moved to an appartment, any tips

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BFitch

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so i moved out of my parents house a couple months ago and now that im settled in, i want to start brewing again. i made one batch a while back but it never finished fermenting, so im eager to try again. heres the problem though, at my parents house, the basement stayed around 70 degrees all the time, but since i have no basement now, it looks like im around 75-80 degrees. anyone have any tips on what to do to keep my temps down, or what to brew that can ferment at those temps?
 
I live in AZ and my house is almost over 70F. I use the "swamp cooler" method with great results. Basically, a large tub half filled with water and swap out frozen bottles of water twice a day and can get into the low 60s with this method. Not as easy or as ideal as a fridge with a temp control, but it works great.
 
I suggest maybe a swamp cooler. Of course, if you have cash to throw at the problem, you could always build a fermentation chamber. I brew all-grain in an apartment and have a closet dedicated to beer stuff and fermentation. It works great. Otherwise, looking up higher temp strains is the way to go.

Good luck
 
I'm in an apartment too. I use a storage size rubbermaid container and it works just fine. You do have to stay up on switching out water bottles, but if you keep a good enough stock in the freezer, shouldn't have any issues
 
A swamp cooler is easy but if you can spare $100, get a Johnson Controller ($40 in classified) and a 4+ cu ft mini fridge off Craigslist (~$50).

Not only will ale temp control be easy, but you won't have to deal with water and you can do a lager in the fridge also.

Also get to know your neighbors and apartment staff (share your beer!) so they know what you are doing. Being confused with a meth cook isn't fun.
 
When I was brewing in an apartment I used the towel or t-shirt soaked in water method. Wrap a wet towel around the fermenter and tie it off with a rope or string. Re wet the towel as needed. You can also point a fan at it to create a swamp cooler effect to lower temps even more. I'm using this method in my little garage as we speak. Its able to drop the temps about 10* F without a fan.
 
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