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  • fermenting in hot climate

    hey guys,

    I live in the caribbean and want to get back into homebrewing as a step towards opening a brewpub here (and well also because I miss brewing). however its hot and I don't have air conditioning. Would an ale turn out ok sitting at above room temperature. What steps could I take to help it out? It looks like finding a glass carboy will be tough so I may have to rig a big plastic water jug (not ideal, I know). would definitely keep it covered with some towels or something to help, but a little worried about the temperature.

  • #2
    Swamp coolers, cold water/ice baths, etc. are helpful

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    • #3
      Find a heat-tolerant yeast you like to use. Some of the Belgian/Saison strains are used in the high 80's to low 90s. There are some red wine yeasts that ferment into the 90s as well.

      If you do get a brewpub open down there, the utilities might be a killer, so I'd start now trying to find strains you can use that don't require a ferment in the 60s.

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      • #4
        Chest cooler with a temp controller is the best way to go. Just be careful of CO2 buildup.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by brewmatt333 View Post
          Chest cooler with a temp controller is the best way to go...
          +1

          Fermentation temp control is paramount to beer quality. You will make good use of the temp controller (and cooler) in the brewpub.
          Kyle Kohlmorgen
          Process/Automation Consultant
          St. Louis, MO

          Comment


          • #6
            hey guys, thanks for the replies....ideally an old chest freezer with a temp control would be nice, but budget and space constraints will prevent that (we have a small apartment, and raising money for the brewpub is still a long ways off). Read up on an idea to keep a wet t-shirt on it dipped in water, so the constant evaporation will keep it cool. think I can get my hands on a relatively inexpensive styrofoam cooler that a 5 gallon jug would fit in, so think I will do that as well. luckily the rainy season is starting, so it will be generally a bit cooler.

            the yeast is a good idea. would ales brewed with wine yeast turn out ok? do i need to do any other tweaking? the one problem is being down in Colombia, my ability to get ingredients is pretty limited, only real base I can get is pilsner malt although I should be able to get my hands on chocolate and black malt, doesn't look like I can get my hands on crystal malt (any substitutions you guys know of?) and can only get dry yeast packs. also anyone know what caramel malt might be (malta caramel in spanish). I've never heard of it, perhaps the translation might be something else in english.

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            • #7
              There are a million dried wine strains. You'll have to play around with them to find some you like. BM45 gives a wonderful cherry flavor. It's pretty great in a stout. BA-11 gives off a pineapple/apricot flavor that goes really well with west coast hops. Some strains can't ferment maltotriose, and some strains kill beer yeast, so you need to do some research on them to find out which ones you can mix. I wouldn't do a ferment with 100% wine yeast, but as a mix it adds a lot of complexity.

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              • #8
                I fermented every batch of homebrew in glass carboys that I placed in a Igloo ice cube cooler with a couple of blue ice packs. Worked like a charm. It didn't have enough height for an airlock so I would just place a plastic baggy over the opening and keep the lid to the cooler closed.

                I now own and operate a brewpub in upstate NY that was formulated on an extremely low budget. We use Blichmann Engineering products and do not have controlled fermentation temps, and try our best to regulate temps by controlling the temperature in the room the fermenters sit. We have a house yeast strain that tolerates higher ferm temps...sometimes in summer we get up to 78 degrees in our bigger beers.

                Try Fermentis S-04. It's been our workhorse yeast strain and flocculates very very well. It comes in dry form which is a tremendous convenience. We've recently had good results from BRY97 in dry form too.

                Whereabouts in the Caribbean are you? I'm often in Anguilla and have looked into the possibilities of brewing there myself.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Experience with Blichmann?

                  Originally posted by Brew Chef View Post
                  I fermented every batch of homebrew in glass carboys that I placed in a Igloo ice cube cooler with a couple of blue ice packs. Worked like a charm. It didn't have enough height for an airlock so I would just place a plastic baggy over the opening and keep the lid to the cooler closed.

                  I now own and operate a brewpub in upstate NY that was formulated on an extremely low budget. We use Blichmann Engineering products and do not have controlled fermentation temps, and try our best to regulate temps by controlling the temperature in the room the fermenters sit. We have a house yeast strain that tolerates higher ferm temps...sometimes in summer we get up to 78 degrees in our bigger beers.

                  Try Fermentis S-04. It's been our workhorse yeast strain and flocculates very very well. It comes in dry form which is a tremendous convenience. We've recently had good results from BRY97 in dry form too.

                  Whereabouts in the Caribbean are you? I'm often in Anguilla and have looked into the possibilities of brewing there myself.
                  I'm considering a Blichmann Engineering Pro Series 3.5 bbl brewery. What system do you have? What has been your experience with them?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by AdamBomb View Post
                    hey guys, thanks for the replies....ideally an old chest freezer with a temp control would be nice, but budget and space constraints will prevent that (we have a small apartment, and raising money for the brewpub is still a long ways off). Read up on an idea to keep a wet t-shirt on it dipped in water, so the constant evaporation will keep it cool. think I can get my hands on a relatively inexpensive styrofoam cooler that a 5 gallon jug would fit in, so think I will do that as well. luckily the rainy season is starting, so it will be generally a bit cooler.

                    the yeast is a good idea. would ales brewed with wine yeast turn out ok? do i need to do any other tweaking? the one problem is being down in Colombia, my ability to get ingredients is pretty limited, only real base I can get is pilsner malt although I should be able to get my hands on chocolate and black malt, doesn't look like I can get my hands on crystal malt (any substitutions you guys know of?) and can only get dry yeast packs. also anyone know what caramel malt might be (malta caramel in spanish). I've never heard of it, perhaps the translation might be something else in english.
                    Evaporative cooling depends entirely on your relative humidity. In the Carib, I'll bet your RH is too high to get appreciable cooling from evaporation without a very strong airflow. Try a wet-bulb/dry bulb test: With an LIG thermometer, take the temperature with the bulb dry. Now wrap a bit of cotton T-shirt over the bulb and wet it with room-temp water. The difference between the two temps is what you can expect to get in still air. Use a fan to blow air over the wet-bulb to see what that will achieve.
                    Timm Turrentine

                    Brewerywright,
                    Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                    Enterprise. Oregon.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      KVEIK YEAST FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!!

                      no dry varieties, but this stuff is insane. the traditional use is to ferment hot, then collect yeast and rinse it, then spread it out in thin layer on something clean like parchment paper. they dry it in the air for a few days, then scrape the yeast off in flakes and store it in a jar. it seems like it can handle some abuse.

                      seriously. buy it by the gallon. just did a brew in tijuana with it at 110F and its got a nice fruity citrus profile. we knocked out at 97 and it got itself up to 110. 3 day primary, then dropped the last 3 points over next 2-3 days. what we were told is that at room temp its not quite as fast, fewer esters and has a bit of sulfur to age out, but as long as your fermenters are insulated you can control that with your knockout temps at stay around 80-85.

                      well worth the shipping expense to get your hands on some. between that stuff, some saison, wines and some bretts you should be able to do quite a bit.

                      patagonia malt from chile should be available to you. not a huge selection but fairly decent.

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