New Product! Cool Brewing Fermentation Cooler

Williams 728
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I shared this on the small batch thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/1-gallon-brewers-unite-311884/

but I thought it might be of interest here. Six (1) gallon fermenters sharing a liter of ice in the Cool Brewing chamber.

20121111_182019.jpg
 
Here's a wacky question...

I have my first Brett fermentation lined up next... Do I have to worry about cross-contamination of future batches if I use my Cool Brewing ferm cooler for this beer, and later down the line a normal Sacch beer?
 
flyingfinbar said:
Here's a wacky question...

I have my first Brett fermentation lined up next... Do I have to worry about cross-contamination of future batches if I use my Cool Brewing ferm cooler for this beer, and later down the line a normal Sacch beer?
Click to expand...

Hi,

I am no expert in using Brett yeast however I would think that your Cool Brewing Cooler should be ok as it’s not going to come in direct contact with the wort.

Here is a link about cross contamination I came across:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/brettanomyces-bruxellensis-question-186192/

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
 
LabRat - That almost makes it look like you could fit two full 6 gallon BBs in there...
 
Just ordered mine today. Hoping the reviews of fast fast shipping are true, would really like to put this to the test by Thursday night with a cream ale, or a custom hoppy wheat
 
LabRatBrewer said:
Maybe you could. I will try once these are done. They are sitting at 67-69 degrees. The weather is nice in my garage so I am using very little ice as compared to the summer.
Click to expand...

I was able to fit a 6-gal glass carboy and a 6-gal BB at the same time. It was tight across, but it worked like a champ.
 
DeuceDog said:
I was able to fit a 6-gal glass carboy and a 6-gal BB at the same time. It was tight across, but it worked like a champ.
Click to expand...

Any room for a blow off and ice in there too?
 
Just got mine in yesterday. Just in time to make yesterday a brew day. I was using a small chest freezer with a Jhonson controler. Now i can free up my freezer for kegs.

I notice some people talked about them sagging. Mine stands right up with no problems.

Awsome product Btw
 
Mine came yesterday, after a trip to the LHBS last night, i'll be brewing up a hoppy wheat tonight for a 6-gallon better bottle, and an american cream ale on Sunday to put in a 6.5 gallon bucket. will see if I can fit them both in there at proper temp during initial fermentation.
 
Had a 5 gallon batch in a 6 gallon carboy in there with two half gallons and two 1-liter bottles of ice for about two hours now, but it's not seeming to drop the temp much, if at all, from ambient... Both sitting right about 70...might move it back to my sofc before bed, don't want to start off with esters before I even get going...
 
bfinleyui said:
Had a 5 gallon batch in a 6 gallon carboy in there with two half gallons and two 1-liter bottles of ice for about two hours now, but it's not seeming to drop the temp much, if at all, from ambient... Both sitting right about 70...might move it back to my sofc before bed, don't want to start off with esters before I even get going...
Click to expand...


It takes me several 2 liters (3 or 4) to get the temp to drop. Two 1 liters may not be enough.

Plus it takes over night to up to 24 hours for the temp to drop much for me.
 
kehaar said:
It takes me several 2 liters (3 or 4) to get the temp to drop. Two 1 liters may not be enough.

Plus it takes over night to up to 24 hours for the temp to drop much for me.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I put it in my fan-powered SoFC overnight, got it down to 63-64, then moved it to the bag with one gallon and two half gallons about 12 hours ago, and it's been at 64 all day, most of that with fermentation going like mad, so i think i'll be ok, just needed to get that down. I either need to use a boatload of ice (my freezer doesn't have room to freeze 4 2-liters at a time), or start it in my SoFC and then switch to the bag once it's initial cooldown is done.
 
bfinleyui said:
Yeah, I put it in my fan-powered SoFC overnight, got it down to 63-64, then moved it to the bag with one gallon and two half gallons about 12 hours ago, and it's been at 64 all day, most of that with fermentation going like mad, so i think i'll be ok, just needed to get that down. I either need to use a boatload of ice (my freezer doesn't have room to freeze 4 2-liters at a time), or start it in my SoFC and then switch to the bag once it's initial cooldown is done.
Click to expand...

