Heat wave beer time

Well, it's been some time since I've made a post . . . nearly a month by my calculations. So, a happy (belated) New Year to everyone and a merry (very belated) Christmas. With that out of the way, time to get to the post.

So, it's summer here in Australia and Adelaide is one of (if not the) hottest major city in the entire country as of the last weather report. Good ol' Adelaide has even out-scorched Alice Springs by about two or three degrees celsius. I believe that today's high was around 41 to 45 degrees . . . mmm, toasty. That meant that it was, oh, about a million inside the house (which we just moved in, see next post for details). We luckily have air-conditioning . . . in one room . . . nick-named the "cool room" as compared to the Dante's Inferno remainder of the house.

Well, on this hottest of the hot days I got an idea in my head to start a desparately procrastinated (perhaps not the correct adjectival clause?) project. Why not?! 40 plus degree heat? Who cares!

Thus begins my adventure into home brewing. I called on the support of my friend (who is also an American) to ensure quality and the like. Well, to those of you who are adept at home brewing you'll know that aside from clean equipment and good yeast, temperature control is one of the most important factors to consider. Most of the manuals will de-cry the foul of letting the wort and yeast get too cold. Hmph, not a problem today. I have not seen much mention about the brew getting too hot.

Ah, but desperation has been the mother of inventiveness. So, for most of today, I've been rather busy watching over my 21 litre "baby" and trying damn hard to keep the temperature at or below 30 degrees celsius. Yes, yes, I know . . . home brew experts and purists will decry this but I'd like to see them make a brew during a heat wave. Let's not even examine the logic and sense of attempting such a project in such weather.

Anyway . . . I'll keep you, dear reader, posted on the progress of the brewing. The hot weather is predicted to last for another few days. Well, at least I won't have to worry about a brew that gets too cold!