Keen To Brew, But Hot As Hell In Adelaide

[2010banditsa]

Hello all, its already too late for the Muntons i have in the barrell, but given the temps are so goddamn high in adelaide at the minute, should i be holding off on putting down a new batch? Or will they still be ok and as i like to think, some beer is better than no beer.... thoughts?

 

[pimpsqueak]

Sit it in a tub of water, drape a towel over it and rotate 2 or 3 ice packs into the water once or twice a day.

 

[loikar]

Hello all, its already too late for the Muntons i have in the barrell, but given the temps are so goddamn high in adelaide at the minute, should i be holding off on putting down a new batch? Or will they still be ok and as i like to think, some beer is better than no beer.... thoughts?

Wrap it in a towel and drop it in an esky\bath\sink full of cold water.
Keep throwing in ice or swapping out frozen water bottles to keep the water cold.
The towel will draw the water up like a wick and help keep it cool.
That'll keep your temp down.

Also, sign up at http://brewadelaide.com/forum/index.php we're all locals and might be able to help you out with locating an old fridge for you to ferment in while it's hot.

Cheers,

BF

 

[muthead]

Hello all, its already too late for the Muntons i have in the barrell, but given the temps are so goddamn high in adelaide at the minute, should i be holding off on putting down a new batch? Or will they still be ok and as i like to think, some beer is better than no beer.... thoughts?

I would be thinking of sourcing an old fridge and temp controller (ebay, gumtree etc) to brew in mate. That way you can regulate your brewing conditions and aren't at the mercy of the weather. I picked up a fridge and temp controller of ebay for a combined total of $80 (equivalent to a case and a half of good quality imported beer at Dans).

Yes, you'll make a fluid that guises itself as beer, but will you really enjoy it? Doubtful.

Cheers,
Mut

 

[Hinji]

Hey mate,

Your too right.. farking hot here! If you head on over to BrewAdelaide you'll see a post from me about a Saison that I'm brewing at the moment. I have been brewing this in ambient temperatures which have been around 34-35 degrees. High temperatures such as this are reasonably normal for a saison yeast, and IMHO I can not see any detriment the high temperatures have had on my beer, in fact I'm very happy with the beer.
I couldn't really tell you a good extract recipe for a saison, but if you have no temp control, I would use a saison yeast for any beer your going to make at the moment. I dare say it will turn out pretty good. I used Wy3711 French Saison, and the beer was finished in a couple of days.

Hope this helps.
Cheers

 

[DarkFaerytale]

some beer is better than no beer.

got an old fridge that you don't use but still works? temperature controllers are relitivly cheap and most hbs sell them. you'll deffinatly get use out of it.

failing that, an old trick i use to use was sit your fermenter in the laundry sink, fill it with water and then rotate 3 or more plastic bottles filled with frozen water around your fermenter through out the day (eg. 1 in the morning, another after work, then one at night). i would swear by this years ago in hot weather, the water surrounding your fermenter keeps a fairly consistant temperature.
just beware the missus on laundry day.

good luck

-Phill

 

[DarkFaerytale]

wow, totally beaten to it

 

[Harry Volting]

It's saison time.

 

[jyo]

It's saison time.

Absolutely.
As others have said until you can get a fridge, grab some Belgian Saison yeast (the French is better suited at cooler temps up to 25') and let it ride the temps. I just had to put a heat belt on mine!

 

[the_new_darren]

Not sure how Muntons and Saison yeast would go?

I would suggest to watch the weather forecast and see if it is cooling down.

If not, then grab-a-slab of Coopers Pale ale and do some reading here and at the Adelaide site and make sure you don't find yourself in the same situation next summer.

cheers

tnd

 

[philmud]

I've had this problem in Melbourne over the past week while my cerveza kit ferments. I found that draping a couple of wet towels over the fermenter, then a pile of ice on top of those towels, covered by another wet towel kept my brew at about 19C-20C - I tried adding the ice to a water bath, but it was melting life a mofo - the above method kept a few handfuls of ice working for 4-5 hours

 

[Ironsides]

Just make sure the second hand fridge you get isn't a piece of crap. I set one up a few weeks ago.... Set it to crash chill three days ago, however due to its apparent lack of insulation and refrigeration power the temp has actually gone up two degrees.

That said, even my bad fridge is producing more stable temps than not having one.

 

[woodwormm]

i can't vouch highly enough for temp control...

i now brew in my shed outa the way at whatever temp i like (usually 16-18 with nottingham or us05) no matter how hot my shed gets on 40+ days here in Radelaide...

i think temp control and ensuring i pitch at ferment temp has given me immense continuity and reliability in my beer. i now know i'm going to get a good beer everytime without any external measures fluctuating the outcome..

but then i also blame kegging for making my beer taste better... co2 bubbles are better than sugar bubble IMHO....

round up an old fridge and an STC1000 off ebay... you won't regret it. they don't come along often... but i've got a 250L jobbie.. will fit 30 or 60L fermenter and is small enough not to take up too much space..