Newbie Question - Fermentation Temperature
 

I'm certain this question is asked on a monthly basis, but I'd appreciate
your patience with yet another newbie:

Is it possible to do home winemaking in an environment where the air
temperature hovers in the low 80's? How do you folks work around this type
of enviroment?

Any suggestions/solutions would be greatly appreciated. I've not attempted
winemaking before, but the interest is certainly there - I know that sooner
or later (probably sooner), I'm going to give it a try.

Newbie Question - Fermentation Temperature
 

Subtropical wrote:
>
> Is it possible to do home winemaking in an environment where the air
> temperature hovers in the low 80's? How do you folks work around this type
> of enviroment?


Certainly!

Most home winemakers probably make batches of 1 to 5 gallons. For a
carboy that size, if I wanted to keep it cool, I'd set it in a pan of
water with a towel draped around it & into the water. If simple
evaporation wasn't enough to do the trick, putting a fan in front
probably would be. For large batches, people often freeze jugs of water
and place them (capped)in the fermenter at intervals.

On the other hand, some of us are blessed with a cool basement for
summer ferments.

--


Mike MTM, Cokesbury, New Jersey, USA

Newbie Question - Fermentation Temperature
 

While I do not consider myself an expert in the matter I have been
making wine in Thailand, where 80 degrees F would be considered
relatively cool weather, for a number of years and while the product
is, perhaps, not equal to the greatest vintages it is a perfectly
palatible wine. I also suspect that "shelf life" may not be as long as
to wines stored in cooler environments.

You fill find that primary fermentation and secondary fermentation
will be faster then usually discussed in this news group and I would
suggest that you try to keep the wine in a shady or darkened room as
the level of UV in tropical, or sub-tropical environments is often
strong enough to bleach cloth and would, I'm sure, have an
undesirability effect on the color of your wine, if nothing else.

I suggest that once you have made your first batch and aged it for at
six months you go out and buy a box of the cheapest "box wine" you can
find and set up a blind tasting session. I think you will find that
you are making a better wine then at least one of the "commercial
wines" on the market.

Cheers,

Bruce
(k4556/at/inet/dot/co/dot/th)

On Wed, 7 Jul 2004 16:02:34 -0400, "Subtropical"
> wrote:

>I'm certain this question is asked on a monthly basis, but I'd appreciate
>your patience with yet another newbie:
>
>Is it possible to do home winemaking in an environment where the air
>temperature hovers in the low 80's? How do you folks work around this type
>of enviroment?
>
>Any suggestions/solutions would be greatly appreciated. I've not attempted
>winemaking before, but the interest is certainly there - I know that sooner
>or later (probably sooner), I'm going to give it a try.
>

Newbie Question - Fermentation Temperature
 

"Subtropical" > wrote in message
.. .
> I'm certain this question is asked on a monthly basis, but I'd appreciate
> your patience with yet another newbie:
>
> Is it possible to do home winemaking in an environment where the air
> temperature hovers in the low 80's? How do you folks work around this type
> of enviroment?
>
> Any suggestions/solutions would be greatly appreciated. I've not attempted
> winemaking before, but the interest is certainly there - I know that
sooner
> or later (probably sooner), I'm going to give it a try.
>
>
When I started making wine in Houston in the early 80's we did not have AC.
Temperatures in the mobile home I lived in would probably be in the high
90's to over 100 in the day and maybe the mid 80's at night. In that
climate putting it in a pan of water would not have done anything as the
humidity is so high it would not have really cooled it. That temperature
should have killed any yeast but I successfully made wine. The big problem
is that it did not age well. Most needed to be drunk before it was 18 mo's
old.

But to answer your question: Yes.

Ray

Newbie Question - Fermentation Temperature
 

"Subtropical" > wrote in message
.. .
> I'm certain this question is asked on a monthly basis, but I'd appreciate
> your patience with yet another newbie:
>
> Is it possible to do home winemaking in an environment where the air
> temperature hovers in the low 80's? How do you folks work around this type
> of enviroment?
>
> Any suggestions/solutions would be greatly appreciated. I've not attempted
> winemaking before, but the interest is certainly there - I know that
sooner
> or later (probably sooner), I'm going to give it a try.
>
>
When I started making wine in Houston in the early 80's we did not have AC.
Temperatures in the mobile home I lived in would probably be in the high
90's to over 100 in the day and maybe the mid 80's at night. In that
climate putting it in a pan of water would not have done anything as the
humidity is so high it would not have really cooled it. That temperature
should have killed any yeast but I successfully made wine. The big problem
is that it did not age well. Most needed to be drunk before it was 18 mo's
old.

But to answer your question: Yes.

Ray