Brewing in the current hot weather?

[Andy__]

Thanks!

It tasted rank!

Not something you woul want to happen to anybody...

I just brew alot in MArch and April and so far the stocks are lasting! But SWMBO is a bit annoyed about the amount of beer crates (~11) containing beer stored under the stairs and in the utility room...

I started May with 80 litres of beer of various types all stored in Grolsch swing tops!

I'm about half way thru this lot now.... So its likely there will be lots of brewing activity come the end August/early september

I have about 50 to 60 litres at the end of May and its all gone now.

I think I may have a drinking problem - That is nothing to drink

I cant stop brewing so Im having a go at some wine kits. I didnt know how wine yeast would react, but it appears to be ok.

[leewink]

Ive brewed right through this heat, no probs, only trouble is over active bottles when opening, bung it in the fridge for a few hours i reckon

I use white labs vials, 029 kolsch and 002 ale, fermented in just room temp, no cellar / AC or nothing.

I have no reason to not brew now, none whatsoever.

Lee

[boingy]

Don't forget that just because a yeast says it will work at higher temperatures you may still not get the flavours you were expecting.
Some of my worst beers have been caused by high fermentation temps.

[sargie]

Been out and checked on mine this morning ive had a good ferment going on, Smells lovly too just hope it's going to taste that way. To my horror last night while pulling a pint from my corny i got the dreaded gurgle gurgle splutter as the beer ran out! No way surly i cant have drunk 19 litres of beer that quick!? I must of lol.

So im out of beer going to have to do another batch now.

[adm]

The space I brew in reaches over 30C at the moment. Fortunately (and rather surprisingly) the chiller system I rigged up for the fermenter seems to be keeping the temperature in the fermenter at 20-21C. I doubt it will do much when it comes to chilling the beer down further....

I picked up a reconditioned monster beer chiller from fleabay the other day - it's a 10 product one.....not really sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I think I should figure out a way to cool my fermentation chamber with it.

Although, I monitored the temperature in there yesterday (which was a pretty hot day - 27C outside) and the chamber didn't get above 20C all day. The wall it is against gets the full sun from mid morning until sunset, but the 2" celotex insulation seems to be doing a pretty decent job of keeping it cool.

[Dr. Dextrin]

I've brewed some great ales recently despite the warm weather. But they don't serve well from a barrel at 22C and I have no easy way of cooling them. If they're bottled and chilled in the fridge, they're fine, but if I draw a pint from a barrel and chill that in the fridge it's rather bland. I think the problem may be lack of carbonation. It's hard to dissolve enough CO2 in warm beer.

[davidmpye]

50 quid gets you a beer line cooler like the one I just bought off ebay (Cornelius Maxi 110)

Nice cold ale - in fact, slightly too cold, but that's easily remedied by pouring your next pint while you're drinking the first

[sargie]

Or build a kegerator.

[Scroogemonster]

I'm half submerging my FV/Barrels in a large water bucket. Seems to be keeping the fermentation temp around 19 degC. Water evaporates and cools the FV.
Simples!
Kev

[Capped]

The ale that I made 9 days ago is still languishing in thr FV,and the temp has probably been hovering around 25C+ for all that time. Dunno how it's going to turn out - for one reason or another I ain't had the time/inclination to deal with it in any way. Maybe it'll be alright,and I'm going to have to bottle it tomorrow. Usually leave it for two weeks but it can't be doing it any good just sat there at such a temp. Anyways,how would wrapping a towel around the FV and keeping it constantly damp with a garden sprayer work? I'm thinking along the lines of 'the latent heat of evaporation' or summat like that,robbing the FV of thermal energy to facilitate the said evaporation. Also depends on ambient humidity an' stuff. I might be talking cobblers but if it works and costs nowt,I'm in !

[EoinMag]

The ale that I made 9 days ago is still languishing in thr FV,and the temp has probably been hovering around 25C+ for all that time. Dunno how it's going to turn out - for one reason or another I ain't had the time/inclination to deal with it in any way. Maybe it'll be alright,and I'm going to have to bottle it tomorrow. Usually leave it for two weeks but it can't be doing it any good just sat there at such a temp. Anyways,how would wrapping a towel around the FV and keeping it constantly damp with a garden sprayer work? I'm thinking along the lines of 'the latent heat of evaporation' or summat like that,robbing the FV of thermal energy to facilitate the said evaporation. Also depends on ambient humidity an' stuff. I might be talking cobblers but if it works and costs nowt,I'm in !

What the yanks call a swamp cooler is a large container half filled with water in which you place your fermenters and then wrap wet towels or t-shirts around the fermenter and trail them into the water.

This does exactly what you are talking about.

Picture here

[TC2642]

I've brewed some great ales recently despite the warm weather. But they don't serve well from a barrel at 22C and I have no easy way of cooling them. If they're bottled and chilled in the fridge, they're fine, but if I draw a pint from a barrel and chill that in the fridge it's rather bland. I think the problem may be lack of carbonation. It's hard to dissolve enough CO2 in warm beer.

I have the same problem, try a 50/50 mix with your fridge cooled beer and the keg warm stuff, you should get a cellar temp of around 12-13oC if the fridge beer is reasonably cold.

[Dr. Dextrin]

I've brewed some great ales recently despite the warm weather. But they don't serve well from a barrel at 22C and I have no easy way of cooling them. If they're bottled and chilled in the fridge, they're fine, but if I draw a pint from a barrel and chill that in the fridge it's rather bland. I think the problem may be lack of carbonation. It's hard to dissolve enough CO2 in warm beer.

I have the same problem, try a 50/50 mix with your fridge cooled beer and the keg warm stuff, you should get a cellar temp of around 12-13oC if the fridge beer is reasonably cold.

This had occurred to me but I haven't tried it out yet. Thanks for the reminder - I'll give it a go tonight!

[dcq1974]

I made a summer pale ale with WLP007 (Dry English) ale yeast and it fermented at 24 degrees C. I tasted a sample last night and it was fantastic so looking lucky this time

We shouldn't get too worried about fermentation temperatures as the hot weather will be gone soon anyway as it never lasts that long

[Capped]

The ale that I made 9 days ago is still languishing in thr FV,and the temp has probably been hovering around 25C+ for all that time. Dunno how it's going to turn out - for one reason or another I ain't had the time/inclination to deal with it in any way. Maybe it'll be alright,and I'm going to have to bottle it tomorrow. Usually leave it for two weeks but it can't be doing it any good just sat there at such a temp. Anyways,how would wrapping a towel around the FV and keeping it constantly damp with a garden sprayer work? I'm thinking along the lines of 'the latent heat of evaporation' or summat like that,robbing the FV of thermal energy to facilitate the said evaporation. Also depends on ambient humidity an' stuff. I might be talking cobblers but if it works and costs nowt,I'm in !

What the yanks call a swamp cooler is a large container half filled with water in which you place your fermenters and then wrap wet towels or t-shirts around the fermenter and trail them into the water.

This does exactly what you are talking about.

Picture here

Neat - I'll try that the next time I brew,if this horrendous weather is still around. I was going to bottle my brew tomorrow but got a window of opportunity this evening. I've just finished,and I've had to contend with a kitchen full of bluebottles 'cos the missus left the door open,I'm hot and bothered 'cos of having my wrists immersed in hot water,I'm blinded by the late evening sun blasting thru' the window and to cap it all my beer does have the distinct green apple taint. God I hate summer (have I said that before?) and am praying for Autumn to arrive. Ah well,carry on everyone,don't mind me !