Back on track - I saw this product up close and personal at a competition and it is both a great idea and well made!
New Product! Cool Brewing Fermentation Cooler
- Thread starter CoolBrewing
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BklynCyclone
Active Member
Try a pvc pipe around the neck of the carboy.
Thanks for the clarification guys. I guess I didn't quite understand how that worked.
It's nice to read all the great reviews about this product. I am definitely thinking about getting one myself.
Any word on the smaller bags for 3 gallon carboy?
libeerty
Well-Known Member
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I love it for fermenting lagers. Just fermented a smoky Octoberfest beer. Reached FG in 10 days, and the hydrometer sample tasted so good I almost don't want to wait to the fall to drink it, but I will be patient and lager it in my kegerator.
BeerKillLogic
Well-Known Member
Honestly, you could probably fit three 3 gallon carboys in one cooler. Might not be a need to make them smaller.
OP
OP
CoolBrewing
Well-Known Member
Hi,
Thanks for the request.
We are working on a 3 gallon size with our supplier. Once we get a firm date to be available we will be sure to let you know!
Ordered one of these over the weekend; it should be delivered today. 
I'll be brewing this weekend, and had a question. Should I start cooling as soon as I pitch the yeast, or wait until fermentation has started? This will be my first attempt at controlling fermentation temperature, and I'm nervous about cooling too much, at the wrong time, or inadvertently causing temperature fluctuation. Thanks for any thoughts.
I'll be brewing this weekend, and had a question. Should I start cooling as soon as I pitch the yeast, or wait until fermentation has started? This will be my first attempt at controlling fermentation temperature, and I'm nervous about cooling too much, at the wrong time, or inadvertently causing temperature fluctuation. Thanks for any thoughts.
I would start cooling before you even pitch the yeast. Most of the off flavors produced by yeast at the higher temps are at the start of fermentation (the growth phase). So you really want it at or slightly below your desired fermentation temp before pitching and then hold the fermentation temp you desire. I typically pitch about 5F below my desired fermentation temp.
alestateyall
Well-Known Member
mors said:
I cool the wort to pitching temp before transferring to fermenter and before putting the fermenter in the bag. The cool brewing bag does best at keeping the wort cool. It is not as good at cooling the wort from a higher temp. It can be used to cool the wort but it is much slower than a wort chiller or ice bath.
Ah yeah.... I didn't intend to imply to use the bag to cool the wort to pitching temp... I just meant use the bag from the start of fermentation on. Don't wait until it's already fermenting to try and lower the temp as it will be too late at that point.
alestateyall
Well-Known Member
mors said:
I wasn't disagreeing with you. Just adding my 2 cents.
When I first started using the bag I would cool to 75-80F or so and then wait for the bag and ice bottles to cool the beer the rest of the way to pitch temp. That takes forever.
I guess I would add if you cannot chill your wort down to pitching temp before transferring to the fermenter (I would recommend a pre chiller in ice) then I would recommend doing the further cooling in the cool brewing bag. Even if it has to sit over night. Then pitch your yeast
bigmike99
Well-Known Member
Think I'm gonna throw this on the ol bday list. No room for a permanent chamber and doesn't pay to keep the ac on all day to try and keep cool. I can get away with this a lot easier than a swamp cooler with the wife as well. Great product idea.
skullface1818
Well-Known Member
as a added bonus, you can easily fit two kegs (ball or pin lock) into each cooler and then BAM you've got a nice cozy keg cooler for a camping trip or beer festive (or whatever it is you wanted to do!)
it makes me like my Cool brewings coolers that much more ^_^
it makes me like my Cool brewings coolers that much more ^_^
MaltMonster
Well-Known Member
I took advantage of their Father's Day discount and ordered one yesterday. It has already shipped. I hope it is as good as everyone is reporting.
Now I have to figure out to keep track of the temperature.
Now I have to figure out to keep track of the temperature.
scottvin
Well-Known Member
MaltMonster said:
So did I.
BeerKillLogic
Well-Known Member
If you're on top of your stuff, and anticipate temp swings and compensate accordingly with frozen water bottles you can keep a pretty constant temp.
My beer has been fermenting since sunday night and its been nearly constant 66F as intended since then.
It just takes some care and attention paying.
My beer has been fermenting since sunday night and its been nearly constant 66F as intended since then.
It just takes some care and attention paying.
MaltMonster
Well-Known Member
That is helpful. Thank you!
district_davis
Member
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I was just looking at this product on Amazon and am planning to get it. I have a question about gauging the temperature with it. I know that stick-on thermometers are popular but worry that the ice packs and the cold environment in the bag would pull down the temperature reading lower than the actual temperature of the wort inside the fermentation bucket. Have you received feedback like this? Do stick-on thermometers still read relatively accurate with this?
What I did what fold up some thick paper towels and taped them over the temp probes that stick on. I did two probes and they were both the same reading most of the time. I do the same thing for my chest freezer to try and insulate the probe from the ambient air. I'm sure they may be some fluctuations in it and there's probably some fancy science to be worked out, but it works for me. Beer came out great. I've seen some people put little computer fans in the bag to circulate air. I might try that next time.
Norsebrewer
Member
Hi guys. I learned about this cooling bag from this thread, bought it, and had it shipped to Norway in order to test an idea I had about controlling the temp inside the bag.
