Help with getting Fermentation Temps lower

Ok here goes....
Up to this point, I've "brewed" two batches, the first one was the quick and dirty no boil prepackaged wort by "The Brew House," and the style was IPA. It fermented vigorously, apparently at too high of a temp, even for Coopers dry yeast, and after a couple weeks in the bottle, it has a banana-estery flavor. The next one I tried was Brewer's Best California Style Imperial Pale Ale. With this one, I put it in a water bath and kept it around 73* during fermentation, using the supplied Nottingham dry yeast. After a couple weeks in the bottle, same result, though less pronounced banana-y taste. After a long brew day yesterday, I searched around until I found the reason my beer tasted like bananas, too high fermentation temps. Today I went out and bought a fan and wrapped my Brewers Best Russian Imperial Stout and Holiday Ale in a thick blanket soaked in water in a mostly full tote and aimed the fan on them. The ambient temp in the house is about 75*, being the hottest month of the year here in GA. Will this be enough to get the temps down to avoid esters? I'll also be adding three 6"x6"x2" icepacks to each tote for good measure.


Oh and I bought a non-cooling wine cooler for really cheap, and I was trying to see what the creative minds at HBF could come up with that I could use it for? Maybe add ice and get the temp to around 70* for bottle conditioning? Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

the water and fan is about all most of us do... though you can look up "son of a fermentation chiller" if you want to get really fancy

If you use the search function on the forum, you will find countless threads on keeping your temps. lower through fermentation/conditioning. However it sounds as if you are doing the right thing with the wet towel and fan. You need to get a stick on thermometer for you caraboy. That way you can tell us if it is working. They are only a few bucks (if that). GL

MrGaryFish said:

I searched around until I found the reason my beer tasted like bananas, too high fermentation temps.

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Yeah I'm new to brewing, but not forums. Only NOOBs fail at the search function. I've seen a bunch of different things with the towel and fan, I really just wanted to see if anybody is brewing in mid August like me, and knows that this trick should work. I dont want any more banana beers. Go Dawgs.

Oh and I have a "fermometer" or whatever. Its on one of the primary's. From what I've read, they aren't too accurate, and I'm sure they'd just tell me how cold the wet towel is. But I might be wrong.

mine are pretty accurate. I have a Mountain Dew Brew I did yesterday in the 66 degree fridge and it reads 74. The Honey Wheat next to it that I just pulled out to bottle read 66.

I am in Louisiana and feel your pain. First get the wort low in the first place using ice bath or chiller. all the way to preferred fermentation temp BEFORE pitching. My tricks which have been fairly successful so far (not that "so far" is real far).

I got a cooler that my carboy fits in (one of the rolling one's with extensible handle) I added enough water to come up 1/3 of the carboy. I added a few water bottles with 2/3 full water that I froze. I tested the temp (prior to boiling) until I get to whatever temp I want then add the carboy full of cooled wort. I place a towel around the cooler (not in the water, just laying over it and around the neck) for insulation. I have found I can maintain a fairly steady temp this way. I sometimes add a frozen water bottle mid-day, but mostly it's not even needed as the cooler maintains the temp great.

I've been using a 20 gallon rubbermaid tub with bottles of ice to keep my fermenter cool.

Kept the temperature between 62-68 with little effort.

Here is FL I have found the swamp cooler to be insufficient by itself but that may be the humidity. I found that I needed to add ice bottles to the water and once I got to the point of that I went ahead and built the Mother of Fermentation Chiller. For the record I keep the house at about 78 ambient during the day and 75 at night.

Thats exactly the information I was looking for. I'll pick up a cooler soon and maybe I'll be building a fermentation cooler once I get the hang of All-Grain.

I do the cooler trick. Put my carboy in a cooler, put a t-shirt over the car boy and fill up about half way with water. I'll add an ice pack or two and change every couple of days. It keeps it around 65-68.

I did the whole swamp cooler and t-shirt thing, but the truth is, it's a pain in the arse and has limited results.

Easiest thing: get a used freezer off craigslist for $50, get an external Johnson temp control for the freezer for $65 and you're done. Plop your carboy in the freezer, dial in whatever temp you want and forget about it for 2 weeks.

If you have the space, it's the best solution.

muenchk said:

I did the whole swamp cooler and t-shirt thing, but the truth is, it's a pain in the arse and has limited results.

Easiest thing: get a used freezer off craigslist for $50, get an external Johnson temp control for the freezer for $65 and you're done. Plop your carboy in the freezer, dial in whatever temp you want and forget about it for 2 weeks.

If you have the space, it's the best solution.

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I really like that idea. I found one down the street for $50. I'm sure I'll get the bug like most on here and be converting it into a keezer when I get that advanced. Thanks all.

I just did mine. I got a chest freezer off craiglist on the cheap and I'm lagering at the perfect temps now . If you have the space its a great thing to do, as muenchk said.