Damned Summer Hot Days

[Arcs]

So here it comes, nice little hot spot coming up in the weather. So what do you do to keep on brewing during periods like this and what can you expect? Cheers.

 

[Colin Macdonald]

You could stick yourself in the fridge,I might do the same thing lol

 

[Gerryjo]

It'll certainly depend on what equipment you have regarding temp control on your fermentation and were a fermentation chamber really scores.

 

[Arcs]

I got nada :C

 

[Dutto]

There are very few days in the UK where the average temperature over a 24 hour period exceeds the limitations of an ordinary ale yeast.

At the moment I have a Cherry Pale Ale on at 22*C with a yeast that has an upper limitation of 25*C. I've disconnected the "cool" part of the Brew Fridge as it needs the heater during the night and during the day it hasn't got any higher than 22.5*C.

Obviously, I won't open the fridge door for a couple of weeks and even when fermentation is completed I won't be opening the door in the heat of an afternoon.

TBH, by the time fermentation is complete there is every chance that we will be having a "Cold Snap" and I'll be back to wearing thermals!

Other places have a "Climate" but the UK just has "Weather"!

 

[Drunkula]

I have some kegs in the coal hole sat on trays. They're wrapped in towels that drape into the trays and I pour water on them and soak them, ever so often I'll just sling another pint of water over them. It only gets you a few degrees of coolth but it's pretty good at keeping them around 12 or 13c.

Somebody did something despicable with my smaller brew freezer - they put loads of bleedin food in it! I like to use that one for cooling beer, the big one for brewing.

 

[MyQul]

Time to break out the notty (or in extremis kviek)

 

[An Ankoù]

If you've got some kind of temperature control or a spare working fridge, you can keep on brewing. As I like to work with nature whenever possible I go for yeasts that will ferment at a high temperature without giving off flavours; Saflager 34/70 will produce ale-like esters at temperatures approaching 30C. This is my "go to" yeast, but be warned, it stinks like Satan's armpit while it's working. This is an interesting article: http://brulosophy.com/2016/04/18/fe...ager-yeast-saflager-3470-exbeeriment-results/
Fermentis give the temperature range of Safale S-05 as 18-28C. Don't use S-04, it produces some very nasty flavours at high temperature.
Saison and Belgian wheat beer yeasts will also tolerate a high temperature (up to 29-30C) if you want to make a saison or a wheat beer. Both very refreshing when it's hot.

 

[MickDundee]

In my old house I had a cupboard under the stairs that sat at 16-18C all year around. In my current house I have 2 brew fridges in the garage.

 

[An Ankoù]

Time to break out the notty (or in extremis kviek)

I've never used a kviek. In fact before joining this forum, I hadn't heard of it. I understand there a several strains. Is there one you would recommend?

 

[An Ankoù]

I have some kegs in the coal hole sat on trays. They're wrapped in towels that drape into the trays and I pour water on them and soak them, ever so often I'll just sling another pint of water over them. It only gets you a few degrees of coolth but it's pretty good at keeping them around 12 or 13c.

Somebody did something despicable with my smaller brew freezer - they put loads of bleedin food in it! I like to use that one for cooling beer, the big one for brewing.

Grounds for divorce, I should say. If they'd filled it with bogrolls at least you'd have a curry to look forward to.

 

[Sandimas]

I take a break when it gets this hot, been brewing 9 years and I went through several periods of getting infections, always occurred in mid-summer so now I close down until it cools down a bit. I've got a brew in it's 2nd week in the FV so that'll be the last one for a while.

 

[MyQul]

I've never used a kviek. In fact before joining this forum, I hadn't heard of it. I understand there a several strains. Is there one you would recommend?

Tbh, it rarely gets hot enough in my brew area (kitchen floor) that notty cant handle the temps, so I normally use that, when it gets hot. Im defiantely not an expert on kviek. I have some but dont use it often. @BeerCat is one of the forum experts on kviek so he'd be better to you advise you

 

[chesters-mild]

An Ankou - Check out David Heath's U Tube channel for keivk
Cheers

 

[terrym]

I use a water bath for temperature control. Although not ideal, you can replace some of the water with a bottle from the fridge every few hours, and place wet towels or similar over the FV to promote evaporative cooling.
I found this out last year not having looked at the weather forecast and then found ambient temperatures were in the upper 20's, however my water bath never rose above 22*C. This year I have built up some stock and probably won't brew again until the weather gets cooler, unless I really need to and there is a cooler spell. However I do have a CML Saison yeast I bought for this type of thing and may give that a try.

 

[Clint]

I might get the Notty hanky out...

 

[SteveH]

I'm planning to brew my first saison this week - using Belle Saison yeast which is apparently fairly tolerant of higher temperatures

 

[user 23602]

Carry on as normal. Shed doesn't change temperature and neither does the airing cupboard.

 

[ChrisRedWills]

if you need to brew you'll find a way
weather has never stopped me

 

[An Ankoù]

if you need to brew you'll find a way
weather has never stopped me

True love always finds a way.