I just bought a mail-order (have a PO Box in Point Roberts, WA) Igloo cooler from the States and am planning on building a fermentation cooler a la Yooper's design for fermenting during the late spring/summer. Was sold when she said that she can get down to lagering temps with care and attention. Still an ales-only guy, but do want to brew year round on the top floor of a condo complex.
My condo's second bedroom/brewing room is at about 66-68F from October until May; after that it gets quite a bit warmer. Made some pretty bad beers during last year's late-July Vancouver version of a heat wave. Lately I have been immersing the fermenter (6.5 gal. carboy) in a tub of water, sometimes with a t-shirt on it (no fan), when I wanted to ferment a bit cooler for a drier beer. Worked great during the months noted above. Temp on outside of carboy (under the wet shirt) or in the water was about 3-4F cooler than the ambient air temp. That was without any frozen water bottles. Hoping that with some research and experience that the cooler will be the least expensive (70.00 CDN including shipping to Point Bobs) solution to my summer fermenting woes.
Might be worth a ferry trip to Anacortes and go to the Target or Costco in Burlington, WA to see about a proper cooler. There are lots of brewpubs in Skagit county . There's nothing that I can find in Canada that will work similarly to this system. Some other CDN HBTs might have some further info on this.
Good luck. I feel your pain.
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Cask ale and session beer enthusiast.
It's much cooler here, of course, but I can add water and frozen water bottles to this cooler and keep the beer at just about any temperature. I float a thermometer in the water bath, to monitor the temperature, and it works really well for me.
With your level of dedication, I am shocked that you haven't invested in a chest freezer and controller.
In my opinion, the hassle of any other setup (son of fermentation, swamp cooler, constant monitoring, etc.) far outweighs the $300 investment in a chest freezer and temperature controller. I LOVE it...no worries, no hassle...just set and forget. As fermentation temperature control is one of the most critical elements of the process, you are making an investment in the future of your brews...save up $300 and pull the trigger:
I stumbled across this a while ago. This person is from socal as I am and it gets up there in temp in the summer. Really wanna do this myself. BUT...I'm having trouble convincing the SWMBO. I assume he's using food grade antifreeze. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bb4VUleM5s
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Quote:
Originally Posted by passedpawn
Rdwhahb&dbad!
Translation: Relax don't worry have a home brew and don't be a ****!
I stumbled across this a while ago. This person is from socal as I am and it gets up there in temp in the summer. Really wanna do this myself. BUT...I'm having trouble convincing the SWMBO. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bb4VUleM5s
With your level of dedication, I am shocked that you haven't invested in a chest freezer and controller.
In my opinion, the hassle of any other setup (son of fermentation, swamp cooler, constant monitoring, etc.) far outweighs the $300 investment in a chest freezer and temperature controller. I LOVE it...no worries, no hassle...just set and forget. As fermentation temperature control is one of the most critical elements of the process, you are making an investment in the future of your brews...save up $300 and pull the trigger:
+1.....You hit the nail on the head. Why skimp on one of the most important aspects of brewing.
So is a $50 Vegas hooker...that is until you realize that you were too drunk to realize that should have spent a few extra bucks on a quality product and saved yourself the hassle of a lifetime monthly trip to Walgreens to pick up your Valtrex prescription for a $20 copay.
It really depends on your climate, too, I think. Right now my house is 62 degrees- I have my fermenter in the room I'm in since it's the warmest room in the house. My basement is at 48. So, I can do ales or lagers. (Then lager in the fridge, or the cooler set up). My laundry room is 58 degrees- I just made a steam beer. It's limiting sometimes, not having a fermentation chamber, but it's definitely not needed for me. In the summer, my basement never gets above 65 degrees. But there are times when I've needed that cooler set up- sometimes to use ice to cool the fermentation in an unusual heat wave, but just as often I put an aquarium heater in it to bring the temperature UP!
__________________ Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006
You call me a dog well that's fair enough 'Cause it ain't no use to pretend You're wrong
But when it's my time to throw The next stone I'll call you beautiful if I call at all
So is a $50 Vegas hooker...that is until you realize that you were too drunk to realize that should have spent a few extra bucks on a quality product and saved yourself the hassle of a lifetime monthly trip to Walgreens to pick up your Valtrex prescription for a $20 copay.
You get what you pay for.
Classy analogy.
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Cask ale and session beer enthusiast.
. There's nothing that I can find in Canada that will work similarly to this system. Some other CDN HBTs might have some further info on this.
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