We see you like Beer....so who has advice on Home Brewing?
by mrpelicanpants on Sep 9, 2010 3:20 PM EDT
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It seems as much knowledge we all have here on beer, it stands to reason that someone in this fine group has either tried to master home brewing, or knows something about it.
My question is: Is it worth the time and effort? Or is it better to just go out and keep trying other brands?
Is beer making an art? It seems like everywhere you go, there is some type of local brewery popping up, and with technology and information available, along with friends that are detailed engineers and beer lovers, it would stand to reason, along with alot of trial and effort, that one could produce something that is drinkable of their own accord.
Every man needs a hobby, why not try making beer? You can taste the results....hell, even make a
mock EDSBS Beer, now at 25% Alcohol.....wouldn't know where to start on hops,malt,or barley...
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Making Beer
Is a great time, and worth the effort. I reject your premise that it keeps you from trying local craft brews, by the way. You wind up becoming a huge beer geek, which is a good thing. There’s a local homebrewing store near you that will hook you up.
Nah, not saying that at all, just wondering if the cost/time factor vs just buying one...
is easier or worth the effort. There are many good beers out there, just trying to see what it would take to improve on it by trying different combos or recipes. I love beer, especially good beer, and I think since I kinda know what I like, just seeing if I can do it and have others say…
“hey thats pretty good” vs “WTF is this, horse piss?”
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
by mrpelicanpants on Sep 9, 2010 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions
If you do it to save money
its not worth doing.
But if you enjoy doing it, then the money doesnt matter. You can save money on a batch, but if you are a normal human, you will find ways to spend more money. Just like with any other hobby. Still way cheaper than golf. And you can drink the results.
I buy more beer than before I started brewing, I think.
Its weird phases though, right now I have 4 kegs of beer and a fifth in the fermenter, so not buying anthing. But when I get low, I tend to buy a bunch of beer for inspiration.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
Ah HA!!!
So what would you recommend on the first go round:
http://www.theshadylady.net/cat_beer_kits.htm
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
by mrpelicanpants on Sep 9, 2010 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions
Dirty secret? increased hops makes it easier not to screw it up. Try an IPA, if you like that style.
cool....appreciate it
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
by mrpelicanpants on Sep 9, 2010 4:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Any intensity of flavor hides off flavors
Dark beers, hoppy beers, etc. The more subtle the style, the harder it is to pull off. A helles first go would be a disaster.
I started with a brown ale.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
Brown was my first beer as well.
While I still haven’t tackled lagers I’ve gotten pretty darn good at most ales (and damn good at stouts, if I do say). Hell, I’m even growing my own hops these days. It’s a fun hobby and quite rewarding if you’re a)patient and b)can stomach the occasional failure. Once you get good at it, yes, it is more cost-effective than buying craft beer…however, the curious nature of brewers will have you buying beer just the same in order to spark new ideas.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Sep 11, 2010 3:11 AM EDT up reply actions
A nut brown ale from a kit
was my first also, and I’d have to say was foolproof (which is why mine turned out OK).
My take on the “worth it” question is that if you really like to cook, you’ll really like to brew. If you mostly just like to drink, then the store may be the way to go. I had an employee in San Diego who didn’t have room at a new apartment for his kegerator, and he asked if he could keep it in my garage, and then kept it stocked. That was the best year-and-a-half of my life.
"Live free or die, death is not the worst of evils"
by General John Stark on Sep 11, 2010 10:05 PM EDT up reply actions
The whole cooking/brewing thing is weird for me.
From the recipe standpoint, I would totally agree. I’m a major foodie and have some serious game in the kitchen. However, outside of recipe formulation there isn’t as much creativity or room for spontaneity/improvisation with the brewing process. If anything, it should appeal to the scientific types who enjoy baking or anyone with a knack for the mechanical.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Sep 12, 2010 12:47 AM EDT up reply actions
As an engineer, I agree
Its my kind of cooking.
Plus the fun of building my own mash tun and etc.
However, there is some spontaneity, I have been known to change hopping on the fly. But, yeah, its probably more like baking, where the creativity comes in making up the recipe in advance. Subtle things like mash temp can have a major effect on the final results but is more about design. Then its a matter of actually hitting your design specs.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
This all sounds like a gateway hobby...
to cooking High End Meth…like on Breaking Bad….LOL…
I bet Chemical Engineers could make really good home brews and homemade wine….
