I recently moved to Merida, Mexico, and wanted to get the board’s thoughts on how the typical process using an extract kit might be affected by the climate, which here is very hot (usually 90 degrees) and humid. My house is air conditioned, but generally the ambient temperature and humidity will be higher than in Chicago or Virginia where I have brewed previously.
If anyone has any thoughts on things I should keep in mind or any particular extract kits that you think would work well at a little higher temperature, I would appreciate it.
I brew in the deep south, and I’ve had to combat the same issues. I’ve had better luck with darker beers than lighter ones. I’ve severely failed on a blonde ale and two cream ales, and even pale ales have given me trouble with off flavors. However, I have had much success with mid to dark beers like dry Irish stouts, nut browns, etc. I also have made wit beers that were great.
You might also consider a saison, wheat beers (as they are a style that calls for the banana/clove flavors that yeast release at higher fermentation temps create), or a steam beer. I would also suggest looking at the yeast temps before you decide on a kit, although ppl suggest that those temps can be higher than you should go with temperature.
For me the biggest problem comes when I try to chill my wort and ferment it. Even with a wort chiller, I have a hard time getting it down to below the mid-80s, but with extract I just chill my extra water in the fridge and add it when I get the beer into the 80s. Brewing today I got the water down to around 68-70. In the past with all grain batches I had to just pitch when it got in the 80s, which probably stressed my yeast and led to off flavors.
To ferment I have used a swamp cooler and changed gallon jugs of frozen water out as often as I needed to keep the temp down. I finally got a temperature control device and am using an old freezer to ferment in. Hope this helps. I know how tough it can be fighting temps to make good beer
I live in Minnesota and find its easier to change my brew styles to closer match the temps in my basement then try to fight mother nature. During the summer my basement tops out at about 73-75 degrees so thats when I brew beers that can take a higher fermentation temp. In the winter it bottoms out at 50-55 degrees, so thats when I switch to cooler fermenting beers.
