Ferm temps in the south. (FL)

Looking for ideas to cool ferm temps with 75-78 ambient temps.
I have a kegorator but need to keep that at serving temp.
Considering partially submerging into a party tub, draping a towel to wick water for evaporating/cooling effect.
Anyone use this technique?
Any other ideas.

Thanks,
Mike

Search around for swamp cooler.

It's similar to your idea but I think they toss 2L soda bottles filled with frozen water into the tub to cool it further. Just keep a rotation going as they melt to maintain a steady temperature.

I'm in Houston and I've tried the frozen bottle wet towel things and while better then nothing the best you can do is get a cheap ugly fridge off Craigslist and a temp controller. It's worth the money, my beers are way better now that I have good temp control and I can do a lager when it's 100 degrees with 99% humidity without a problem.

sapperxl said:

I'm in Houston and I've tried the frozen bottle wet towel things and while better then nothing the best you can do is get a cheap ugly fridge off Craigslist and a temp controller. It's worth the money, my beers are way better now that I have good temp control and I can do a lager when it's 100 degrees with 99% humidity without a problem.

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I agree, or look for a wine fridge. They typically only go down into the 40's and highs into he 60's....I use one to ferment in, it's great, and I don't need a temp controller since the fridge was made to run in the 60's for wine.

use saison yeast :fro:

A fridge with temp controller is ideal and makes a noticeable difference over other alternatives. Before that, I used a simple fermentation chamber built out of a cooler with a styrofoam lid - the cooler is partially filled with water and frozen water bottles.

I found a 7 cu ft chest freezer on craigslist for $100 & picked up an external thermostat regulator off of amazon for $75. Allows me to keep the chest freezer at a consistent temp at all times and is a set and forget kind of thing. It holds two 5 gallon carboys with a nice side compartment that fits about 18 bombers and has two baskets to keep brewing ingredients etc.

That, I think, is the best option. You don't have to worry about constantly checking it and such. $175 is a good investment on arguably the most important aspect of the brewing process. Hope this helps!

Full tub of water and wet towel over the top. Stayed at high 60' s for whole cycle. Central air was set to 77. In Florida too by the way

Buy a chest freezer, if you have a smart phone, down load the craigs list app and do a search for freezer. It will notify you whenever someone post something about a freezer. I found one for 50 dollars. I did the swamp cooler thing for almost two years and once I got my chest freezer I could not believe I did the swamp cooler with that long.

All helpful replies! Thanks.
Not practical at this time to purchase an additional fridge or freezer.
I'm going to try the tub thing.
Mike

MikeMetroka said:

All helpful replies! Thanks.
Not practical at this time to purchase an additional fridge or freezer.
I'm going to try the tub thing.
Mike

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It's been stupid hot here in MN this summer, and after ruining a pale ale due to high ferment temps, I started using a big 20 gallon plastic tub. I put my fermenter in there, then fill it up with cold water and swap frozen 20oz. Water and pop bottles in there. I hang a thermometer off one of the handles. I have enough of the bottles that I can swap them out whenever I see the temp go above 65. I've been able to keep it at around 62 with no problem for as long as I want to. I also have a room that's out of the way to do this in, right next to the kegerator, so I can draw a pint while switching out.

I'm in FL too. Summer is my favorite time to brew because it's a snap to maintain mash temps!

For fermentation, I bought a True Beverage Cooler off Craigslist for $125.00 + $59.00 for a Johnson A-419 temperature controller. WELL worth the price. There are also hundreds of chest freezers on Craigslist for $25-50, then you could add the same temperature controller or even look into the famous "Ebay Temperature Controller" that is like $29.00 and seems to serve hundreds on this forum well. So, for $55-200 you could have precise temperature control tomorrow, assuming you have the $$$ and the space.

If money or space is tight, you can also just brew all of your beers with Saison yeast. They LOVE temps in the high 70s/low 80s. The beer will get just a bit of a different flavor profile from the Saison yeast, but not as much as fermenting a typical ale yeast above their ideal range. Most of the peeps in Arizona that don't have temp control just use Saison yeast and report great results.

Saison yeast is probably your best bet if you can't get good temperature control out of the swamp cooler. Since it's so humid here (a problem you share in FL), it's hard to really get good cooling with the wick effect. You're basically just cooling by submersion in cooler water. So, if you can keep the beer cool all day while you're at work and at night when you're asleep then it's not too big of a deal. If not, then you probably need to look at learning to love farmhouse-style beers or not brew during the summer. If you brew Friday night and keep the beer at proper temps overnight then it's easiest to be home to regulate temperature through the weekend where those first 2-3 days are really important for fermentation temperatures.