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
by mrpelicanpants on Sep 16, 2010 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions
I'd put my money on the microbiologists
Your average Chem E isn’t nearly as strong in Organic Chemistry.
by Albino Tornado on Sep 19, 2010 11:48 PM EDT up reply actions
homebrewer
for life. Currently have a keg full of a probably too high gravity pils that i need to kill.
To your question: Yes, it is worth the effort.
I was shocked at how well our first few batches came together. The first was absolutely undrinkable, just swill. But, that’s because we were like yeah, sanitization, whatever, fuck it, etc.
You can get great clone recipes on every corner of the web, and you can experiment a bit to make your own as well of course. Most do both.
You’ll eventually spend money on better equipment as you get into it, so it’s not a thing you do necessarily for the savings. But it evens out eventually. If you consider the past few years of buying equipment to be a sunk cost, my friends and I made 10 gallons of a Sierra Nevada clone two weekends ago for around $20.
I am not cjbama or cr4bama.
agree completely
Sanitize, sanitize, sanitize.
I’ve never had a skunked up batch, but I learned from the mistakes of others. Also, I had a Microbiology of Food Fermentations class that taught me the importance of sanitization while brewing. Whatever you do, sanitize with C-brite and rinse the solution off right before you’re ready. Tap water works, but you might want to use gallons of bottled water when diluting your wort.
Do it for the fun of it, not to save money. It’s slightly cheaper than buying craft brews (especially if you get non-screw top bottles for free from craigslist or save them yourself), but it takes 2-6 weeks for fermentation so it will be a while before you can taste your efforts. It also takes up a lot of closet space, as the bottles need to be stored in a cool, dark place.
It’s fun. Do it.
by bagelfuzzynuts on Sep 10, 2010 9:32 AM EDT up reply actions
Three words...
Do it.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
Most important piece of advice
DO NOT BOTTLE!
Kegging is the way to go, bottling is a pain in the ass.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
disagree
bottling makes my friends feel important. Or, I like to think so at least.
by bagelfuzzynuts on Sep 10, 2010 9:24 AM EDT up reply actions
I totally agree.
I don’t have kegging equipment and the asinine process of bottling is what keeps me from brewing more often, no joke.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Sep 11, 2010 3:13 AM EDT up reply actions
I got my kegging equipment before my brewing equipment
Really same time, but kegging stuff came first.
All the brewers I knew bitched about bottling, when I discovered kegging was an option, I started brewing. Speaking of which, need to keg my Marzen today.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
THIS is exactly why I haven't brewed in almost 2 years...
well mostly. There was a move and then a layoff and hopefully another move soon, but thats all a distraction from my main point.
Bottling is a major pain in the ass.
I can’t wait to move into my house to grab some kegging stuff to get back to it.
"I have my Joe Paterno autograph already, but I don’t know that I’d begrudge anybody else from getting theirs no matter their age. That’s kind of like meeting Winston Churchill." jesse. @ BSD
Oh, another piece of advice
www.beeradvocate.com, homebrew forums. There are other good forums but this one has insane turn around time on questions. In middle of batch, have an issue, ask question, get a slew of answers within 5 minutes. Friendly to noobs too.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
lol....the EDSBS Brewery and Sports Bar......
The only craft brew thats 25% alcohol……I wonder if you could make your own labels…
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
by mrpelicanpants on Sep 10, 2010 11:30 AM EDT reply actions
Thoughts...
Been brewing for a couple of years now. Started on a stove-top with “all extract” brewing…quickly moved to partial mash brewing…then made the step up to “all grain” brewing and will more than likely never go back to anything else.
It definitely starts out as a hobby, then progresses to an obsession. All for fun of course… The main thing that will really hold you back if you are already a stickler for details is that of how much you are willing to spend on equipment. My mash tun for example is a 10 gallon converted rubbermaid cooler. A lot of this stuff can be constructed by yourself…from converting a cooler to mash tun, building your own wort chiller, and converting old commercial half barrel keg to a boil pot and hot liquor tank.
