Recently moved into a new house, and as such my brewing operations have all been moved outside & into our garage. We live in Southern California, so our garage gets HOT in the summer (think 100F+).
I basically have one temp controlled chest freezer that I use for both controlling fermentations and serving kegged beer. It can hold either 2 6.5 gallon carboys or 4 ball lock kegs, or some combination thereof. Since I only have the one unit, at any given moment I only have either a temp controlled fermentation chamber or a keezer - not both!
Recently, I bottled up a craft malt liquor I made (I know, odd choice, but it was fun to make!). Going into the bottling bucket it was crisp & bright. The bottles sat in my hot garage for 3 weeks, and I cracked one open the other day. I was very sad (but probably shouldn’t have been surprised) to find out that the beer was a shadow of its former self. Oxidized, dull, brown and murky. At least my carbonation level was spot on…
I’m thinking that I can’t expect to bottle condition delicate beers like this in a garage that gets as hot as mine. I’ve always been in situations before where I can use an interior closet that at worst gets up to 80F for bottle conditioning, and that’s worked decently well for me. Now, however, I’m thinking I may need to bite the bullet and invest in a second keezer - one that I keep at 68F or lower for long term carboy & bottle storage, rather than letting them cook in my garage. I think it might be worth it because I want to start making sours, and it’s probably more ideal for them to age long term at cooler temperatures.
Anyway, that was kind of a lot but I just wanted to put this all out there and ask y’all what you would do in my situation, and for those of you who DO have hot garages like myself with no option to move some of your operations inside - what do you do?!
You will need to either simply brew less in the hot summer months, or get a second keezer/fridge, like you said. You really don’t have a choice. I live in the Sacramento area and my garage gets as hot as yours. It’s brutal. That kind of heat is very taxing on a fridge. If you get a second one, get one that rated as “garage ready.” GE makes some…
I basically don’t brew in summer. It’s been the coolest summer I’ve ever experienced here in SW ontario though so I think I’m going to try out some ~70F basement fermenting come early september.
I was considering trying kveik, which could be an option for you for at least a few months of the year. I have tasted some commercial samples and to me they taste okay, but just sort of unfamiliar… but i could imagine maybe finding one i liked and getting used to it.
It doesn’t get as hot here in Michigan as 100+ but we do stay in the upper 80’s and into the 90’s for a few months so I started using Kveik yeast and it has worked out well. Other than that I would get a used chest freezer and turn it into a fermentation chamber. Or if you are handy and have the room in your garage you could frame in a corner, sheath and insulate it and add a small AC unit to make a walk-in fermentation room.
I live in S. Indiana in the Ohio R. valley where humidity is high and temps in July and August are frequently in the 90S and occasionally exceed 100 F. I have a Whirlpool fridge in the garage that is either used for a fermentation chamber or kegerator depending on where I’m at in the brewing/drinking cycle. To minimize stress on it when it’s being used as a kegerator, I keep the temp at 38 F instead of lower which would keep my beer fresher longer.
FWIW I had and old Kenmore chest freezer in the garage for more than 30 years with no issues whatsoever. It was used solely as a freezer. When I was the only one left in the house, I no longer need it and sold it. This was prior to when I began homebrewing.
y’all are funny! Come on down to Phoenix for a summer and check out my garage! 120F+ I have a 20cf chest freezer that I ferment in and store some of my equipment in. its at least always around 62F. Had it now for about 10+yrs. When I used to bottle I had to bottle in the house but I also conditioned them in a closet, never had an issue. Been kegging quite a while now and store any that won’t fit in the kegerator in the chest freezer.
If you have space and money, it’s definitely worth it to have multiple chest freezers/fermentation chambers. As a compromise on space, I have one larger fermentation chamber (which will hold two fermenters or three kegs) and one smaller one (which will hold one fermenter or two kegs) out in the garage. I have my keezer in the house. An added benefit is that I can run an ale and a lager at the same time, if I plan out my batch order carefully…it definitely gave me flexibility, which is a good thing given my frequency of brewing.