Cooling Down Your Fermenter...On the Cheap

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BierMuncher

...My Junk is Ugly...
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My brewshop is now hovering around 72 degrees. Still an okay range for most of my light beers, but pushing the envelope a bit for any big brews coming up. I'm planning a Belgian Dark Strong Ale and want to avoid any hot alcohol from too high a fermentation temp.

I'd planned on using a large basin I have with the the t-shirt, fan trick, but today I was wandering through Sears Hardware and came across this idea instead.

This was in the automotive section and is a drip pan for changing your oil. $11.00.

Fermenter_Cooler1.jpg

I suspected it looked to be the right size and was correct.
Fermenter_Cooler2.jpg

A quick couple of passes with the blade (my saws all was out on loan...:)) And now we have a nice shallow holding vessel for the carboy. With a spout and a handle, moving it to the sink and draining it will be a breeze. Plus, since I ferment on a high counter, this shallower vessel makes loading a full carboy easier than my deep basin.
Fermenter_Cooler3.jpg

In goes a gallon or two of water...on goes an old t-shirt and my box fan in the brew shop goes on medium. I should get a good 6-9 degree drop in the wort temp from this.
Fermenter_Cooler4.jpg

The concept of using evaporation to cool a fermenter is not new...but I thought this was a pretty cool little tub to make the job easier. Almost looks like it was meant for this job. :D
 
I have a small apt and I'm looking for something small just like this to do the trick. I dont have enough room for a ferm chamber. So this is going to do the trick just fine! You've always got such great ideas! Thanks.
 
They actually make oil drip trays just like that with the center out already. Check out AutoZone. Very clever idea that I will definitely try on my next batch.
 
Great idea, BM. I happen to have an extra one of these in the garage! Brand new waiting for a 'cool' use. Guess it now has a new home.:ban:
 
Great idea!

I bet you could fit ice down in the base and when it melts, remove the cap to start over with fresh ice.

Nice job!
 
I had to resort to a water bath for the first time on my batch last weekend. I put one carboy in a cooler and the other in the laundry sink. I started by adding 2 20oz bottles of frozen water in each bath. I noticed that the water bottles in the sink were melting much quicker. So I started putting 3 frozen bottles in the sink and one in the cooler and they both maintained 68 degrees (with a t-shirt over them and a fan on them).

So I guess my point is that a cooler maintains the cooler temperatures much better. So it might be better to pick up a 70 qt cooler from walmart for $35 (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8187713). I used a 48qt cooler and could only fit 1 6.5gal carboy, but I think 2 should fit in the 70 qt cooler.
 
I had to resort to a water bath for the first time on my batch last weekend. I put one carboy in a cooler and the other in the laundry sink. I started by adding 2 20oz bottles of frozen water in each bath. I noticed that the water bottles in the sink were melting much quicker. So I started putting 3 frozen bottles in the sink and one in the cooler and they both maintained 68 degrees (with a t-shirt over them and a fan on them).

So I guess my point is that a cooler maintains the cooler temperatures much better. So it might be better to pick up a 70 qt cooler from walmart for $35 (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8187713). I used a 48qt cooler and could only fit 1 6.5gal carboy, but I think 2 should fit in the 70 qt cooler.

Somehow I doubt that. Looks like your interior width dim is 10.75" or so. I think a carboy diameter is bigger than 10.75".

I use this patio beverage cooler these days, along with some frozen water bottles. It's actually too easy to get too cold, so I have to be careful. Next step is to see if I can lager in it...I know, I have a lagering fridge with temp control, but if I can do this too? I mean, I know, with daily water bottle changes, I can keep my carboys at about 48F minimum (I've done it plenty for cold-crashing ales), so I figure I should be able to lager in there if I wanted to. But yeah, if you ever come upon one of these rolling beverage coolers, get one! They're the tits! The insulation really makes a world of difference, as do the wheels...
 
Who are you and what have you done with the real BierMuncher!?

Everyone knows that if BM had really made this, it would look like this:

fermentercooler3na6.jpg


Between this and the garbage can project, I'm starting to wonder...

Seriously though, another great project post! :mug:
 
Somehow I doubt that. Looks like your interior width dim is 10.75" or so. I think a carboy diameter is bigger than 10.75".

