Bloody Melbourne Weather

[ginsoakedstranger]

So put down a brew yesterday in between a split shift at work....Everything well. Tried my first re-cultured coopers yeast starter, bubbling away strongly this morning.. All good, feeling good.
Then Melbourne decides to kick some heat wave arse today and I get home to fermenter reading 26C! AArgh
Now maybe I should actually pay attention to weather forecasts but did anyone else get caught out today? This is basically a bitching thread for those who haven't got off the couch to put together a fridge yet like me.
Any tips we've got to survive the summer. Mines in a bath full of cold water and it chilled to 21 fairly quickly which is good I suppose. Not happy about this fluctuation though...looks like this one could be a banana split.

 

[drtomc]

I don't have a fridge because I don't have space. From now until late March it's strictly Saison only.

I'm quite sympathetic.

T.

 

[IainMcLean]

Wrap a wet towel round it and blow a fan on it

 

[beau jasnos]

Hi mate.

Has been quite hot in Adelaide as well (35 deg today) I've been putting two frozen 2 litre cordial bottles next to the fermener and wrapping it in a doona on the a concrete floor in the garage. When i got home from work today the fermenter was sitting at 18 deg and has been at this temp since i put it down on friday. i just change the bottles twice a day, when i leave for work and when i get home.

Hope this helps.

 

[ginsoakedstranger]

That's a good idea...I'm gonna leave it in the bath tonight and maybe tomorrow if it keeps working, just so I don't risk more fluctuations. In future I might try your idea though, sounds easy enough, and I can keep it in the dark. Can even use the wet towel and fan too! Plus the kids gonna need a bath soon so it's not ideal. Hmmm Saison...know nothing of it, I'll check 'em out

 

[Kai]

I actually timed the last week's weather very well; took advantage of the cool streak for fermentation then today's warmer weather has been the ferment mop-up and diacetyl rest (though it didn't really need one).

Not sure what do do over summer though. Thinking of jacking the beer fridge up to 10 degrees and doing a series of lagers. A saison will definitely be on the cards too.

 

[BrenosBrews]

I don't have a fridge because I don't have space. From now until late March it's strictly Saison only.

I'm quite sympathetic.

T.

+1 to a summer of Saison. Luckily I have lots of ideas for the style to **** with tradition LOL.

 

[manticle]

So put down a brew yesterday in between a split shift at work....Everything well. Tried my first re-cultured coopers yeast starter, bubbling away strongly this morning.. All good, feeling good.
Then Melbourne decides to kick some heat wave arse today and I get home to fermenter reading 26C! AArgh
Now maybe I should actually pay attention to weather forecasts but did anyone else get caught out today? This is basically a bitching thread for those who haven't got off the couch to put together a fridge yet like me.
Any tips we've got to survive the summer. Mines in a bath full of cold water and it chilled to 21 fairly quickly which is good I suppose. Not happy about this fluctuation though...looks like this one could be a banana split.

In the hottest part of summer, even with towels and ice bricks, I find it pretty hard to get the temp below 22. In the build up to heatwaves though you can use this method successfully.

As above, I'll be doing a few variations of saisons but I also may have acceess to a working bar fridge. If I can get that up and running, my hops and yeast cultures may have a new home which means rigging my working fridge up to run at ferment temp instead of fridge temp.

I was going to build myself a large insulated fermentation chamber/cupboard and still might - I need somewhere to store my bottled beer that's cooler than the shed. Won't get around to that too soon though

 

[drtomc]

FWIW, I added my most recent Saison, which I have been drinking this evening, to the recipe DB today.

The one I had this evening hadn't been in the fridge quite long enough, and needed to be chilled a bit more to balance the sweetness of the esters (FG 1.005 - not much sugar in there).

T.

 

[Bribie G]

Time to get the camera out again.
My Old Hen clone has been sitting at 18 (SEQ currently 19 / 27 degrees) with one frozen 5L jerry under a beach towel and blanket.
Just pitched a Red Ale, which will now share the tent, with the 5L block wedged in between.





I'll be looking at around 19 to 20 for the duration, swapping daily.
I do nearly all my ales like this, even over the QLD summer, but do have a temp controlled fridge that can take one ale when It's not tied up for a few weeks with a lager - currently have an ale in, sitting on 17.

 

[Hatchy]

Last summer it was 3 fermenters in the bath with ice bricks & wet towels for me. I've got a ferment fridge now but I've also got all 5 kegs empty & more empty bottles than I'd like to admit. It's been suggested to me that temp control isn't as important after the 1st 3-4 days when most of the fermenting happens. I'm thinking I could get away with keeping mine at 18 in the fridge for the 1st 4 days, then pull it out for a completely unscientific diacetyl rest in unforgiving Adelaide weather for 4 days while the next on goes through, then back in the fridge for a day or 2 at 0 before bottling/kegging.

Having seen Bribie's tactic I reckon I'll go with that. Single batches in the bath with a 5L ice block & some form of insulation & double batches in the fridge. I know I could drink less but that seems unlikely to happen. I really need to brew more next winter than I did last winter & not get married again next spring. Those 4 kegs that went in 4 hours at the reception really set me back.

 

[chadjaja]

Just get a can cooler bag from bunnings in the camping section. All you need is a wet towel/foam piece for the top and with a frozen ice block or two you can ferment at 16-18 degrees in any weather really from experience. I have one for each fermenter. Simple bit of kit and essential imo to making my beers and effort into brewing them worthwhile.