You could also put the fan from your SOFC in the bag for a few hours. That would have similar affect as being in the SOFC.
 
kehaar said:
You could also put the fan from your SOFC in the bag for a few hours. That would have similar affect as being in the SOFC.
Click to expand...

Not sure how to mount it in there, it's just a pair of 120mm computer fans wired to a USB hub.

Might jerry rig some sort of command adhesive situation and stick it to the side of the carboy. I have a few of these laying around, would make them removable and easy. I use them to mount my ipad on the wall in my kitchen, currently, good to have music and recipes up during a brewday.
 
I ended up putting a fan on the side of the carboy, facing about 45 degrees upward, to pull cool air from the bottom of the cooler and push it up and circulate it. Still wasn't getting a good amount of airflow, so I took some wooden dowels and taped them to the inside of the cooler to prop it up. Temps almost immediately dropped 2 or 3 degrees, and since the initial rush of fermentation has stopped, I've gotten about 64 degrees out of switching a single gallon and a 1 liter bottle twice a day.

Once the krausen falls, I'll probably not care so much if it gets up nearer to 70, and just do one switch per day.
 
bfinleyui said:
I ended up putting a fan on the side of the carboy, facing about 45 degrees upward, to pull cool air from the bottom of the cooler and push it up and circulate it. Still wasn't getting a good amount of airflow, so I took some wooden dowels and taped them to the inside of the cooler to prop it up. Temps almost immediately dropped 2 or 3 degrees, and since the initial rush of fermentation has stopped, I've gotten about 64 degrees out of switching a single gallon and a 1 liter bottle twice a day.

Once the krausen falls, I'll probably not care so much if it gets up nearer to 70, and just do one switch per day.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I bought a fan and going to try this on Saturday.

When you propped up the fan can you describe how it was placed? I am planning to set it on a small bucket (1 gallon type which LHBS puts extract in). Should I point it up toward the top or point it at the frozen ice? Or something else?
 
kehaar said:
Thanks! I bought a fan and going to try this on Saturday.

When you propped up the fan can you describe how it was placed? I am planning to set it on a small bucket (1 gallon type which LHBS puts extract in). Should I point it up toward the top or point it at the frozen ice? Or something else?
Click to expand...

I haven't really seen a whole lot of difference with which direction I'm pointing the fan, to be honest. It's just to get the air moving. Because the chamber is so small, it shouldn't matter much.

I like your idea of having a 1-gallon bucket to put it on, so there's more velocity of the air directly next to the ice. Mine could probably get a few degrees cooler if I had a way to move the fan down closer to the ice, but this is enough to get me to 64 degrees, which is all I really need at this point.

tBft2.jpg
 
bfinleyui said:
I haven't really seen a whole lot of difference with which direction I'm pointing the fan, to be honest. It's just to get the air moving. Because the chamber is so small, it shouldn't matter much.

I like your idea of having a 1-gallon bucket to put it on, so there's more velocity of the air directly next to the ice. Mine could probably get a few degrees cooler if I had a way to move the fan down closer to the ice, but this is enough to get me to 64 degrees, which is all I really need at this point.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I just thought to put the fan on the bucket to keep it up off the floor of the cooler since there is lots of water which builds up due to condensation. My fan will have a cord.

I got this one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007ZLHV8G/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I paid a bundle but I wanted the dial to turn down the motor speed so SWMBO doesn't complain about noise.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just had a three pack of 120mm fans laying around from some computer stuff I had done a while ago.

They're rated to run at 12v,i wired mine to usb ports, which only run at 5v, which means they run slower than normal, but because they're 120mm,they still push plenty of air, and are virtually silent.
 
bfinleyui said:
I just had a three pack of 120mm fans laying around from some computer stuff I had done a while ago.

