MrEcted1

Recipes 

Hello,

It's starting to get rather warm here, which may cause me problems whilst fermenting. I don't have a basement, nor do I have air-conditioning (argh!) I really don't want my brew to reach above 70 degrees while I ferment, and also I would like to keep a steady temperature. Is there a way I can achieve this with relative ease? My house gets to about 80 degrees during the peak of summer

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Primary: Porter Potty (oaked porter)
Secondary:
Bottled:
Bottled (Drinking):
Next: IIPA

last batch review(Schwheat (wheat))

Appear: 3.5/5.
Mouthfeel: 3.5/5
Carb/Head: 3/5
Taste: 2.5/5
Overall: 3/5

An overall decent beer but it has too much of a banana character, I think it's because of fermenting at too high of a temp. Tasted better as it aged, but far from perfect.

davidkrau

Recipes 

Yhe only way I cah think of is to put the fermenter in a laundry tub, with cold water and change the water periodically

timdsmith72

Recipes 

yeah...reckon you could also keep some milk jugs with frozen water and change out the jugs instead of the whole lot of water.

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Up next: ??
Primary 1: Haus Ale
Primary 2: Air
Bottled 1: Edwort's Apfelwein
Bottled 2: Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
Bottled 2: Cranberry Wheat
Kegged 1: Edwort's Haus Ale
Kegged 2: Saison

El Pistolero

Recipes 

A big rubbermaid tub ($10 at Wal-Mart) filled with water, and ice blocks changed out as needed. You can easily keep the water in the tub 10-20 degrees below air temp this way, as long as you remember to change the ice out.

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[/I] Up Next - Hobgoblin
After That - Czech Pilsner
Primary - Humboldt Hop Rod (4/24)
Primary - NOT Wheat AG SNCA (5/5)
Secondary -
Conditioning - SNCA Clone (3/3),

rod

Recipes 

build an insulated box for your bucket/carboy that will also hold frozen jugs of water.
mine will keep carboy at 70 degrees with a 4 litre jug changed twice daily.
if i want colder for lagers i add more jugs.
today i have 1-10 litre and 3-1 litres and temp is 40.5 degrees for lagering

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beer, wine, cheese in various stages of production

david_42

Recipes 

If you're willing to spend $15, buy a "wardrobe" box from a moving company. They're double thickness cardboard and can hold a fermentor and jugs of ice.

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Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"

brewbob52

Recipes 

do you have a recipe for the Chocolate Oatmeal stout? I am not brewing all grain, yet. bobbrew52

StanJohnson

Recipes 

The easiest way to keep a steady temperature would be with some sort of fermentation chamber, like a small chest freezer, and a temperature controller. You should be able to get both for around $100. May not be the cheapest but would be the easiest.

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RDWIWBB

Stan

johnbrain

Recipes 

even with double thickness would you line it with styrofoam from Craft store?

My other thought is to use my Igloo Maxx cooler. I can stand a carboy up in it to about the shoulder of the carboy. Do you think i could get sufficient cooling if i made a styrofoam lids with a cutout to accommodate the top of the carboy? Would that expose too much surface area for adequate temp control? The advantage would be having the blow off tube outside the box.

Thoughts?

P.s.is it okay if my fermentor is in ambient light? Just not direct sunlight?

MikeinCT

Recipes 

after you put your fermenter into the tub - take off our t-shirt and slip it over the fermenter. Get it wet. Then blow a fan over the whole thing. You can drop 6 to 10 degrees f from the evaporation. No ice required. Better known as a swamp cooler....good luck, mike