 

[Maple]

I feel your pain brother. I too was subject to the escalating temps yesterday. I had totally forgot I had 2 fermentors going in the garage. I intended to put them into the fermentation chamber/keg staging area (temp controlled chesty), but got side tracked, and off to work I went. remembering yesterday on the way home was not a good feeling. 26 and going like a wheat yeast should - straight out the top. only issue is it was US05. Never seen it this vigorous before. gutted, this was going to be the family xmas party beer. I guess we'll see what happens. got it back down to 18 by this morning, so it's still ticking along.

 

[bear09]

I dont want to run it in but geez it is so nice now to not have to worry about this sort of thing now.

I know it can be expensive and a PITA but seriously getting a fridge with a thermostat for heating and cooling is the best bit of kit I have gotten so far. Heat wave, cold wave, up, down, in or out - I know my brew is at 18 degress today (give or take .3 of a degree) - its awesome.

My days of towels and ice and fans are over and I dont miss them. Feel a bit shit for saying it but I have been humbled by the experieince - I know where I came from.

Cheers and good luck keeping the temps low.

 

[QldKev]

Fermenting fridge with temp controller for the win!!! Set and forget; also allows crash chilling.

In another thread it was recently discussed how some commercial brewers control the ferment within 0.1 degrees c. I tried using the ice cubes in an old fridge etc changing 3 in the morning and 1 at night, blah blah blah, I couldn't maintain a constant temperature. Up here in Queensland we have a lot more stable temps than down south; I would hate to think of the impact on brew temps you would have.

Also the bonus of the fridge it allows you to brew at different temperatures during fermenting.
eg. Typical US-05 reign
Pitch warm, and set fridge to 17 to drop temp quickly, and prevent the frothy monster from taking over the planet
After 24-48hrs raise to 18 for the main stage of fermenting
After main ferment has completed raise to 20 to ensure it has fully fermented and help clean up any byproducts
After another 2 days crash chill

I'm not knocking the ice bottles, it is a lot better than no control. If you have a choice the fridge makes it all so much better.

QldKev

 

[bear09]

Fermenting fridge with temp controller for the win!!! Set and forget; also allows crash chilling.

In another thread it was recently discussed how some commercial brewers control the ferment within 0.1 degrees c. I tried using the ice cubes in an old fridge etc changing 3 in the morning and 1 at night, blah blah blah, I couldn't maintain a constant temperature. Up here in Queensland we have a lot more stable temps than down south; I would hate to think of the impact on brew temps you would have.

Also the bonus of the fridge it allows you to brew at different temperatures during fermenting.
eg. Typical US-05 reign
Pitch warm, and set fridge to 17 to drop temp quickly, and prevent the frothy monster from taking over the planet
After 24-48hrs raise to 18 for the main stage of fermenting
After main ferment has completed raise to 20 to ensure it has fully fermented and help clean up any byproducts
After another 2 days crash chill

I'm not knocking the ice bottles, it is a lot better than no control. If you have a choice the fridge makes it all so much better.

QldKev

+1 +1 and +1. Bang on the money. This is exactly what I do with US-05 and it just clicks along perfectly. Oh, and the finished product is superior as well.

Once again dun wanna run it in but if you can do it - DO IT. Youll never look back once you have the control over your yeast.

 

[chadjaja]

I recently got a few more of my cooler bags from Bunnings cheap at $6 each. Might be a few still floating around stores. With one or two of the blue bricks frozen I can ferment at the perfect temp all summer. Can even push lager temps if I use a four blocks during warmish weather. I find the large thin bricks give the best lower temp than a frozen 2L bottle. Works perfect with just a dry towel too but I got some foam to fit snug over the top anyway. The 20L mark of the fermenter is below the foam/towel and bunnings/coopers fementers are shorter anyway than my fermenters.

Its easy to rotate a brick or two morning and night, no spills or dripping towels and stick it anywhere in the house you want. I can keep a stable 18 degrees on all ales and just take the towel of the top to raise to 18-20 to finish out brews. Hope this helps a few.

 

[earle]

While we're complaining about the weather - its been raining here for about 2 months, 500mm so far for November, probably won't stop raining till March, sun occasionally shows itself for an hour or so every few days just to rub in the fact that it does actually exist. Still nice and hot though so its perfectly muggy, the mdf shelves where I store my brews are sprouting. On the upside there are two fermenters in the fridge, I love peeking through the glad wrap to see how they are going.

 

[Bribie G]

I'd love to get one of those double door coca cola display fridges, you can get them second hand from Quirks and other companies for around a grand, and a grand don't buy you much at the Good Guys. However space and The Minister of Finance have reached the end of the road so Ice bricks it is

Hey Chad could you elaborate on the Bunnings setup, is that the collapsable "can cooler" with some sort of extra bag or lining fitted? Looks the deal.

 

[chadjaja]

Yeah its collapsable and insulated to some degree with thick cooler plastic in a few layers. Has a tap on the bottom too for drainage when its full of ice and cans as its intended use. Can't fault it and takes up only a few more cms room than the fermenter itself and can go on carpet or my floorboards. I have a floating floor and dripping towels on it wasn't the best as water seeped underneath and although it caused no long term damage I wasn't keep on doing it any longer. The fermenter tap sits too high should the bottom of the cooler get wet as well.