Very hot weather brewers

[smiggins55]

Hope all you Victorians and South aussies are coping with the heat and
managing to keep your brews cool.Not easy in that heat.Just pray
there's no major blackouts

[KEG]

Thanks for the well wishes, but never mind brewing, I'm trying to survive here without sweating til there's nothing left!

You know it's hot when you contemplate redrawing on your car loan to buy a portable air conditioner. I have a portable evaporative cooler, but it's only serving to make everything sticky, and not much cooler at all.

agh, just checked http://www.weather.com.au/vic/melbourne/current... still 39.6c here. and 43 tomorrow, 41 Friday, and 40 Saturday.


AGH, and 40 for Mon/Tues/Wed next week! that better change... i really hope the weatherman's wrong.


blegh.

[chadjaja]

Its dark AND 38 degrees! How wrong is that!

Not brewing anything at the moment but it being 28 degrees or so in my garage can't be helping my beer maturing.

[timmy]

I've got a lager in my outside fridge that I'm sure will be working hard today (the fridge, that is...)

Luckily it's only intended for megaswill drinkers.


OT - we had the power out for 2 hours last night from about 8. Best thing for it was to sit in the cold bath with a beer....

[skurvy84]

i've got wait till its colder to brew my next batch, we have an underground cellar thing at home and yesterday it was 45 outside......temp gauge showed 32.....not happy

[timmy]

Luckily the hot weather is helping me carb up my bottles quicker.

I bottled a batch of cider on Tuesday night and it is nearly fully carbed

[Shaun]

Coopers bitter is sitting nice and happy at 19 deg in the brew fridge.

[Throsby]

Yeah we're sitting anywhere between 28 and 32 degrees here most days lately.

Inside my brew-room (read: laundry) it is rarely below 26 (even overnight).

I've had to put off making my next Honey Porter (thanks again Wassa) until the heat passes through.

I figure I'd rather wait a week or so rather than risk making a sub-standard brew or going through all the cooling of the wort process.

[dustnode]

Damnit, I can't get my pale ale down, it's stuck at 27C even with a fan pointed at it for the last few hours. hopefully my beer makes it through.

[chadjaja]

I had ONE bottle explode last night. Out of the few hundred stubbies. One of my more carbonated brews. Either this bottle just got a smidgeon more sugar or the bottle was rather weak as it was isolated. Still I'm a bit worried about some of the others. If they get thru tomorrow they should be right me thinks.

Can't be doing them any good no matter if only for a week or two. But what alternative do I have to store all those bottles cooler. none.

My first ever bottle bomb.

[Pom]

Not having any problems keeping my brew cold in my fridge, but the maximum temp in the shed it's stored in got to 53C. Going in there to check on things is becoming a painful job. I have a heap of stubbies from each of my brews aging in a old thick brick chimmney that I have turn into a cupboard in the laundry. Usally nice and cool but due to this sweltering heat have had three bottles explode. Much to my wife disaprovale the beer has been moved in wooden storage boxes into the cool of the office under the split system. It will stay there till thing calm down a bit.
I have noted a large increase in the consumption of cold beer over the last three days though.
Pom

[inark]

Well that was a horrific week... not good for my Pils... luckily we spent a lot of money on installing a fully ducted reverse cycle

although even that struggled on the 43+ days. Lowest i could keep the brew room (aka the spare room ) was 28 during the peaks... probably explains the very sulphury smell from the beer when i did the FG reading. Hopefully it doesnt destroy the flavour.

[Bizier]

Inark, you need to duct some of that AC directly onto your brew mate...

I am lucky enough to have a controlled fermentation fridge, but I can say I am thankful to myslef for brewing a bunch of light (1.035 ish) beers lately... they really hit the spot and I am still upright after impulsively slamming a couple in this heat.

