Hot Climate Brewing whilst avoiding divorce

[exiledinmaui]

Aloha!

Firstly thank you all for such a wealth of information, this site is one amazing resource!

Not that I expect any sympathy, but Cider in Hawai'i is both stupidly expensive and limited in availability and varity. After hearing me complain that getting even remotely merry costs about the same as an aircraft carrier a friend suggested I make my own as he knew I used to brew wine and ales when I was a lot younger (although calling it wine is stretching it a little, elderberry avgas is closer to the truth). The problem is I got 20 years older and moved continents so I have virtually no equipment and can't remember much of anything about what I did. The upside is I am no longer 13 so I don't need it to strip paint, loosen knees or fuel a tractor. I am looking to eventually make a semi sweet to sweet, still, sediment no problem cider with a medium body and somewhere between 4 and 5%. Initially it would be nice to get vaguely close to the sweetness and ABV desired and not have to live in the car. The garden sprinkler of rules has decreed that it's fine as long as I don't spend much money (i.e. any), stink the house out or blow stuff up.

Apple availability here is an issue so the realistic choices are treetop (which is likely to give me very little flavor), costco organic AJ @ $8 / gallon and Whole foods organic AJ @ $10 a gallon with a free demijohn included. I'm thinking the two organic juices will crash easier and also give more taste based on the amount of chewy stuff in them.

The initial plan is hopefully pretty simple,

1 Gallon batches of each juice.
S04 or Notts yeast
Concentrate to backsweeten if I need.

Start around 1.065 (using concentrate to adjust initially)
Rack & Cold crash at 1.020-1.015 ish, maybe a little lower and use the frozen ish concentrate slurry to drop the temp faster and readd some sugar
Rack and watch
Then either pet bottle or glass and cap and pasteurize.

My absolute biggest concern is heat. It's retardedly hot here and the 'best' (i.e. wife permissible & most kid resistant) room doesn't have and can't have AC. I was thinking of converting a beach cooler into a ghetto water bath and using our camping ice blocks to keep the temp sane. My aim would be to get it down to around 70f, otherwise it would spend some time north of 80 which I presume would be bad (humidity is also high, not sure if this would play into things).

Any suggestions on ghetto heat management, yeast choice (dried would be preferable), general critiques? All advice would be welcomed!

 

[frankusb]

If you can get TreeTop 3 apple blend, not from concentrate, I recommend it, the flavor is quite respectable.

Frank

 

[kombat]

As for temperature control, most of us use a fridge or freezer hooked up to a temperature controller like an STC-1000. I prefer chest freezers, because I can fit more in them, and the cold air doesn't all pour out every time you open the door/lid like a standup unit.

 

[tokerlund]

Honestly, on the island of Hawaii, why would you start with anything other than fresh squeezed fruit juices. Yeah, it might not be hard 'apple' cider, but making a mango or pineapple cider would be damn tasty. I would have to believe that there would be some cheap fruit juices there.

That being said, your plan looks good. Just attempt to ferment it in a tub of cold water with a t-shirt over it. That should keep the ferment temps down enough to make it OK.

 

[Rhu]

S04 (I've heard) tolerates warmer temperatures better than Notts. Any off flavours produced tend to be fruiter than the Notts produces. I'm using S04 in super hot temps (Mexican Caribbean hot) and as yet don't have a swamp cooler (not that one would do much good as the nearest ice/refrigeration is at least 20 miles away). The only off flavour I've experienced with S04 is very reminiscent of Guava, not necessarily a bad thing, although a little frustrating as I added a bunch of fresh Guava to a different batch to see what it would be like. Turns out I needn't have bothered, tastes like Guava without adding Guava....

Am also experimenting with Saison yeast which by all accounts likes hot temps. not got much feedback on that one yet although I'm only a couple of weeks from bottling and the taste at racking was not abnormal.

As far as juice goes, my experimental batches are using Tree top that doesn't seem too bad so far, my initial batches used a mixture of bought organic juice (came in demi-jons) and some hand smashed juice from a bushel of apples from the Grocery store. I was using Champagne yeast that seems to have taken a lot of the flavour out, it's only just starting to come back after about a month and half in the bottle (about 3 and a half months old since pitching).

 

[exiledinmaui]

Thanks for all the replies! Sorry for the delay in responding, lifes gone crazy so I had to delay things for a little while till work settles down.