What I did was I bought a small cooling bag that would fit two 1.5 liter water bottles, cut a hole on each side of the bag and mounted pc fans in them. I then placed the little bag inside the bigger bag together with the fermentation bucket, and used a digital temp controller (UT-200, german) to operate the fans. The air inside the cool-brewing bag would then be circulated through the ice chamber bag and cooled down. My initial results are that this works very well. Not only is the temperature controlled more accurately, the ice seems to last longer as well. I suppose this has to do with the fact that when the fans are not running, the ice is kept cooler and no cool air is wasted. The bag heats up rather quickly though, 1-2c every minute (ambient 23c) from what I can tell. That is a bit disappointing. I am considering insulating it further with aluminium foil.
What I did was I bought a small cooling bag that would fit two 1.5 liter water bottles, cut a hole on each side of the bag and mounted pc fans in them. I then placed the little bag inside the bigger bag together with the fermentation bucket, and used a digital temp controller (UT-200, german) to operate the fans. The air inside the cool-brewing bag would then be circulated through the ice chamber bag and cooled down. My initial results are that this works very well. Not only is the temperature controlled more accurately, the ice seems to last longer as well. I suppose this has to do with the fact that when the fans are not running, the ice is kept cooler and no cool air is wasted. The bag heats up rather quickly though, 1-2c every minute (ambient 23c) from what I can tell. That is a bit disappointing. I am considering insulating it further with aluminium foil.
alestateyall
Well-Known Member
Norsebrewer said:
I did something similar. I placed a PC fan on a bucket. The fan was connected to a temp controller. I place 2-liter bottles of frozen ice directly in the bag 4-5 inches (10-12 cm) in front of the fan. The fan did a great job of never letting the temp rise above my set point.
My ice melted faster than without the fan.
Your idea of putting the ice in a small cooler sounds better since the ice will last longer.
I am surprised by the fast temp rise you had. My temp controller only turned on the fan every couple of hours with a 1F differential setting.
Norsebrewer
Member
I just ran a test, where I let the fans cool the bag down to 9.5C. When I shut the fans off, the temperature increased to 15C in exactly 4 minutes and 30 seconds. This is of course with no ice cooling the bag, but nevertheless not very impressive. I will have to think of some way of insulating it better.. aluminium foil is perhaps not such a good idea, seing as the bag is being folded when not in use.
alestateyall
Well-Known Member
Norsebrewer said:
Are you measuring the air temp or fermenting beer temp? I taped the tip of the thermocouple onto my fermenter with a small towel over the thermocouple to insulate it from the air. Air temp is not as important as the beer temp.
I agree the air will fluctuate much after than 5 gallons of beer.
Norsebrewer
Member
Fair point. So far, I have only been testing it with an empty bucket, and wort temperature is of course all that matters. Still, I was not expecting air temperature to rise that quickly..
alestateyall
Well-Known Member
It seems surprising but I think you will have more luck when you add the beer.Norsebrewer said:
Norsebrewer
Member
I think you are right, now that I think about it.. a large mass of beer inside that bag will surely help keep the air temperature a bit more stable.
alestateyall
Well-Known Member
Norsebrewer said:
You really want to monitor and control the beer temperature rather than the air temperature. If you tape the thermocouple on the side of your fermenter and insulate from the air (tape a small folded towel or piece of foam over the thermocouple) you are measuring the temperature of the fermenter which is much closer to the temperature of the beer inside than to the air outside. This is similar to how the stick on fermometers work.
You will see slower temperature fluctuations this way also.
Dylan42
Well-Known Member
Just ordered mine hopefully this can result in beer batch #4 actually tasting good.
OP
OP
CoolBrewing
Well-Known Member
Hi, that is a good question.
We have not done any specific testing with Speidel airlocks yet.
A customer stopped by our booth at the National Homebrewers Conference a few weeks ago and told us he is using a Speidel fermenter in our fermentation cooler without any issues. He stated he placed a tall plastic pitcher over the airlock to be sure it has room to move.
We do have a 45 day no questions asked return policy if you would like to try it out.
Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Dylan42
Well-Known Member
Quick question I'm a rack to a secondary kind of guy after 7-10 days. This might be a dumb question but is it still necessary to keep it strictly cool in a secondary?
The cold will help clear it... But not strictly nessecary unless the ambient is a temp you wouldn't want finished beer sitting at.
alestateyall
Well-Known Member
Dylan42 said:
You need to give adequate time for the yeast to clean up before lowering the temp too much. I'll let you decide exactly how long that is.
I have let many beers rise to room temp after fermentation is complete. It doesn't seem to cause any problems. I keg so the beer clears while I wait for it to carb.
I've used my 30L Speidel fermenter in a CoolBrewing bag 4 times....have one in right now.
However, using the Speidel airlock hasn't worked as the top of the bag press down on it to tightly for the orange airlock top to move. So, I just use a regular airlock in a bung.
I looked for an item like a plastic cup to put on top of it but didn't spend too much time on it. One 2 of the fermentations I did use the Speidel airlock after about a week when the majority of fermenting was done and it worked fine. I still have plenty of room.
I'm going to have to get this for my next batch. Right now I have a cardboard box of about the same size with a little gap opened up sitting right in front of my AC. It was actually able to get the temp 8-12 degrees below ambient during primary fermentation, but right now it is only 5 degrees below ambient (actually seems to cool less the colder it is outside, but that makes sense because the AC isn't working as hard), so it is not consistent. Not to mention I don't need to be running my AC 24/7.
