This weekends marks my fourth brew, the All Amarillo IPA (credits to TheJadedDog!) and my first experience with temperature control. Prior to this, I was having a hard time keeping my fermentation below 72F, especially on one of my very active, high-gravity beers where I couldn't keep it below 76F (YIKES!). I've had pretty bad problems with banana and clove off-flavors because of these temps, so I really wanted to try a cooler fermentation.
So this weekend, I took a Thermos Cooler that fits my bucket perfectly. Filled the thing up with water, put my bucket in, draped a tshirt over it, pointed a fan at it, and dropped in about a gallon and a half of ice. I thought there was no chance in hell of this cooling it down below 65F. I checked my temp this morning, 52F! 7 degrees less than the fermentation temps of Safale US-05. On top of that, my brew room is significantly cooler than the rest of my apartment.
Is adding the ice too much? Should the tshirt + fan be enough to cool the bucket?
So this weekend, I took a Thermos Cooler that fits my bucket perfectly. Filled the thing up with water, put my bucket in, draped a tshirt over it, pointed a fan at it, and dropped in about a gallon and a half of ice. I thought there was no chance in hell of this cooling it down below 65F. I checked my temp this morning, 52F! 7 degrees less than the fermentation temps of Safale US-05. On top of that, my brew room is significantly cooler than the rest of my apartment.
Is adding the ice too much? Should the tshirt + fan be enough to cool the bucket?