Try something new and even if you don’t have the time to make your own setup…if you have the money, you can get any variety of commercial brewing setups for the right price. The point is to become familiar with your process and equipment and try to make it as consistent as possible across the styles you intend to make.
Also to repeat what others said, your biggest problems in brewing are cleaning, sanitation, and temp control in fermentation. Being as hot as it is in the Tallahassee area these past few months, I’ve been making nothing but Belgian styles. Main reason is I don’t have a fermentation fridge, and I don’t have to worry too much about controlling temps with these styles.
I generally brew with a turkey fryer and 10 gal mash tun cooler on the back deck. The more I’ve brewed the simpler my recipes have usually become. Another needed tool in the brewing and setup process is a program like BeerSmith. It will help you design your recipe and account for temperature changes during the process. Makes things very very easy if you obsess over details like myself.
Our local homebrew store got me setup with most of the materials I needed to get started for around $70. This is tubing, fermentation bucket, bottling bucket, bottle capper and various other equipment.
It also doesn’t hurt to get plugged into a local brewing club if one is available in your area. The guys that have been brewing for a while will have a wealth of information and should be more than willing to help you figure out a problem you are experiencing or a new technique to try.
Just make sure you clean any surface that touches your beer usually with PBW (powdered brewer wash), sanitize with something like iodophor (iodine) or star-san and control the temperature of fermentation dependent on what type of yeast you are using. Let me know if you need anything. I can go on and on about the entire process.
by Terry Bowden's Shoe Lifts on Sep 10, 2010 2:17 PM EDT reply actions
I appreciate it. I am mainly looking for something to brew that is pretty simple
and taste good, since Im not familiar, it is easier to brew with one person or two people?
Does the time of year matter? I live on the Gulf Coast and it doesnt cool off til Oct…..
How do you control the Alc. %? and exactly what does “High Gravity” or “cold filtered” have to do with any thing? What makes a beer a “light” beer vs regular beer? What would you recommend to try as a first batch that is hard to screw up? I’m a stickler, kind of like a mad scientist, and I don’t like to produce a bad product. My wife likes the same type of beer I like, and I am sure she would like to help, and probably take over the whole damn process…
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
by mrpelicanpants on Sep 10, 2010 2:58 PM EDT up reply actions
A few answers...
I usually brew by myself. When starting out brewing an “all extract” beer, you really don’t need anyone else around to help you lift anything heavy like with “all grain.” This is assuming you are not doing a full volume boil for partial mashes…more like a 3 gallon pot instead of a 7 to 10 gallon pot.
As far as what time of year to brew for me living on the gulf coast too in Tallahassee, the weather just affects what kind of beer I make…not whether I make beer or not. Warmer months I make belgians, stouts, porters, stronger IPAs, hefeweizens. In the cooler months, I make english ales and lighter pale ales.
To answer your question about Alcohol %, it ties into your question about high gravity beers. Gravity refers to specific gravity which is usually measured with a hydrometer. A measurement of 1.0000 is what pure water should come out to at 60F. When you make a beer you are going to have a suspension of fermentable and unfermentable sugars. The amount of these sugars will raise the gravity readings. When you start to get in the 1.070 – 1.090 range, that is considered a high gravity beer (a lot of sugar and a lot of potential alcohol by the end).
Now how do you figure out Alcohol % in a beer. Take a measurement of gravity prior to pitching the yeast, then take the measurement at the end of fermentation and plug those numbers into an equation and you can get the ABV. In extract brewing, the more extract and sugar you add to the wort, the more potential alcohol you will get in the end. In all grain brewing, mashing at a lower temp range will give you more fermentable sugars…also increasing the amount of grain you are mashing will also potentially raise your alcohol %.
On the matter of cold filtering, it is mainly a method for providing better clarity to your finished beer. I incorporate something like this into my brewing process. It is usually called cold crashing. I just don’t incorporate the filter to the process. I cool the beer to just above freezing before I keg it. It helps a lot of the particulate still in suspension such as hops and yeast to drop out of the beer.
Personally on the matter of light beer. I would just refer to a light beer as something <= 4% ABV. Not sure of all the science that goes into that. Maybe somebody can answer that better than myself.
