Brewing In The Tropics

[govorko1974]

Hi all, Am new to the site and brewing having only just brewed my 2nd beer. was just wondering if there were fellow homebrewers out there that live in FNQ or the tropics who can give me some tips/ideas on how to keep my brew temp down when fermenting. As its winter the first brew was fermented with daytime temps at about 24-26, but when i put the 2nd one down we had a warmer week and the daytime temps were around 28-29 deg. bought a thermometer to put in room with fermenter and for 2nd temp was between 24-26 in room. was wondering how people keep there brew cooler and if anyone bothers brewing in the summertime up here.
Cheers
Matt

 

[earle]

Even 24-26 is too high for my liking. I use an upright freezer that I got at auction with a fridgemate to control the temp. You can try a cylindrical cooler bag from bunnings or even an old dead fridge or freezer with frozen water bottles but if your thinking about lagers in FNQ I don't think they are going to drop the temp enough. With my setup I can set and forget.

Alternatively go and drop your fermenter in the creek in the nearby gorge. :lol:

 

[Cube]

Ferment in a laundry tub with water up to about half way on fermenter. Put frozen pet bottles in every 8 hours or sooner as required. This will give you a temp of about 18 deg, perfect for ales. Just add a good splash of bleach to the water in the tub to keep it sterile.

Cardboard box to fit over fermenter and frozen bottles wedged between box and fermenter.... doonah can replace the cardboard box and just wrap frozen pet bottles around fermenter. A busted old fridge works well with frozen bottles in it - holds temp quite well.

All cases above just experiment with frozen pet rotation as every place is different. Add salt to the pets gives better freeze temps as well.

 

[beerbrewer76543]

One of these: ebay temp controller

And a second hand fridge and you're set. Find a fridge for free and you're laughing!

 

[stm]

Yep, with your ambient temps in the tropics, a second hand fridge at say $50 and another $50 on a temp controller/fridgemate (see sponsor's sites above) is a very wise investment. (And saves a lot of frigging around.)

 

[Ivan Other One]

Even 24-26 is too high for my liking. I use an upright freezer that I got at auction with a fridgemate to control the temp. You can try a cylindrical cooler bag from bunnings or even an old dead fridge or freezer with frozen water bottles but if your thinking about lagers in FNQ I don't think they are going to drop the temp enough. With my setup I can set and forget.

Alternatively go and drop your fermenter in the creek in the nearby gorge. :lol:

Here we are using the "dead fridge" method with the frozen milk bottles and manage to keep the wort temp between 18-22C. this takes a bit of practice to get right,,, too much ice : too cold or visa versa.

Cube" ideas also work well.

A freezer with tempright is a sure thing if you can afford to set up and run,,,,

Would not recommend the creek method, as the water temp in some of the creeks up there can be high,,, Not to mention the crocs.

Hoppy brewing Gov' Ivan. :icon_cheers:

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Temp controller would be a great investment!

If not then simply keep the kit or extract tins and freeze them with water. Put them into the fridge and swap them out when they melt etc. Simple and effective way short of getting the controller!

 

[DUANNE]

hah hah here in melbourne im using hot water bottles to get a lager in the shed to sit at anything over 5 degrees.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

hah hah here in melbourne im using hot water bottles to get a lager in the shed to sit at anything over 5 degrees.

Funny how different areas and different times of the year affect our brewing! :lol:

Something simple but does work is get one of those cheap bedside lamps. Simply plug it in, clip it onto a rack in the fridge, aim it away from the fermenter. I didn't mind the slight break in seal from the cord. Just keep an eye before bed and when you get up it hasn't brought it up to high!

Something like this.

 

[Yob]

Hi all, Am new to the site and brewing having only just brewed my 2nd beer. was just wondering if there were fellow homebrewers out there that live in FNQ or the tropics who can give me some tips/ideas on how to keep my brew temp down when fermenting. As its winter the first brew was fermented with daytime temps at about 24-26, but when i put the 2nd one down we had a warmer week and the daytime temps were around 28-29 deg. bought a thermometer to put in room with fermenter and for 2nd temp was between 24-26 in room. was wondering how people keep there brew cooler and if anyone bothers brewing in the summertime up here.
Cheers
Matt

Firstly, welcome to the sport and the site mate, there is a wealth of info here and is a great source of info and emergency help. Im in Victoria and my 1st brew matched the first heatwave of summer last year and well.. the brew is almost drinkable now.. that is 6 of the ones that didnt go down the sink after opening..

as said previously, temp control is very important so do what you can with what you have to get the job done.. what is your brew? and what yeast did you use?
If you used the kit yeast it's a little more forgiving on you than some specialty yeasts if you have temp. fluctuation.. I believe...

anyway.. have a "search" of this site there is plenty of info for this thing..

as for your current brew... if you have the space, bottle and leave for "a few" months.. and then mebee a few more... get temp control sorted and brew more :icon_drunk:

cheers

 

[kbe]

If you are having trouble with your temps, have a look at www.ozbrew.com.au in Darwin. I bought a couple of their kits and the instructions say to brew at around 26C. Yes, I know that this is high for the purists, but the one that I have done so far was fine for taste, and I even had a person comment on how nice it was.

Just an option.

 

[govorko1974]

Thanks all, for the good advice..my first brew was what came in the starter pack..morgans australia lager, and the yeast was what came with it. Tried a few on the weekend and although my wife reckoned they were rank, my mate said they weren't that bad, i thought they were ok for my first attempt, considering they were very clear, not much head thou. will look into temp controls and keep at it.

 

[enuun]

Hi there,

I am brewing in Singapore that has a nice warm climate and blistering temperatures of 31~34 degrees.
I have a home-made fermentation cooler that uses nice thick blue foam boards and a plugged in heat exchange, one of those alum fin things you can get at any respectable hardware store. For my aging, I have a couple of white foam boxes with bottles of ice. Keeps the aging beer cool at abt 16 degrees constant (I change out the bottles of ice every 24 hours). Or you can get a thermostat and rig it to an old freezer =)

Hope this helps

 

[earle]

Would not recommend the creek method, as the water temp in some of the creeks up there can be high,,, Not to mention the crocs.

Bloody crocs. As if it wasn't bad enough that they eat the mudcrabs out of you pots, now they're after our beer as well. :lol:

 

[RobboMC]

Let's face it, if you live in FNQ and wish to brew high quality beer then you are going to need a fridge. I reckon a fridge is almost
an essential item here in Sydney.

All the frigging around with wet towels, blocks of ice and insulated boxes are simply not going to cut it.
Check out e-Bay and pay for one, the pain in your hip pocket will be long forgotten when you are enjoying the brews you make in it.

I brew quite Ok without a fridgemate, I just use a power point timer with 15 min intervals and adjust the number of intervals switched on each day depending on whether I want the brew temp to rise or fall. After 2 or 3 brews you learn how many bits to click and it works a treat, about $15 at Bunnings.

 

[themixedphat]

I'm brewing over in Cooya, all of 5kms out of Mossman so I know your pain, I'm using an ancient 120 liter esky that I rotate frozen water bottles out of, it takes me about a day and a half days to get the brew down to 18 degrees with 2 soft drink bottles of ice, then after I pitch the yeast, one bottle a day to hold it around 18 degrees.
due to the fact the local hardware/hbs dosen't sell proper lager yeast I haven't tried to get the temp down any lower but i don't dout that you could probably maintain 14 degrees with the same setup.

 

[beerbrewer76543]

themixedphat: you could try freezing some pre-boiled water in a sanitary icecream tub and add to the fermenter for speedier temp achievement