I use this patio beverage cooler these days, along with some frozen water bottles. It's actually too easy to get too cold, so I have to be careful. Next step is to see if I can lager in it...I know, I have a lagering fridge with temp control, but if I can do this too? I mean, I know, with daily water bottle changes, I can keep my carboys at about 48F minimum (I've done it plenty for cold-crashing ales), so I figure I should be able to lager in there if I wanted to. But yeah, if you ever come upon one of these rolling beverage coolers, get one! They're the tits! The insulation really makes a world of difference, as do the wheels...

You're right. The 48qt cooler I used is 24.3" x 14.2", and it's only $17.88 at walmart, so you could buy two of those for the same price as the 70qt cooler.
 
All the "cool" cooling solutions out there only really work with carboys. Anyone have ideas for cooling plastic Ale Pails with spigots installed?

(And no, "buy pails without spigots" isn't the answer I'm looking for.)

I'm using Kolsch yeast this weekend and still can't figure out how I'm keeping the sucker cool. My "backup" plan is hooking up a spare window A/C unit in the smallest room I can think of, and "eyeballing" the temp until it's around 60F.

Maybe SWMBO will let me keep the fermenter in our bedroom. That could work. ;)
 
Maybe SWMBO will let me keep the fermenter in our bedroom. That could work. ;)

That sounds good to me. Nothing like going to sleep to the soothing sound of airlock activity to let you know that everything is OK with your fermentation... SWMBO might not agree though. And a middle of the night blow off would be interesting too...
 
All the "cool" cooling solutions out there only really work with carboys. Anyone have ideas for cooling plastic Ale Pails with spigots installed?

Pail with spigot will likely fit. I can stuff one in there tonight and take a pic if you're interested.
 
I'm more worried about infection/crud in the exterior of the spigot.

Or worse, creep through the spigot into the pail. (All of my spigots develop a thin coat of "gum" at the point where the red plastic meets the white plastic. I clean it with a toothbrush, it reappears and re"gum"s... If it's light beer, it's light gum, if it's stout, it's super dark syrupy gum.

If infection isn't really a worry, then I'll just use it as-is, I reckon it would fit fine. Looks to be plenty of clearance. If there's not, Mr. Dremel can do something about that.

Secondarily, is the cold water outside going to make much of a diff through plastic? Thought most of how this helped was by keeping the glass icy cold. I'm probably over-thinking though.
 
I'm more worried about infection/crud in the exterior of the spigot.

If it makes you feel any better, I used to do this as standard operating procedure. Before I switched to better bottles and a chest freezer, I used buckets with spigots as primaries and placed them in bus tubs with about four inches of water and frozen water bottles. There was never an issue with leakage in or out of the spigots, and I never had an infection. I even used to put a splash of bleach (and later, StarSan) into the water, just to keep it from going funky.
 
If it makes you feel any better, I used to do this as standard operating procedure. Before I switched to better bottles and a chest freezer, I used buckets with spigots as primaries and placed them in bus tubs with about four inches of water and frozen water bottles. There was never an issue with leakage in or out of the spigots, and I never had an infection. I even used to put a splash of bleach (and later, StarSan) into the water, just to keep it from going funky.

I was just going to suggest that you add a little bit of StarSan in the water and you should be fine. If nothing is leaking out of the spigot, then nothing will leak in either.

And from a physics standpoint, the hydrostatic pressure in the bucket is probably greater than the exterior pressure. I would think that if a leak were to occur, it would be your beer leaking out of the spigot, not the other way around.
 
Sweet. Thanks guys. That's all the encouragement I needed -- and good idea on cutting StarSan into the mix -- so I'm tryin' it this weekend!!! :) I appreciate the help!
 
I did something similar to Muncher, but even cheaper. I got one of those aluminum pans for roasting turkeys, etc.. one of the really big ones, put my 6 gallon carboy in it, filled it nearly to the top with water, threw a t-shirt over the carboy, and soaked the shirt with water. Turned my fan on high, and it seems to work fine. I don't know exactly what the temp is, but the water temperature seems to hold at around 70F, and when I put my thermometer in between the carboy and the shirt, it holds at around 60F.. Whatever the case, it's a hell of a lot better than it sitting at 75 degrees in my Houston apartment!
 
my mash tun doubles as a ferm-cooler. i have a 10 gal igloo cooler that i converted to a mash tun with a bazooka screen as my filter. when i'm done I just unscrew it and clean it out. i use tephlon tape to make sure i do not damage the threads.

it works pretty well to keep up with the florida heat.
 
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