As far as a beer that’s hard to screw up. I don’t there is one beer that could perfectly fit your requirements, but I would suggest some kind of belgian beer if you like those. Porters and stouts can also be good since the roastiness and chocolatiness can mask some imperfections in the beer. My main problem starting out was controlling temperature during fermentation. Standard American Ale Yeasts generally like a temperature between 65F – 72F. If you can find a local homebrew store or local brew club they can point you in the right direction for the best style to start with for your setup.
Also for a brewing tool, try BeerSmith. It has many handy tools for recipe design and instrument calibration and measurement conversion. You can run it in a free trial mode for a certain period. Hope this helps.
by Terry Bowden's Shoe Lifts on Sep 10, 2010 3:56 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Also, my wife would more than likely interested in learning how to make...
Chardonnay at home….then we could have our own homemade bar….Im the beer guy, she is more of a wine lady….and what she has found that “expensive wine” doesnt always equate to “good flavor” wine, if that makes any sense…..she has found many cheaper wine labels to be on par with the 30 and 40 dollar chardonnay, which would make her want to try to do her own wine….I’m kinda fascinated by how many people seem to be diving head first into brewing their own beers and making their own wines…
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
by mrpelicanpants on Sep 10, 2010 3:37 PM EDT up reply actions
Stumbled onto this and they are in Mobile....
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
and here.....
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/
People are serious about their beer. Whether they buy it or make it. I could see spirited debates on what is better to whom and when….
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
by mrpelicanpants on Sep 10, 2010 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions
Listen to...
Brew Strong podcast to learn the minutia of the brewing process. It is a great way to pickup something new.
by Terry Bowden's Shoe Lifts on Sep 10, 2010 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions
Whats the normal turn around time on a Belgian beer?
Assuming I get setup this next week, have a decent recipe and equipment, whats the norm for a good 5 gallon batch of beer?
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
by mrpelicanpants on Sep 10, 2010 4:14 PM EDT up reply actions
That can vary
I have a Belgian I make for New Years that I usually brew in Sept. Sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Most batches need at least 3 weeks to kegs, but Belgians (especially higher abv ones) need more time. A few months of aging can be too short.
Umm…I think this helped none at all because the answer is “it depends”. My general rule I give people is, the beer will let you know when it is done. Or as the saying goes, brewers make wort, yeast make beer. Yeast have their own damn schedule.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
I usually...
make lower ABV belgians such as saisons and belgian pale ales. I can generally have these ready in about 1 month to 5 weeks. Saisons I generally prefer younger because I like mine a little bit hoppier in flavor and aroma. The volatile hop flavors and aromas tend to fall out of the beer pretty quick. So the quicker I can get it ready…more often than not I enjoy it that much more. I agree that usually aging a higher ABV beer is a good thing.
by Terry Bowden's Shoe Lifts on Sep 10, 2010 5:02 PM EDT up reply actions
If you are just starting
I’d recommend choosing something else first before you try a Belgian beer. Higher gravity beers are easier to screw up. You’ll also need a blow off tube set up for fermenting, since there is so much sugar in those beers, a normal bubble stopper => beersplosion.
by ESS EEE SEE Speed on Sep 13, 2010 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions
re: blow off tube
Use them regardless of beer size.
Air locks on primary fermentation are evil. EVIL, I say, EVIL!
Some say you arent a homebrewer until you have mopped your ceiling. I say, bullshit, never start using airlocks (on primary) and you wont ever have to do this.
I use the poor man’s blowoff. Take your standard 3 piece airlock, throw away the 2 useless pieces, cut the little plastic X off the bottom, attach a tube to the central airlock tube, and voila! a blowoff tube that fits just like an airlock does.
You have to cut off the X or it will clog with hops leading to same problem as airlock clogging.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=28369
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
When you get completely insane
You will do like I did this year and start growing your own hops.
Although technically I wussed out, grew them in my parents’ garden, so realistically, my Dad grew hops and I just took pictures every few weeks. Plus helped pick them and dry them. And brewed an APA with them on Labor Day (an IPA is coming up). Got 11 ounces from 3 plants, which is pretty good result for 1st year. Should be a lot more going forward (1 Zeus plant, 2 Centennial).
