Good Queensland Recipes

[Temple of Seth]

Hey Hobbyists,

I live in the Brisbane suburbs and I just started brewing again. Right now I have a room with AC, so I'm fermenting beers improvised from extract kits. However, I will soon be moving to a house without AC where I will be staying for the indefinite future after that. I'm wondering what to ferment during the Brisbane hot months (if anything). I know that there are some malt kits advertised for brewing in queensland, but I'm guessing that when the temps get up to 35 + outside, you're bound to see some wierd side products coming out of malt fermentations no matter what the formulation. Any input? Right now I'm thinking I might switch to making ginger and herbal 'beers' for a while, with simpler sugars (dextrose, white sugar and maybe a little molasses and treacle for flavor). I understand that the production of higher alchohols is increased with high temps, so I image that maximizing the amount of monomer sugars is a good idea. I also understand that ginger beers are popular to brew in Qld - I imagine this is the reason. Any ideas?

ToS

 

[dicko]

If I were you and wanted to brew real beer I would not compromise.

The investment of a second hand fridge or freezer and a temperature control themostat is one of the most important items that any craft brewer can have if the climate is not suitable in their area.
Just set the temperature and forget it and you can do true lagers at any time of the year.

The quality of your beer will improve out of site with correct temperature control and dont believe the temperaturs on the instructions of kit beers as most instructions are far too high. 18 to 20 deg c is all you want for an ale yeast in most kit beers.

cheers

 

[Jovial_Monk]

yup,

could suggest beers with lots of dark malts, e.g. stouts and porters, but even there we are trying to hide faults. What the seppos call a walkin is the answer

Jovial Monk

 

[Tallgum]

Yep, only new at home brewing in Qld [about 100km north of Brisbane] and soon learnt , no temp control , no good beer , and forget about wet blankets and fans when it gets up to 38*.

 

[barfridge]

Amen to that Tallgum. Plus a wet blanket wont do much at all in 99% humidity

I really dont miss the Qld summers (lived in Gladstone and around Brissie/Gold Ocast for 20 years). But the winters rocked!

 

[bonk]

if a fridge or something similar is beyond means/space etc, i can suggest a son-of-chiller type setup. search on google for the plans. i used a digital thermostat from jaycar and wired it to a torch battery and used an old computer power supply fan. i've managed to keep temps down to as low as 14C but its a bit of a pain having to swap ice water bottles every 8 or 12 hours. the more bottles the better the cooling power.

 

[Batz]

Listen to this big d , bonk
Must be hard to brew in the tropics :blink: :blink:

 

[Snow]

Temple,
I'm in Brisbane and I keep my brews temp down by putting a couple of frozen 2L juice or soft drink bottles on top of the fermenter and an extra one or two next to it if it's really hot, then drape the whole lot witha wet towel. We had a 39C day a few weeks back and I had my stout at 22C with this method. Not ideal, but workable. Now I scored an old fridge and I put the fermenter in there with just one juice bottle and the fridge turned off to save power. This keeps it at 17-18C all day, no worries.

Cheers - Snow

 

[Temple of Seth]

Sounds like a fridge or a king-size eskie (sp?) is going probably it. The tough bit is that I don't know what or how long my future is here (2-year contract, we'll see what happens after), so investing in a working fridge for modification and temperature-control is a little iffy. Luckily where I'm going they have a proper fridge (right now I'm surviving on a bar fridge) so these frozen bottle options might be workable.

 

[Batz]

If you buy a temperture controller lkie a glo-warm , you can remove it and take it with you , and a beer fridge must be the easiest thing to sell , never loose money on one of those.

Just do it !

 

[Tallgum]

Sounds like a fridge or a king-size eskie (sp?) is going probably it. The tough bit is that I don't know what or how long my future is here (2-year contract, we'll see what happens after), so investing in a working fridge for modification and temperature-control is a little iffy. Luckily where I'm going they have a proper fridge (right now I'm surviving on a bar fridge) so these frozen bottle options might be workable.

Yoo dont need a working fridge, as long as the rubber seals are good any old fridge will do, thats what i use, just keep rotating the frozed water bottles.

 

[big d]

yes batz tropical brewing is a challenge especially as the humidity starts to rise.
at least you and i have mastered the way to brew. and i think bonk has it sussed as well.


big d B)

 

[bonk]

mmm, love that humidity

yeah, think i got this thing sussed out.

ToS, there are many ways to make something/buy something to keep temps under control. or if you really wanna throw the money around, by a self cooling fermenter