Youdaman,

You have much good advice here but let me ask: where in Alabama are you
located? I am Gulf Coastie, recently returned from Hawaii. Have extensive
brewing experience in hot weather with improvised temp control. Hawaii is
neither as hot in summer nor as cold in winter as LA (for those of you who
don't know that's Lower Alabama). What I did was make a water bath for the
fermenter. Used an EXTREMELY large plastic planter and fashioned a top that
would accomodate the air lock. Filled with water until the fermenter would
barely float and kept a floating aquarium thermometer in with it. This
accomplishes 2 things: the increased volume (due to the water bath) reduces
the day/night temp fluctuation on the fermenting wort and you can use frozen
containers of water to maintain a fairly stable lower temp. Especially if
your wife lets you do it in an air conditioned area in the house (mine
won't, I used a metal storage shed). I typically checked the temp in the
morning before work, put in a quart frozen container of water, took out the
melted one and refroze it. Check at lunch if lucky enough to get home then;
if not then when I get home from work. Usually add a couple of containers
then. I was able to maintain a +or- 4 degree temp around 66 degrees.
Haven't set up my equipment since getting home and have some new ideas I
want to try for both summer and winter brewing. Good luck.

J Adams
ATCS USN
"youdaman10" <youdaman10@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:vh6g01j97u8087@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
> I'm a newbie hoping to get some advice from you guys (or ladies!). I have
> my first batch, a creme stout extract kit, perking in the primary. I was[/color]
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> little worried about my White Labs yeast as it took 8 mailing days to[/color]
reach[color=blue]
> me due to the 4th of July holiday. The temperatures are quite hot in
> Alabama currently. Anyway, I made a starter culture Friday night and[/color]
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> up my wort on Saturday night. I was happy to see rapid bubbling on my
> primary around 24 hours or Sunday night. I was getting a bubble stream
> every 7 seconds. I was perking nicely on Monday morning and at lunch but
> has slowed considerably by the time I got home from work. I am now only
> getting a bubble every several minutes.
>
> My big question, is this normal or did I have a bad yeast. It was White
> Labs Burton Ale pitchable tube. I do have some Nottingham dry yeast but
> hated to add two different yeasts if I didn't have to.
>
> I am a wine maker and usually have a strong ferment for at least a week.
>
> Any advice would be appreciated. P.S. I've never had a creme stout.
> Anybody like them?
>
>[/color]