CLEARWATER BREWERY,LLC
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA

The fermentation did not start for 36 hours or so, and had me real scared, until it took off so violently that it blew the cap off the airlock and put spots on the ceiling! I know know that a smack-pack should be put in a starter if you want it to take off right away, which is good for making sure the good yeast is in sufficient health and numbers to outgrow any other stray organism... During this brew, I heard of the local beer club, , from Butch, a friend of my roommate Joe. Not only did I meet some cool people, but I sampled beer that renewed my faith that good beer could be made at home... WOW, was there a good variety and quality! I learned that the fermentation temperature was most likely our problem and decided to do something about it. The guys in the club all recommended a chest freezer, but I was thinking the cheap way would be a small window unit to keep my computer room as cold as a data center, 68 degrees. The room was 80 degrees at the end of April, and by May was creeping towards 85... That temp had the yeast making funny flavors, but a LOT of alcohol!... cooling it 20 degrees sounded easy to do with a small unit. I finished that batch and bought a $90, 5000btu window A/C unit and brought the room to 68 degrees very quickly, I sealed the door and the window that was opened for the unit. I got an electronic control one, but probably would have been happier with mechanical control, as the power outages here in FL cause it to reset and once a week I have to turn it back on. I got the electronic one because I thought it might turn off the fan and all when it was below the set temp, but it does not, why can't they make it operate like a central A/C unit? I bottled the SA summer ale, and it sat(some still sits) in the nice cozy 68 degree room. Most bottles are good, once in a while we run across a weird one, maybe capping? Thinking we just may have had it licked, Mike bought us a couple TBBC copies from The BrewShack in Tampa on Waters. He got the