Fermenting temperature.

Looking for ideas...

How do you keep your temperature down?

Have any of you used an air conditioner (within a closed unit) to control the temperature?

Mr Nick said:

Have any of you used an air conditioner (within a closed unit) to control the temperature?

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No, but that is what I want to do. I'm just not sure about how much it will make my electric bill go up.

Buy a tub/plastic bin from Wallyworld or any other place...set primary in and fill halfway with water.

Refill water bottles after you drink them and freeze. Switch out about once a day and it should stay under 70F.

son-of-fermentation chiller

I'm new here so here goes my first post.

I plan on brewing for the first time next weekend and am concerned with fermentation temps in So Cal since it's relatively hot this time of year. I Googled "fermenter chiller" and found plans to use a 60 or 70 qt Igloo cooler to hold your fermentor and a plastic bottle with ice to keep to fermenting beer cool.

It's pretty cheap ($25-$35 for the cooler) and looks like I'll be heading down that road. I would think running an A/C could get expensive.

Here's the link:

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=60288

Hey bud, I'm from SoCal too and have been trying to beat the heat as well. I'm worried this heat will make my beer bitter.

I read somewhere that wrapping a damp towel around the fermenter will cool the fermenter. Lose heat through evaporation maybe? I just started it yesterday and am not sure if it's working, but thought it was worth a shot. I'd be interested in knowing what else you guys have been trying.

Also brewwing in socal, its been 95+ all the past weeks. Put the fermenter in a large tub with water, put an old t-shirt on the fermenter and a small fan blowing across the whole set up. was able to drop the temp in the fermenter a good 6-8 degrees.

first post here as well. create a swamp bucket.
right now i am using the frozen 2-liters in big tub method. others suggest, to do the same but wrap in a towel/t shirt and blow a fan on it. that will cause evaporation thus removing heat. you have to replace the forzen items and add water as necessary. other solutions similar to the ac unit is to find an old college mini fridge and convert that into a small fermentation chiller station. remove the door, build yourself a toght box with some insulation from HD or Lowes that fits in that door space and has a lid to place/remove your bucket or carboy. i hear thats a great way to go.

I have a cooler that I made a new styrofoam lid for. If I place water and two frozen water bottles in it, I can keep it quite cool. (See my gallery for pictures).

DeathBrewer said:

son-of-fermentation chiller

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10 char

Thanks all of you.

I purchased a cheap used China cabinet, with the shelves spaced so that it makes a three tier unit where I won't have to lift any full carboys.

After making some alterations to it I will be using some of the ideas from this thread.