Re cooling, I have been considering a used fridge plus hacking the controller to get a wider temp range but I was torn between that and just using insulating board to maske a box and a heat exchange pump (peltier type) and building my own as it would have the advantage of being able to scale in size when no one is looking, but those plans have to wait a while. Thanks for the name of that controller! I was considering using a rasppi as it would give me the ability to measure more temperatures and possibly rig up a rough digital sg monitor.

You think there would be lots of juice here but there isn't really. There aren't anywhere near as many pineapples grown here since MLP gave up (to a mixed reaction, plenty glad to see them gone) and besides buying them at costco for $4-$5 each they are pretty expensive. Sad that its cheaper to buy in stuff from gazunderland rather than grow it here. Mango is a possibility but there aren't many trees that are big enough to yield a decent crop that everyone on the island doesn't already know about. Papaya is also a possibility, probably one of the best one. Lilikoi is probably the best bet, but I can only realistically get it in quantities big enough to add as a flavor rather than as the sole juice, I can get more but it would be abusing friendships and taking money out of friends pockets, if it was to feed my kids the no problem, but not fo' mo bubbles Strawberry guava would be ideal as it's an invasive pest but you normally need a helicopter to get to it. I might see how far up I can hike in a few weeks time and do some 'removal'. Also growing some dwarf papaya on the lanai has potential. It's all limited by how much trouble it will get me in the with ayatollah.

The majority of the affordable juice here is either frozen nectar (i.e. as little fruit as possible with huge amounts of whatever sugar was cheapest and water) or laden with preservatives, sadly treetop and wholefoods is about it. The local stuff is limited in supply so goes to the tourist market either as juice or shave ice syrup.

Rhu, thanks for the feedback, I read your threads on jungle juice and they were inspiring! I thought it was a bit painful to make it out here, you are dealing with a lot less by way of facilities & supplies! At least I have amazon. I feel your pain, so far from scrumpy! Have you ever made it out to Hawai'i to see the reefs \ whales etc? The loko ia alone are worth the trip.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

You might have a look at this:
https://www.cool-brewing.com/

I haven't used it yet, but it could be an answer to your temp situation.
Regards, GF.

 

[exiledinmaui]

You might have a look at this:
https://www.cool-brewing.com/

I haven't used it yet, but it could be an answer to your temp situation.
Regards, GF.

Great product! thanks for the link.

 

[BigFloyd]

If you can get your hands on a used fridge at a reasonable price, plugging it into a controller outlet box using an STC-1000 is easy. No need to hack/modify the fridge at all. You obtain total control over your temps and don't have to worry about swapping out frozen bottles.

Nottingham ale yeast fermented above 68*F starts to kick off some funky esters. They get worse as it gets warmer than that. I just put a batch of apple cider (using Motts juice from WalMart) in the fermenter fridge set at 58*F. I pitched rehydrated Notty into it at 57*F (I refrigerated 2.5 gallons of the juice beforehand). I'll let it go to 1.008, crash it for a week, rack to keg, hit it with k-sorbate and back sweeten. I like to serve it uncarbonated.

http://www.amazon.com/Elitech-All-Purpose-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat/dp/B008KVCPH2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399600729&sr=8-1&keywords=stc-1000


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/stc-1000-setup-beginners-433985/#post5538096

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-fish-tank-controller-build-using-wal-mart-parts-261506/


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

 

[Renoun]

If you can't set up a temperature controlled fermentation chamber of some sort I'd suggest looking into high temperature yeasts. Saison yeasts are one option, I've been using Wyeast #1388 (Belgian Strong Ale) for my meads/pyments/melomels which should be good to the high 70's or low 80's which might be achievable with a swamp cooler.

When you can get inexpensive low grade pineapple you might look into the Tepache thread.

If you have access to affordable honey (you'll be wanting around 2-3 pounds per gallon) you could easily make melomels flavored with whatever fruit is handy but they will be in the 10%-15% ABV range. The BOMM process would work at higher temperatures.

 

[LandoAllen]

I advise to use a temp controller on a used fridge (wire up a stc-1000 and it's very cheap), use the wet tshirt and fan option, or use a saiosin yeast strain that like the hot temps otherwise don't even try it... I tried a batch where the temps where 85-93 with niotty (my ac went out) and it had so many off flavors that it was like jet fuel. Even after sitting and "aging" for six months it was terrible. I even tried back sweetening and dry hopping it just to mask the taste...


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