How do you keep temperature low in the summer (for low ester production)

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Elysium

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I live in Spain and temperature gets pretty high (even in the closet where I keep my fermenting bucket).

I'd like to use safale s04...but I am worried about the high temperature....can you guys tell me of a simple and effective system to keep temperature low and constant?

Thanks
 
place in a water bath, put a wet t-shirt over it so it's dipping in the water, direct a fan towards it.

Also freeze several 2-3 liter bottles of water and place 1 in the water and replace with frozen ones when they thaw as needed. This, with what ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ said will keep ferment temps well within range for you..

Cheers
Jay
 
place in a water bath, put a wet t-shirt over it so it's dipping in the water, direct a fan towards it.

Thanks a lot for the info. Good idea to do this, but I am not sure I want a fan running in the house for the 3 week fermentation period.
 
Hola desde los EEUU! Hablas muy bien el inglés. Hablo bastante bien el castellano jaja. Soy americano pero vivia en españa (en andalucia) durante un año y medio, y me encantaba cada segundo. Me gustaria chatear en calstellano pero no sé si seria permitido comunicar en idioma que no fuera inglés.

Safale US-04 should not take 3 weeks to ferment. If you want to let it sit for 3 weeks, that is fine. But you should only need to worry about the temperature for the first 5-7 days.
 
Safale US-04 should not take 3 weeks to ferment. If you want to let it sit for 3 weeks, that is fine. But you should only need to worry about the temperature for the first 5-7 days.

I'd go even farther and say the critical period for temperature is from day 0 - 3. That's when the majority of off-flavours (if any) will be produced.
 
Also the fan works the best but you don't absolutely need it. You could just use more ice packs/ frozen water bottles to keep water temp down.
 
Hola desde los EEUU! Hablas muy bien el inglés. Hablo bastante bien el castellano jaja. Soy americano pero vivia en españa (en andalucia) durante un año y medio, y me encantaba cada segundo. Me gustaria chatear en calstellano pero no sé si seria permitido comunicar en idioma que no fuera inglés.

Safale US-04 should not take 3 weeks to ferment. If you want to let it sit for 3 weeks, that is fine. But you should only need to worry about the temperature for the first 5-7 days.

Soy de Hungria.....y aqui llevo 5 años viviendo. Gracias. :)
 
I use both the bucket + frozen bottles method as well as wetting a thick towel and pointing a fan at it. As long as the towel is wet, the beer stays cool. I prefer the big bucket + bottles method because I don't have a fan wafting moldy towel air through my living room.
 
I do the same swamp cooler, rotating water bottles thing. If you have a wall unit put it in front of that. Beats the hell out of a fan. Even when its 90f+ outside I can keep my carboys at 63-65f.
 
I will concur with the above, especially the fact that temp control is most critical during ACTIVE fermentation, say the first few days until the kreusen drops, then I usually drain or remove the kettle from the tub. Also a tiny splash of bleach will keep the water in the tub from getting funky and slimy...that's nasty and is nice to avoid, especially a problem during the hot summer months!

Sometimes I will use the swamp chiller to chill from boiling as well...I have a large fridge keezer with the fridge on top, freezer on bottom and I keep around 12, 2 liter soda bottles frozen, that's a lot of ice and will knock a hot batch down to temp quick!
 
also you might need need to run the fans at night 5 gallons takes alot of energy to eat it up in the ester range. Turning the fan off at night in a water bath should be fine. At least that is my method during the summer. I live in a tent with limited access to elec so i only run the fan in the day time. we have highs of up to 100 F, the ice bottles are a nesectiy.
 
I have a cellar and I live in Maine. All set with low in the summer. Now high is often a problem.
 
Here's my ghetto lagering set up. I use it for lagering in the winter, and for cooling fermentation in the summer:

4189-dscf0002-9590.jpg


A water bath with frozen water bottles rotated in and out, and I'm in business. Of course, this is a cool climate so it's not all that warm here anyway most of the time.
 
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