What's the easiest way to keep fermenter cool during the hot summer days?

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

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

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

MrEcted1 said:

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?

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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.

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

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.

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

MrEcted1 said:

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

Click to expand...

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.

david_42 said:

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.

Click to expand...

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?

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

I used the swamp cooler for awhile and while it worked, spending the cash on a dedicated dorm fridge or freezer and a Johnson digital controller was absolutely worth it. I've said it before, I'd go back to extract only (still love extract brewing) before I gave up my fermentation fridge and digital temp control.

Swamp cooler is a great cheap option, but the fridge is worry proof. My .02 anyhow.

Just for giggles I experimented last night and this a.m. went to home dept and bought a sheet of 1/2" form board for around $7. I have a large Igloo cooler but it will only hold my Better Bottle up to the shoulder. So I made a three layer lid. Essentially only the krausen was above the lid and I'll justify it that heat escapes up. My wife would kill me if I bought yet another cooler.

I also made a layer to cover the opening and placed just 3 small frozen water bottles in it. it started around garage temp 68° at 8:30 a.m. I checked at 4 this p.m. it was 49° and the bottles were still 3/4 frozen.

I figure I could drop the temp even more with 1 or 2 frozen gallon water bottles and/or ice bath. Almost makes me want to try a lager. My next test will be to see if I can warm it up with rice sock. My house stats warm enough in the winter but I'd prefer not to lug a carboy upstairs to the guest room.

Ferm fridge with temp controller. Once you get the temps dialed in, you just set it and forget it. I'd recommend a good, dual stage, temp controller and an inxpensive Craigslist fridge, or freezer; I prefer the fridge.