat of
>> the day it might head up to 80. Is the fermentation going to run away
>> on me?
An ale that has frequently won gold medals at GBBF is fermented at 24C
(75F) with Charles Wells yeast (presumably what homebrewers get as
Bedford) and lots of oxygen.
David Edge, Derby
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Date: 21 Jun 2006 05:36:04
From: Adam Preble
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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Lefty Skywalker wrote:
> Most of the things I've read so far say to ferment ales at 65-75F. But
> I live in the Mojave and right now, with the swamp cooler going, even
> the darkest corner of my house is at least 76F. During the peak heat of
> the day it might head up to 80. Is the fermentation going to run away
> on me?
If it's pretty dry out there, you can try to sweat the carboys. Wrap it
in some soaked towels and blow a fan across it, moistening up the towels
occasionally. I can't say how many degrees you can chip off that way;
some people here have made some observations in the past that should be
archived.
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Date: 21 Jun 2006 04:41:38
From: Dick Adams
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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Lefty Skywalker <dmille15@hotmail.com > wrote:
> Hello everyone. It's nice to find an active Usenet group for this
> stuff. I have a brewing kit in the mail and I'm looking forward to
> using it.
>
> Most of the things I've read so far say to ferment ales at 65-75F. But
> I live in the Mojave and right now, with the swamp cooler going, even
> the darkest corner of my house is at least 76F. During the peak heat of
> the day it might head up to 80. Is the fermentation going to run away
> on me?
>
> I do have a solution, an air conditioner, but it's damned expensive to
> run compared to the swamp cooler...
How cold is your ground water? You could set your primaried
in a tub of cold water. You could make space in an existing
refirigerator or get a fridge just for fermentation.
Dick
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Date: 20 Jun 2006 22:27:41
From: Lefty Skywalker
Subject: Re: Too Warm
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Dick Adams wrote:
> Lefty Skywalker <dmille15@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Hello everyone. It's nice to find an active Usenet group for this
>>stuff. I have a brewing kit in the mail and I'm looking forward to
>>using it.
>>
>>Most of the things I've read so far say to ferment ales at 65-75F. But
>>I live in the Mojave and right now, with the swamp cooler going, even
>>the darkest corner of my house is at least 76F. During the peak heat of
>>the day it might head up to 80. Is the fermentation going to run away
>>on me?
>>
>>I do have a solution, an air conditioner, but it's damned expensive to
>>run compared to the swamp cooler...
>
>
> How cold is your ground water? You could set your primaried
> in a tub of cold water. You could make space in an existing
> refirigerator or get a fridge just for fermentation.
Logistically unlikely right now... Duplex apartment with a small kitchen
and no garage means no space for another fridge. And besides I just
dumped $250 on gear and recipe kits, and another couple hundred for a
fridge seems too steep too soon.
--
Daniel O. Miller
"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the
fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true
science. Whosoever does not know it and can no longer marvel, is as good
as dead, and his eyes are dimmed." - Albert Einstein
WWYD? (-o-) <* > Genesis 49:17
Real email address: darth dot lefty at golf mike able india lima.
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