Heatwave Brewing?

[Bubbles]

How's the heatwave working out for you all, brewing-wise?

While I'm sure there's a fair few of you out there with dedicated fermentation fridges and glycol-jacketed conicals, the rest of us aren't as well set up. I've postponed my next brew until the temperature approaches normality.

Anyone taking advantage of the warmer temperatures with their brewing, saisons and the like?

[Eoin]

How's the heatwave working out for you all, brewing-wise?

While I'm sure there's a fair few of you out there with dedicated fermentation fridges and glycol-jacketed conicals, the rest of us aren't as well set up. I've postponed my next brew until the temperature approaches normality.

Anyone taking advantage of the warmer temperatures with their brewing, saisons and the like?

I have a weizen bock on the top of my fermenting fridge, the German colleague wanted a spicy phenolic one, so we plumped for on top of the fridge at kitchen temps. From the smell of it thus far it's working out as he wanted

[mr hoppy]

I bottled a sour beer with lacto in it at the weekend. The lacto loves the hot weather so it's been a real stroke of luck that the weather's been so hot.

[onesoma]

I've no cooling either... the cooper's stout I put on at the weekend went up to 26C on Tuesday  We'll see how it turns out. Seems stable at 24 - 23 since then.

[Eoin]

I've no cooling either... the cooper's stout I put on at the weekend went up to 26C on Tuesday  We'll see how it turns out. Seems stable at 24 - 23 since then.

Coopers can be fine at those types of temps, the yeast is formulated for Australia so it doesn't throw a lot of phenols at the type of temps we get, I'd bet it'll be fine.

[Shanna]

I have a scotch ale on the go in my kitchen since last Friday of last week.  It has a lagging jacket on it but I am holidays since then so I hope I am not caught out by the unseasonably warm weather.  Hope it is not ruined ;-)

Shanna

[Bubbles]

I've got a pale ale fermented with US-05 that has a touch of 'Belgian' off it. I think it might be from the warm temperatures a few weeks back. Not unpleasant, but not as clean as I'd like.

I do find US-05 a lot more forgiving of warm temperatures than Nottingham however. Notty tastes like ass if fermented too warm.

[halite]

Fermenting a RYE IPA at the minute and don't have controlled fermentation. However I am using a swamp cooler and it is working pretty well. Basically I have my carboy sat in a large rubber bucket, this is filled with water and then I place frozen bottles of water in it during the day. The temp of the surrounding water I have been able to keep at a steady 20-21c and so I would expect the temp of the wort is at most 1c over this.

[Bubbles]

Nice job Halite. I've not done a swamp cooler myself. I've also heard of people varying the swamp cooler by draping wet t-shirts (ph-narr) over the carboy to keep them cool. Some people also use desk fans in this setup also.

Shanna, maybe Dempsey has some XXXXXXXL t-shirts that we could drape over the barrel?

[Rossa]

I put two wet towels around the fv. Soak them every day. seems to work for the most part.

[Ciderhead]

My lagering fridge in the garage is full of ales, bloody disgraceful!

[johnrm]

Hippy alert!...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlWRwLMNNbY

[Eoink]

Haven't brewed for a few weeks  because of the weather. Finally decided if you can't beat them, join them,  take advantage of the heat and brew a Belgian tripple and let it ferment at the higher temperatures. I will try the wet towel method to try and let it start cool for a couple of days.

I am also planning to brew outdoors for the first time, It will probably rain at the weekend now

[Snuff]

I have not brewed for ages and there will be a serious slump in beer stocks in a month or two. Regardless of the hot weather, I am going to do some brewing this weekend.

[Eoink]

Haven't brewed for a few weeks  because of the weather. Finally decided if you can't beat them, join them,  take advantage of the heat and brew a Belgian tripple and let it ferment at the higher temperatures. I will try the wet towel method to try and let it start cool for a couple of days.

I am also planning to brew outdoors for the first time, It will probably rain at the weekend now

Brewed Wednesday evening couldn't wait for the weekend, Thursday evening the fermenter was bubbling away but the temperature was 25C and rising.  I put the fermenter on a wet bathmat on a tile bathroom floor with a wet towel over it . This morning the fermenter was cool to touch and fermentation had stopped, even though the room temperature was 22c.  The wet towel method is too good, I might try it on a larger!
Hopefully putting it back in a warm room will restart fermentation or I will have to repitch.