Summer Brewing: Low-OG, and a New Fermentation Cooling Technique:

Yesterday I brewed a couple batches that both were the same OG, which, coincidentally, was my lowest ever (by design...I still have 80% eff. as expected): 1.042. The first was a re-do of one of my favorite recipes (the first batch is getting ready to kick), the Short Bus Special Bitter. It's such a restrained brew, so British...malty, toasty, biscuity, low-alcohol. I love it. Second I brewed Summer Blonde, my first crack at blonde ale. Simple recipe---some 2-row, 7oz of carapils and 4oz of aromatic...Willamette to bitter, with a couple tiny late Amarillo additions. Everything went off without a hitch, and even though I staggered them a bit, I still only hit 5 hours from start to finish. Gotta love 60-minute boils on these low-grav pilsner-less recipes!

But I did see this morning that I passed my 70-batch milestone without noticing...so I guess it'll have to be #75 that's the "special" brew. I'm taking suggestions!

Anyway, unfortunately, my damn tap water couldn't get the bastards below 80f to save its life. This is nothing new...I dealt with it last summer too. So I just pick up the remainder of the cooling in my fermentation chiller. Normally I use a big rope-handled bucket, which is okay...but this time, I had a eureka moment. We have this stainless patio beverage cooler that we rarely use outside of parties. It's on lockable wheels, it's insulated, it has a water drain hole, and it can fit a couple big carboys very easily. So I put them in there with some water and frozen bottles, and this morning they were down where I wanted to be, around 60f. Awesome. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner...the insulation makes such a difference!

Sweet setup. Much prettier than mine!

I have considered doing that recipe of your a few times. It is on my short list of ones to try.

Did you pitch the yeast before it got cooled fully, or did you wait to pitch the yeast? As I have posted about before, I am still working out the details of how to deal with the NC summer heat here.

9/9 said:

I have considered doing that recipe of your a few times. It is on my short list of ones to try.

Did you pitch the yeast before it got cooled fully, or did you wait to pitch the yeast? As I have posted about before, I am still working out the details of how to deal with the NC summer heat here.

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I waited until it got down around 72 to pitch...but I'm trying to ferment in the low 60's for both these batches.

My fridge is the optimal location, as it has a temp regulator, but I have a munich helles lagering in it right now, and I don't feel like clearing out the bottles that are in there to fit another carboy. So frozen water bottles and some "blue ice" packs are the way I roll. I'd say this is your best bet if you wanna do it on the cheap.

Yeah, I am going to go with something similar.

Out of curiosity, have you paid attention to how closely the wort temp matches the water bath temp? The cooler I am going to use makes it hard for me to see the stick-on thermometer on the Ale Pale, but it is pretty easy to measure the water temp. I was hoping that would be a good approximation of the wort temp, but I really don't know.

9/9 said:

Yeah, I am going to go with something similar.

Out of curiosity, have you paid attention to how closely the wort temp matches the water bath temp? The cooler I am going to use makes it hard for me to see the stick-on thermometer on the Ale Pale, but it is pretty easy to measure the water temp. I was hoping that would be a good approximation of the wort temp, but I really don't know.

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The two will not correlate in any constant way. When fermentation is roaring, the aerobic activity will raise the temps as much as 10ºF, so the difference will be greater...but no, I'd not rely on the surrounding water for any consistent temp readings.

Evan! said:

The two will not correlate in any constant way. When fermentation is roaring, the aerobic activity will raise the temps as much as 10ºF, so the difference will be greater...but no, I'd not rely on the surrounding water for any consistent temp readings.

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Yeah, the easy solutions never really work out. Oh well.

This may be better for another thread, but are there any good ways to measure the temps inside a fermenter when you can't easily see the sides?

9/9 said:

Yeah, the easy solutions never really work out. Oh well.

This may be better for another thread, but are there any good ways to measure the temps inside a fermenter when you can't easily see the sides?

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I don't mind the hijack.

I don't know of any way to do what you describe. The only thing I can dream up would be to get an undrilled foam carboy bung, drill a hole for the airlock offset from the center, then drill a smaller one for a thermometer probe.

Evan! said:

I don't mind the hijack.

I don't know of any way to do what you describe. The only thing I can dream up would be to get an undrilled foam carboy bung, drill a hole for the airlock offset from the center, then drill a smaller one for a thermometer probe.

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Sounds like a possibility. The first problem that comes to mind is that there would need to be a way to seal that hole since, at least with the thermometer I have, a hole big enough to get the probe though would have a lot of open room with just the cord in it (if that makes any sense). That should be relatively simple fix, though.

A definite possibility.

9/9 said:

Sounds like a possibility. The first problem that comes to mind is that there would need to be a way to seal that hole since, at least with the thermometer I have, a hole big enough to get the probe though would have a lot of open room with just the cord in it (if that makes any sense). That should be relatively simple fix, though.

A definite possibility.

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You know, that foam is pretty pliable and forgiving. If you drilled a really tiny hole, I'd bet you could get the probe through somehow (that's what she said), and still have the foam heal back around the wire and create a seal. But I don't know what your thermo probe actually looks like. What thermo do you have?

It is pretty much the same as this one:



The probe itself isn't very big, but the plastic right where the probe ends and the wire begins would be the problem. The probe probably isn't long enough to reach into the wort without that larger plastic part making it through the bung.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if I could just set up a blow-off tube and run the probe in beside the tubing. If the tubing has the right give to it, it might be flexible enough to seal around the wire.

9/9 said:

Now that I think about it, I wonder if I could just set up a blow-off tube and run the probe in beside the tubing. If the tubing has the right give to it, it might be flexible enough to seal around the wire.