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
Hops
I grew my own Cascade and Northern Brewer this year. My local homebrew store sells the rhizomes every spring of all the Northwest hops. Next year, I’m going to try Warrior, which is around 14% AAC.
I second the above comments about kegging. Bottling sucks. You can find a kegerator on Craigslist (I got mine for $200 and it works great) and corny kegs cost around $30.
I’ve done both extract and all grain, and to me, there is only marginal difference in taste, so I use bulk malt extract for the majority of my brews. It’s faster, and only a few bucks more per batch. I brew two batches of beer at a time, usually a modified clone of a Northwest brew, and one of them is always an IPA. The other one rotates among other ales, porters, and stouts. I tried Belgian ales a couple of times, and while they were high gravity, they were far too sweet for my liking. I don’t do Hefeweizen any more either for the same reason. Ales are the easiest to brew, and yield the best results IMO.
by ESS EEE SEE Speed on Sep 13, 2010 11:14 AM EDT up reply actions
I do a little of everything
and I switched to all-grain about batch 8 and never looked back. Buy my base grain in bulk – if you want to save money, this works. I found the quality difference and subtle things I was able to do with grain to be worth the extra time.
However, damn good beers can be made via extract+specialty grains. I just love the process of all graiin too much. Plus, for example, you cant decoction mash a hefeweizen with extract. And decoction makes hefes ++++yummy.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
That’s why I don’t do Hefs any more. :) Which is fine, I don’t do wheat beers that much anyway.
The bulk extract my local supply gets is actually really good, much better than the stuff other places sell in cans. That, and the convenience can’t be beat.
by ESS EEE SEE Speed on Sep 13, 2010 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions
I made a really good extration hefe
As good as an all grain done with single infusion mash.
But decoction takes them to another level altogether. And adds 1-2 hours onto the brew day. I also decoct lagers. It gives it a layer of flavor you cant get without.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
I bought a Kegerator, but never used it for kegs since the kegs they sell werent small
enough for it. Tell me what I need it for, basically to put the beer in the empty kegs?
Or just mainly to keep the beer keg cold once ya are done?
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
by mrpelicanpants on Sep 16, 2010 3:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Homebrew 5 gallon batches fit perfectly in a cornelius (soda) keg. You can find them at a homebrew store or on CL. After you’re done fermenting it, the batch goes directly in there where you can age it some more, then hook it up to a CO2 tank in your kegerator and enjoy fresh draft beer. If you get a special welded seal with a hook on it, you can also dry hop your IPA in the keg, which will give it some nice extra hoppiness.
by ESS EEE SEE Speed on Sep 16, 2010 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Couple of things to keep in mind about kegs...
There are generally two types of cornelius (soda) kegs: ball lock and pin lock. Each was used primarily by each of the major soda companies: coca-cola & pepsi respectively. Try to stick with one type for all your kegs. It makes getting the proper components easier. The two types refer to the “Gas-In” & “Beer-Out” posts on the top of the keg where you attach the lines. Pin locks have pins sticking out from the side of the posts and ball locks do not…pretty simple in that regard. Therefore this will decide for you what type of adapters to by for your setup.
Now to keg hardware itself. I’ve become pretty familiar with taking them apart for cleaning and sanitizing. Good idea if you are worried about old beer/bacteria hiding in uneasy to clean cracks. Also get a good food-grade grease to grease all the O-Rings when you reassemble it. NOTE: ball lock posts for gas and beer are different diameters. Don’t try to put that beer adapter on the gas post…it will get stuck and very hard to get off. Also if you use a sanitizer like Star-San that foams up. It will make it very easy to find leaks if you put CO2 on it with the solution in the keg.
Now the beer… Oxygen is not your friend at this point. You need to expel the O2 from the keg. If you fill your keg with 5 gallons of beer and just seal it, you still have all that headspace with O2. What some do is slowly fill an empty sanitized keg with CO2 and then fill with beer. If there isn’t much air moving, the CO2 will stay in the keg filling up the head space as you seal it since CO2 is heavier than O2. What I do is just fill the keg with beer, seal it, and start putting a little CO2 on it. I then let it sit a little while (couple of minutes) then slow bleed off the pressure. I repeat about 4 or 5 times to get rid of excess O2. Then I start the priming.