[svyturys]

And I thought that the temps at the beginning of the month were too high.http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/postin ... f=2&t=8943#
Bloody glad I didn't start anything. Bought tons of ingredients ...all sitting on shelves and in the fridge.
Gee, Pom, I think you've made the right move...get the whole shebang inside. I brew in my office.http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/postin ... f=2&t=8943#
I've convinced SWMBO that beer brewing is a step toward organically sustaining the household. She's now looking at chutneys and tomato sauce...using the hygiene methods "pioneered" by the brews.
On the other hand I don't see myself brewing for a few weeks or so.
Cheers

[Viceroy]

Hey all,

I am struggling with the weather in Sydney at the moment. I can't imagine what you guys in Vic & SA are going through... or your beer for that matter!

Being a newbie with only 3 brews under my belt (the third is in the fermenter, and is due for bottling this afternoon), I was curious if any of you more experienced brewers know of any beer types that would be more suited to brewing in this sort of weather? I am just thinking that we may be able to turn around the hot weather into a possitive?

It may be a long shot, but hopefully there is one or two.

Sam

[svyturys]

I was curious if any of you more experienced brewers know of any beer types that would be more suited to brewing in this sort of weather? I am just thinking that we may be able to turn around the hot weather into a possitive?

I suppose you can brew any beer you want as long as you have control of the temperature of the fermenter.
The rule of thumb is Ales at 18C and lagers at 12C. As there is really nothing more to brew than ales and lagers we're pretty well stuck.
Some people brew wheat ales at a slightly higher temperature to get the banana esters happening. That's a personal choice and maybe wheat beer is where you should go. Depends upon your taste buds.
Cheers

[Bizier]

In all seriousness, I think lower gravity beers like 1.030-1.040 beers are the go, use plenty of US05 and and plenty of ice and pray. Or a weaker wheat beer.

That should be ready very quickly, should be less harsh or horrible, and should be refreshing while we all wait for autumn to arrive.

I have been brewing in this vein for a few batches. I have obliterated my supplies and never really even got drunk off them, though a couple of times I have finished my evening with something more 'special'. Refreshing beer is invaluable in this heat.

[billybushcook]

Hi Guys, havn't posted for a while, actually tried to post this last week but ended up with a draft???
One way I have of beating the heat, (mid NSW) is I do all my brews in an old chest freezer in the shed right next to my beer fridge, The wort has a fish tank heater thrown in for cool temps but for the hot weather I freeze 2L bottles of water in the beer fridge (freezer) & throw a couple in the brew box (old chest freezer) of a morning when I go to work, Keeps the box down in the mid 20's & if it gets too cool the fish tank heater will kick in at 24C. so when I get home in the after noon I can pull them out & whack them back in the freezer again for the next day, If the afternoon is still hot I have an extra couple in the freezer for over night, so I can just keep rotating them & keep the brew box in the mid 20's.



Note the last batch of bottles carbonating at the same temp too

Look at the temp, spot on my target 24, this is a 40+ day!!!



& the Brewery, bit rough, but efective, Bottling occurs on the bench directly below the camera, so fermenting, bottling, aging, chilling, pouring & washing all happens within a 6 foot radius.




Cheers, Mick.

[Kevnlis]

Nice one Mick!

Might I suggest you lower your target temperature a bit? If possible I would try to sustain as constant a temp as possible in the range of 20C rather than 24C. Also keep in mind that a stable temp is the key to success

[billybushcook]

Nice one Mick!

Might I suggest you lower your target temperature a bit? If possible I would try to sustain as constant a temp as possible in the range of 20C rather than 24C. Also keep in mind that a stable temp is the key to success

Due to me using the Glad wrap method I need to get e'm fired up quick to avoid infections, for this reason I start e'm at 28, & as youve pointed out, constant or sustained temps are best, so I have not wanted to drop them too low, too quick.

But yes, this method lets me keep a very stable temp, & with the Glad wrap I can see exactly what the yeast/brew is doing, no need to use a hydrometer, just look in the top, held at 24 it takes me 10 days to do a Coopers Pale Ale or C's Lager every time,
After reading some of the stuff on here I am considering lowering my temps but it might be risky.

Cheers, Mick.