At last..

[zambezi]

Thanks heaps for setting up this forum. Of course there is a lot out there on the net about brewing, but it is overwhelming, and our conditions are a little different.

I first homebrewed as a student in South Africa. We used to use nappy sterilising buckets which may have been related to the taste of our beer. It was not a huge success I am afraid. We had cases of the stuff, invited mates over, and they all agreed it was foul. And proceeded to drink it all anyway.

I ventured back into homebrew a couple of months ago after getting a kit on a Father's Day special. Of course I was really patient and let the beer sit at least one week after bottling, and then once again me and the mates consumed it all in a trial before it had time to mature. It was a lot more palatable than the South African experience, but still a bit of an aftertaste.

I was planning to do another brew tonight, and what should come along but this site. What concerns me is the temperature. Being up in Cairns, it has not dropped much below 27 at night, and hotter during the day. Anyone else there brewing in hot conditions. Do I have to set the brew up in the bedroom and run the aircon? Missus will have something to say about that

Oh yeah, I use nothing but the er... cheapest ingredients... special at Big W. Coopers. Yeah.

 

[dane]

Welcome Zambezi,

That was one of the reasons I set up the forum, as our conditions here are a little different to overseas conditions.

At the moment I am actually brewing lagers straight in the fridge, with the thermostat on full (warmest temp in fridge) the fermenter sits at around 13 degrees.

Ales prefer the higher temps - I think around 22degrees is optimum, however most kits suggest to keep it under 30c.

By wetting a towel and wrapping it around the fermenter you can keep temps down, every day pouring some cold water on the towel, to keep it from drying out.

You could also blow a fan onto the wet towel to try and enhance this.

If you want to get more sophisticated you can have a look at this page, however it is designed more for wort chilling rather than chilling the fermenter.

Remember your fridge is your friend!

 

[LovesToBrew]

This forum is an asset to Australian Brewers

 

[3GumsBrewing]

Damn, talk about an old post!