Priming can be done a few ways. First is force carbonating: hit it with a ton of CO2 PSI. Shake the hell out of the keg and repeat a couple of times. Do this if you need to drink it right away. CO2 will not be suspended in solution as nicely as the next option.
Regular CO2 priming: Usually takes about 2 weeks depending on how much PSI you have on it. I usually do it slow around 10 – 12 PSI for two weeks. Finer bubble suspension in solution. The closer the liquid temp to 32F, the easier it can absorb the CO2.
Sugar priming: Only done this for bottling, a little corn sugar is dissolved in hot water and added to the beer before kegging or bottling. O2 is removed like I mentioned before. But the residual yeast has more food to eat to convert to CO2 in the container. This will pressurize and put CO2 into solution. Must be done above serving temperature so the remaining yeast do not go dormant. Takes 2 weeks – 1 month.
by Terry Bowden's Shoe Lifts on Sep 20, 2010 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions
Good work...
Working through my second year on three rhizomes of Cascades here in Tallahassee. The heat has really done a number on them, but I’m still getting a good harvest. I made a really good wet hop IPA with last year’s batch.
by Terry Bowden's Shoe Lifts on Sep 13, 2010 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions
OK, Point Blank...
For a novice, green beginner, knowing what you know now, just go out and buy a beer kit from the local brew store and brew your basic american beer or stout? I need this to be a good batch, im exact on time and contents, and this will sway my wife over to the dark side of brewing and may get her into doing the Chardonnay thing.
What would you brew if you could do your first batch over again in the south will cooler weather here or on the way…avg temp now is like 80
You mark that frame an 8, and you're entering a world of pain
Read this site first
Dont worry about the stuff about all grain. Do extract first batch. Buy a kit or just buy ingredients. I never bought a kit but they are good to get going, if you get one from a good homebrew store. One thing, if the kit comes with a pack of old looking yeast, throw it away. Always better to buy yeast separately. Buy a dry yeast for first batch.
Ask lots of questions at homebrew store, they should be able to talk you thru anything.
As far as what to make? Stout, brown ale, something like that for first batch is good.
Dont expect to be wowed by first batch. Drinkable is a win (fortunately, its not hard to win). I was wowed because I couldnt believe I actually did it.
Conference homers are the lowest form of fandom. That is why the SEC has so many of them.
Depends...
What would you brew if you could do your first batch over again in the south will cooler weather here or on the way…avg temp now is like 80
What kind of setup are you thinking of using to control your fermentation temperature? If you plan on going the route of using a spare fridge with an external thermostat to control temp, you can do just about anything in that weather. If you are going the more scaled down route like myself and don’t want to worry about temp control too much and you don’t mind the general flavors for the style, I would suggest something like a Belgian Pale Ale or Belgian Saison (generally 5 – 6% ABV). These generally use yeast strains that are very forgiving for the higher temps. Also keep in mind these are not higher gravity doubles or tripels. For example, I’ve been making saisons most of the summer in Tallahassee. I keep the fermenter (glass carboy or food-grade plastic bucket) container in the house and don’t bother with temp control. In fact I would like it to be warmer, but I don’t like living in an 80+ degree house.
If I need to keep the temp in the 65 – 70F range, I use my Igloo Ice Cube cooler filled with water and place the fermenter in it. I then put frozen 1 or 2 liter plastic bottles all around it to drop the temp to where I want it…then pitch the yeast. IMPORTANT NOTE: If off flavors are not desired, make sure you pitch the yeast when the wort is at the desired temp and not too high (off flavors) or too low (stunned yeast). I will sometimes have to wait til the next day to pitch the yeast. If you are good about keeping things sanitary then this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Temperature is pretty easily tracked by taking it from the surrounding water in the cooler. Also, you increase the thermal mass of the entire thing so temperature fluctuation is slower than just the fermenter sitting by itself.
Also, I’ve found that stouts and porters can be forgiving to little problems in the brewing process. The roasted and chocolate malts can mask some minor off-flavors.
by Terry Bowden's Shoe Lifts on Sep 20, 2010 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions
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