Fermenting at Higher Temperatures

I stopped brewing last summer because I couldn’t/didn’t want to keep my basement cold enough for normal fermentation temps. In the last month I said forget it and made a Belgian Witt anyway. It tastes okay, but was definitely negatively impacted by a room temperature around 76 through primary and secondary fermentation.

So my question is - are there different beers that are either less impacted by the higher temp, or actually do better at a higher temp (around 75 degrees). Or is there a yeast that would help with this issue.

Thanks for any advice the forum can offer!

I ferment French saison yeast 3711 at that temp. I usually try to pitch it around 65 and keep it on the floor in the basement then just let it run up I get it into the low 80s.

A swamp cooler can keep an active fermentation 8° to 10°F lower than the ambient temperature with the use of a fan to increase evaporation. Adding plastic soda bottles filled with ice, to the water, will drop the temperature even further. There is an insulated bag on the market that utilizes ice bottles for cooling also.

A picture of my swamp cooler set up.

One problem with a swamp cooler is the humidity it adds to the room. Don’t get me wrong I use one on occasion in the winter to ferment lagers when the humidity is down. But in the humid months I try to limit its use. So I understand the reluctance people have to them.

You can make good saisons at those temps. Haven’t tried it that high with 3711, but its a good versatile yeast thats easy to work with. 565 is the gold standard though. It works at those temps because its basically a wine yeast.

Some good threads here on saisons:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=125486

Investing in temp control though is honestly more important than going all grain or even doing full-volume boils. Frankly, if you have that, you can use it for partial chilling as well before you buy/build an immersion chiller or counterflow/inline.

I knew a guy that was able to order the parts for a home-wired temp controller for around $20, shipped. He found the supplier (somewhere in China) over on Homebrewtalk, but all measurements were in *C, so he kept a printed out chart next to his ferment chest! Then he got an old chest freezer on Craigslist, and the seller ended up trading it to him for some beer, so now he makes amazingly improved beer for around $20 and an hour or so of putting the temp controller together.

If you don’t have the initiative/time and have some funds, you can just buy a pre-wired single-stage Johnson controller for $70.

Get temp control and make ‘beer’ not ‘homebrew’!

Never had any issues with humidity when I used my swamp cooler method…

The amount of humidity you’ll add to your house is negligible. While boiling a large pot of water will add a lot of water vapor to the air quickly, the amount of water vapor added due to the evaporative cooling of a swamp cooler is far lower. You might lose a gallon of water a day in a swamp cooler verses a gallon an hour boiling water on the stove.

I’ve kept my swamp coolers full for weeks on end without losing a gallon. I use frozen water bottles in mine. I doubt you lose a cup a day to evaporation, unless you’re doing the t shirt wicking fan thing.

I used to ignore temperature all the time when fermenting and just leave it at “room temperature.” As soon as I changed to a hopped of version (dorm frig / foam combo) of “a son of a fementor” I started getting better scores in competition. That being said I am currently fermenting a Sasion with 3724 wyeast @ 90 degrees. You can look at white labs or Wyeast’s sites and they will tell you the acceptable temperature of each strain…

Happy brewing BTW place second one time with a Saison fermented at 62 degrees with 3711.

Cheers,

Tim

I’ve kept my swamp coolers full for weeks on end without losing a gallon. I use frozen water bottles in mine. I doubt you lose a cup a day to evaporation, unless you’re doing the t shirt wicking fan thing.[/quote]

I do the t shirt thing minus the fan and my basement is under ground. It gets humid here in the summer and I have to keep a dehumidifier running in my basement in the summer that’s why I worry about using the swamp cooler. I empty a gallon a day from my dehumidifier even when not using the swamp cooler. It was cheap to build a fermenting cooler. I got one of those 14 dollar temp controller and a free freezer. I boil outdoors so that’s not a problem.

Swamp coolers are very inefficient when it’s humid.
I lived in AZ for 8 years and during dry summer months it was easy to maintain temperatures inside in the low 70s when it was over 100 outside. During the monsoon season the best I could do inside was low to mid 90s.

Swamp coolers are very inefficient when it’s humid.
I lived in AZ for 8 years and during dry summer months it was easy to maintain temperatures inside in the low 70s when it was over 100 outside. During the monsoon season the best I could do inside was low to mid 90s.[/quote]
I suppose if the space you’re in is unconditioned. It doesn’t get a whole lot more humid than Virginia summers but my basement is conditioned space so it’s 68-70 there anyway. I ferment lagers in my swamp coolers at 50.

[quote=“Pietro”]Investing in temp control though is honestly more important than going all grain or even doing full-volume boils. Frankly, if you have that, you can use it for partial chilling as well before you buy/build an immersion chiller or counterflow/inline…If you don’t have the initiative/time and have some funds, you can just buy a pre-wired single-stage Johnson controller for $70. Get temp control and make ‘beer’ not ‘homebrew’![/quote]Right on! Temp control plus good sanitation are the two most important things in brewing.

Where I lived in AZ the cost of electricity was very high. Some of the guys that I worked with had summer electric bills higher than their mortgages.