They're rated to run at 12v,i wired mine to usb ports, which only run at 5v, which means they run slower than normal, but because they're 120mm,they still push plenty of air, and are virtually silent.
Click to expand...

Are you an EE?
 
Nope. General computer nerd. I do application development during the day, but I've been doing hardware work on pcs for quite some time. Only soldered something for the first time a few weeks ago
 
bfinleyui said:
Nope. General computer nerd. I do application development during the day, but I've been doing hardware work on pcs for quite some time. Only soldered something for the first time a few weeks ago
Click to expand...

Just wondering.

I am a electrical and computer engineer. Professor. I teach both.
 
kehaar said:
Just wondering.

I am a electrical and computer engineer. Professor. I teach both.
Click to expand...

Nice. I'm slowly but surely trying to learn more about that sort of thing. Have a raspberry pi and temperature probe, along with an ssr ready to go whenever I do happen to come across the chest freezer of my dreams. Might be a while, being that I live in an apartment and all...
 
I kegged for awhile, but took a hiatus so my chest freezer could instead act as fermentation chamber. Now that I've learned the value of temperature control, I'm returning the freezer to kegging because I'm sick of bottling.

I know most people have the space for a kegerator and a ferm chamber, but I simply do not. This looks like a good solution, so I just ordered it. My analog Johnson controller still required monitoring anynow, so keeping an eye on bottles isn't anything new.

Has anyone experimented with dry ice for more persistent cooling? I plan on having the zipper open slightly for a blowoff tube anyhow, so one would assume gas could escape there.
 
Havent thought about dry ice, but as for a blow off tube, mine fits right inside the cooler. No need to create space for heat to get in IMO!
 
I'll try external blowoff first; I'm presuming more heat will escape through the tube than enter the bag at peak fermentation, and less potential for excessive moisture accumulating in there.

Not that I know what's ideal, but looking forward to experimenting!

Cool brewing, you should consider marketing this to brew shops in big cities. Folks in NYC and DC are generally tight on space.
 
Not sure if this was discussed already but I was able to get 2 5 gallon glass carboys in and maintain low 60's with ambient temps of 70 with two 1 liter bottles. Just recently I was BARELY able to squeeze a 6.5 gallon glass and a 7 gallon (the tall and skinny one) bucket in. Same temperatures demands as before. Adds a lot of flexibility to be able to have two active fermentations at once cooled. Good product!
 
I would want the co2 to stay in the bag and replace o2. I use a can of "damp rid" inside the cooler along with blow off tube and bottles. There more than enough space.
 
Does anybody have a controlled experiment (like Kaiser's) where fermentation blowoff is inside and outside an insulated fermentation chamber?

I would suspect that since fermentation is exothermic, the escaping CO2 in a blowoff tube going outside the bag could carry substantial heat away like a chimney.

I wouldn't worry too much about replacing O2 in your bag. People successfully ferment in crawlspaces, which always seems dangerously dirty. The key is a sealed airlock.
 
Good thinking Lockworm, afraid I've not done it.

What is the coldest anyone has achieved? If you started out with like 8 frozen two litres and switched two of them out every 12 hours, how cold do you think we could get fermentation?
 
I have no doubts you could get down to lagering temps, but it'd be a pain in the ass. If you have a freezer big enough to put 8 frozen two liters in, might as well put an STC on it and put your beer in there :)

Personally, I just hooked up a raspberry pi last night as I changed my ice, so you can go here and see the temp readings over the last 15 hours or so.
 
Safa said:
Good thinking Lockworm, afraid I've not done it.

What is the coldest anyone has achieved? If you started out with like 8 frozen two litres and switched two of them out every 12 hours, how cold do you think we could get fermentation?
Click to expand...

Good Question. I just lagered a Noble Pilsner in a 65 degree room getting it down to 40 degrees F and holding it there. It took 3-4 frozen gallon jugs to lower the temp then changing 2 every 24 hours.

I will post up a detailed graph soon!
 

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