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I guess that could work. I have that same thermometer. Like I said, I'd bet you could drill a tiny hole and fit that little plastic piece that connects the wire to the probe through it and still have it seal up around the wire. Couldn't hurt to try...at worst you're out a few cents on a bung.

The only real probalo that I see would be that you wouldn't be able to brew until fermentation is to a point where you no longer need the thermometer.

Evan! said:

I guess that could work. I have that same thermometer. Like I said, I'd bet you could drill a tiny hole and fit that little plastic piece that connects the wire to the probe through it and still have it seal up around the wire. Couldn't hurt to try...at worst you're out a few cents on a bung.

The only real probalo that I see would be that you wouldn't be able to brew until fermentation is to a point where you no longer need the thermometer.

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Yeah, I think that if I get this to work I would probably invest in a second thermometer.

I don't have much going on the next few days, so I might swing by the LHBS, pick up a bung or two and see what I can get worked out.

Sounds like a plan...lemme know how it goes. IIWY, though, in the future, I'd see if I couldn't find an alternative thermometer. $40 for one of the traceable ones is pretty steep when you consider that fermometers are like $3.

So anyway, I went home at lunch and checked out the carboys while I was there. The fermometers said 57ºf!!! And all I had in the water were a couple very small water bottles. That's it. This really is going to change how I roll during the summer...the fact that the water stays so cool in that cooler is just...BRILLIANT! This is huge...I never expected the insulation to make such a difference.

I'm still working on mine. I couldnt mine chilled below 80* with tap water either, so i tossed my bucket into a cooler with some water and ice and only was able to get it down to 75*. I'm not sure if this was because of it being in a plastic bucket or not, but I also noticed that you are using alot more water than I was, so I'll try using more water next time.

riored4v said:

I'm still working on mine. I couldnt mine chilled below 80* with tap water either, so i tossed my bucket into a cooler with some water and ice and only was able to get it down to 75*. I'm not sure if this was because of it being in a plastic bucket or not, but I also noticed that you are using alot more water than I was, so I'll try using more water next time.

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I've been hoarding little plastic water bottles, and I have 8 little blue ice paks, and I save the gel things that AHS sends to keep the yeast cool...I keep it all frozen, then cycle stuff in and out as needed.

But really, the insulation in the cooler walls is what's making the difference here.

Do you cover yours at all? I've been covering mine with a towel to try and keep the cool inside (like a lid almost).

Sounds like I'll also need to swoop up some more water bottles. I was only using 1 big water bottle and then dumping about half of my ice tray in. Once in the morning and once at night.

First time for me brewing in the summer and it's a bit of a learning experience..lol

I have a well, and well water is always nice and cold, so I can chill well. Even in summer! (hit SWMBO with a shot of well water in the hot sun just ONCE, though!)

I'm waiting to replace one of mine, but I am using standup freezers with custom ghetto shelves (scrap 2x2 and one of the pre-existing wire shelves) along with a dual stage ranco (one heat element inside it for winter in the garage) to control my fermentation temps. If the temps raise too much, they'll warm the probe and turn the freezer on, and I have the probe buffered in a white labs vial full of gell from an austin home brew yeast ice pack (thanks John Beere!).

Works pretty darn well unless you trip a breaker somehow or the freezer is old and dies (replacing with a new one as soon as possible).

nathan said:

I have a well, and well water is always nice and cold, so I can chill well. Even in summer! (hit SWMBO with a shot of well water in the hot sun just ONCE, though!)

I'm waiting to replace one of mine, but I am using standup freezers with custom ghetto shelves (scrap 2x2 and one of the pre-existing wire shelves) along with a dual stage ranco (one heat element inside it for winter in the garage) to control my fermentation temps. If the temps raise too much, they'll warm the probe and turn the freezer on, and I have the probe buffered in a white labs vial full of gell from an austin home brew yeast ice pack (thanks John Beere!).

Works pretty darn well unless you trip a breaker somehow or the freezer is old and dies (replacing with a new one as soon as possible).

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Yeah, I've got a big stand-up fridge that can fit 4 cornies and 2 carboys. I've got a helles lagering in it right now, infact. I just have a johnson controller on it, and, aside from the cornies and the bottles and the harvest yeast collection and the hops, I use it for lagers.

Evan,
How often do you change the ice packs out? What's the ambient temperature in your basement? How long did it take to figure out what temperature water it takes to cool the carboy (I'm guessing it is just something you have to tinker with?)? I've been considering something very similar to use here in this Texas heat--the high hasn't been below 90 in a month I think.

Eric

EricCSU said:

Evan,
How often do you change the ice packs out? What's the ambient temperature in your basement? How long did it take to figure out what temperature water it takes to cool the carboy (I'm guessing it is just something you have to tinker with?)? I've been considering something very similar to use here in this Texas heat--the high hasn't been below 90 in a month I think.

Eric

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Well, before I figured out this beverage cooler idea, I was changing them out 3-5 times a day, and it was all I could do to keep my wort temp under 70. Now...well, I'll have to let you know. We'll see, once fermentation gets going, how much heat is generated from that and how much I'll need to add. It really is just a tinkering process, though...there's no hard and fast rules given all the variables.

My ambient temp in my basement is about 68-70f right now.

For a 3-gallon carboy, I was thinking of buying a second homer bucket (those three-dollar Home Depot buckets) and stacking them, with ice or gel packs between the two. The carboy will fit in the bucket with enough room for water, gel packs, ice, etc.

Thanks for all these great tips!