Brewing at ≥27°C (≥81°F)

[nickwalters@icloud.com]

Hi! I live in Finland, where apartments are very well insulated because of the cold winters, but can get very hot in the summer. As the weather's been amazing for the last few months, my apartment has reached 27°C. I've successfully brewed an APA (SafAle US-05) while it's been this warm, and now my friends want to try brewing a chocolate or cherry stout with me, but I'm really struggling to find recipes which use a yeast which seems like it would work ok at such a high temperature. I've mainly only found that saison and sour yeasts would be good at this kind of temperature. Do you have any chocolate or cherry stout recipe that would work at 27°C?

 

[nickwalters@icloud.com]

P.S. In my other fermentor I was also planning to brew a wheat beer and I have the same problem with temperature, and the same question: any recommended recipes for wheat beers at higher temperatures?

 

[James_sweden]

I have heard a lot of people saying that kveik will work cleanly at this temperature, so that might be worth trying. It's warm over here in Stockholm too and my weissen is currently in the apartment's förråd at a nice 18C. Is this something that you can do too? It might give you some more options for summer.

 

[nickwalters@icloud.com]

Thanks for this suggestion! I've done some research and have decided to try both a double chocolate oatmeal stout and a wheat beer using Voss Kveik this weekend. I'll let you know how these turn out.

My basement is always hot and my attic fluctuates temperature a lot and it's not safe to carry my glass carboys up there when full.

 

[The Green Man]

I am having trouble keeping my fermentor cool at the moment, so I feel your pain. I am using a damp towel draped over my fermentor with the end of the towel in a bucket of water. Not sure how effective this will be though...
I brewed a Saison recently which has blown my mind. I think you can use these yeasts for Winter Warmer style ales, so why not stout? It won't be a dry stout in the Guiness sense, but I'm sure it will be amazing. I would say experiment.

 

[nickwalters@icloud.com]

I'm also planning to try some saisons, as I noticed that many saison yeasts are good at a bit higher temperatures, and they were on my list anyway. But let's see how this stout and this wheat beer turn out with kveik...

 

[Hawkbox]

Voss seems to be really good for this purpose. You're kind of in the heart of the farmhouse yeast region so you could always check around for a homebrew group that might have a local strain they like.

If you find one let us know, we might want to pay you to ship us samples.

 

[Craigerrr]

I have used VOSS a few times, and have had great results. Recently pitched it into a 1063 Coffee Porter, haven't packaged it yet but a sample that I carbed in a PET bottle tasted GREAT.

 

[James_sweden]

This actually fills me with hope! I want to get started on my winter stout soon and, despite my basement storage being a cool 17C, summer is coming and it should get warmer there. Having the option to use something like the Lalbrew Voss I have in the fridge to ferment the planned 1.100 OG stout is a huge bonus. When that has had a couple of weeks, we should be over the worst of it and I can bottle and let it condition down there for a few months.

 

[thunderwagn]

I'll agree with some of the above posts and also vouch for kveik. It fits the bill perfectly for situations like you have right now. I'm betting it will do well for you!