What would you do?

[Zambi]

Posted here as it is beer related.

It's hot here and I got limited solar power. Plenty during day time, but not much at night.
I've set my fridge and freezer to not kick in in the early morning hours to avoid a power cut.
That way I can run a fan at night.
But I won't be able to run my fan and my fermentation fridge. Not tested, but seems logical.

So I either do without fan and run my ferm fridge or I gotta do without and use yeasts that can handle high temperature and fluctuations.
What would you all suggest?

I got a cooler box lined with a duvet that I can use to minimise temp fluctuations. It's what I normally use for mashing.

Night temps are still a bit low (compared to day) and the average is a bit too low for Kveik Voss.

Looking for ideas and some out of the (cooler) box thinking

 

[Box of Rocks]

Since you have solar panels, get an inverter and a battery bank. And an Electrical Engineering degree?

Thermal Battery. Maybe build a passive solar thermal wall that would retain heat into the night to keep the Kveik happy. Think metal barrels painted black filled with sand, in a row, behind thick plastic sheeting or glass. Could have a thermostat the opens a vent and turns on a fan when it is too hot.

Air Battery. If you have wind, you could use it to compress air, and the use the compressed air to turn a generator when needed. Come to think of it, you could use solar that way too.

Hydro power... Evaporative cooler on roof... I can come up with many ideas but have no experience, lol.

 

[Zambi]

I got a battery bank.
Just 1 set of batteries though. When they need replacing, I'll get 2 sets and that should solve things.
Luckily we had some rain last night and that dropped the temperatures for now.

Problem with most solutions is that they need some form of power, whether that's sprinklers, fan etc

So far I figure using Kveik when it gets hot again with fermenter inside a cooler box and wrapped in duvets. Gotta only maintain the real heat for 24 hours or so.

Then for slightly cooler weather, use wet bed sheets to cool myself down, no fan, and run fermentation fridge at 25+ oC and find a yeast that can deal with it.
Saison and maybe some Belgian yeasts

Emigrate, buying another solar fridge and/or solar fan, using my genny are all options that I have crossed off for now

 

[Bigbre04]

I got a battery bank.
Just 1 set of batteries though. When they need replacing, I'll get 2 sets and that should solve things.
Luckily we had some rain last night and that dropped the temperatures for now.

Problem with most solutions is that they need some form of power, whether that's sprinklers, fan etc

So far I figure using Kveik when it gets hot again with fermenter inside a cooler box and wrapped in duvets. Gotta only maintain the real heat for 24 hours or so.

Then for slightly cooler weather, use wet bed sheets to cool myself down, no fan, and run fermentation fridge at 25+ oC and find a yeast that can deal with it.
Saison and maybe some Belgian yeasts

Emigrate, buying another solar fridge and/or solar fan, using my genny are all options that I have crossed off for now

Voss can handle temps up to 104F(40C). I generally set my glycol for 38.5C and it generally never kicks on(I am working in an airconditioned room though). Honestly, unless its over 40C during the day, keep it dark and let it ride. At night as long as it is relatively insulated(your blanket box), it should not drop out of the fermentation window.

Generally, my fermentation is done in around 4 days with Voss and good nutrients.

Hope that helps!

 

[Mont Y. Märzen]

I just did a batch with Lutra and it hit target FG in 24 hours at 90℉. (It kept going down to 1.005 at 38℉! for the next week) Depending on the size of the batch, I wouldn't worry too much about ambient fluctuation up to about 20-30℉. Mass doesn't want to change temp. (mine was a 5gal batch) On top of that, the yeast are generating metabolic heat. And as my recent experience shows, they'll keep eating even if the temp of the wort drops. Other than that, research strains that like your temp range for the season and just brew those beers.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I'd lookafter you before the yeast Zambezi so if that means not running the fermentation fridge vs running a fan to sleep well at night I'd choose the later

Sounds like you've got plenty of heat so the doona insulated ferm box sounds good either that or a really big water bath.

It takes alot of energy to move the water temp up or down.

You could fill a large tub leave it there for a day or two and conduct a little experiment what's its mean temp find that find your yeast brew your beer...

 

[Mont Y. Märzen]

You could fill a large tub leave it there for a day or two and conduct a little experiment what's its mean temp find that find your yeast brew your beer...

I know a guy who ferments using a water bath and controls the water temp. He finds it much easier to work with and more consistent than trying to control air.

 

[Minbari]

I know a guy who ferments using a water bath and controls the water temp. He finds it much easier to work with and more consistent than trying to control air.

I used to do that. problem is if you get a leak in air, you just leak a little beer out.. if you get a leak in the water bath you leak yucky water in and then the batch is ruined. after I had a 5 gallon batch that ended over 6, I never used that again.

 

[Zambi]

I've thought of a water bath, but unless I move my fermenter in the Zambezi river, I don't think it is worth it due to not having a bath

Although, just thinking that maybe it is worth an experiment in the guest bathroom. More the swamp cooler idea.
Big bucket, small amount of water, and towels around the fermenter,
Nope. Not, 'cause then to cool it properly, I would need my fan. And in that case, I may as well operate my fermentation fridge.

Temps dropped a bit. I'm almost strong enough to brew again.
Gonna check my yeast variety.
And I'll need to keep a good look at the weather forecast

 

[GFHomebrew]

I've thought of a water bath, but unless I move my fermenter in the Zambezi river, I don't think it is worth it due to not having a bath

Although, just thinking that maybe it is worth an experiment in the guest bathroom. More the swamp cooler idea.
Big bucket, small amount of water, and towels around the fermenter,
Nope. Not, 'cause then to cool it properly, I would need my fan. And in that case, I may as well operate my fermentation fridge.

Temps dropped a bit. I'm almost strong enough to brew again.
Gonna check my yeast variety.
And I'll need to keep a good look at the weather forecast

Just spit balling Zambezi you'll get there sounds like you've got some more time to think about it anyhow.

Happy healing to you.