greenhaze
Well-Known Member
Anybody have difficulty reading the stick on thermometer ?
Slainte
Slainte
greenhaze said:The lower part of mine is in the swamp cooler water. Might that be affecting it ?
Slainte
After the first few days of fermentation are over you can let the temp rise a few degrees. On my American ales I keep my swamp cooler water at 59-60F then after about 5 days I let it ramp up to about 68-69F slowly (about 1 degree per day) then I hold it at that temp until I bottle..
How do you control it that closely (gaining 1 degree per day)? Mine usually drops about 2 degrees when I put a 1 liter bottle of ice in it, so it's up and down constantly.
How do you control it that closely (gaining 1 degree per day)? Mine usually drops about 2 degrees when I put a 1 liter bottle of ice in it, so it's up and down constantly.
Thanks - I might try an ice chest. The fermentation room is a closet, and already pretty full. So I don't think a fan will work out for me. That's one of the cool things about brewing - you do what works for you.
I've never used the fan trick. I'm in construction, and I've seen houses burn down from fan motors. So I never leave a fan on when I'm not home. You can put a t-shirt over the bucket/carboy and let the bottom sit down inside of the water. The shirt will wick up the water, and as it evaporates it creates a cooling affect.
I'm just a little uneasy about leaving a fan running, too. I do use the wet towel method and get a few degrees of cooling, but it still needs ice bottles to get the temperature down where I want it. The temperature control I get this way has improved my beer greatly compared to no temperature control, but I would like to have a more constant temperature. I usually see a total swing of about four degrees F at some point during active fermentation. I'm currently experimenting with putting a small amount of insulation around the ice bottle to slow the heat transfer. The ice chest idea might help, since smaller ice bottles could be used.
Yea having it even partly in water sounds like a bad idea. Reading at an angle does make it harder to read. Will need to get on the knees to read it.
Slainte
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