towel wrap?

Is it possible to lower the temps of your fermentor by wrapping a wet towel around it (perhaps re-wetting the towel every day or so?) I have room temps right around 68, but would like to get it to 65 without having to lower the heat in the rest of the house. It probably doesn't matter too much, but I had to ask.

Through the magic of evaporative cooling, yes!

Works even better if you put it in a water bath and sett a fan on it.

Mk010101 said:

Is it possible to lower the temps of your fermentor by wrapping a wet towel around it (perhaps re-wetting the towel every day or so?) I have room temps right around 68, but would like to get it to 65 without having to lower the heat in the rest of the house. It probably doesn't matter too much, but I had to ask.

Click to expand...

Evaporative cooling is most effective when the dew point is below 55°F.

You should be able to get 5-7 degrees of cooling with a towel, even more with a tub and fan. Right now my house is at 67F and 38% RH, which are fairly typical of indoor winter conditions, that works out to a dew point of 41F.

Greetings,
Speaking of altering temperatures, I am two days into the secondary of my very first batch, a very dark Christmas brew from a can (baby steps, baby steps) and all seems to be going well, bubbling about once a minute and actually showing signs of clarifying near the top!
The carboy thermometer strip has read a rock steady 72 degrees since racking. Is that O.K., or should I try to change temps? My little starter books don't go into a lot of detail, they're more of the confidence building "you can do it!" type of things.
No funny smells or growths, it all looks good.
Thanks,
Tony

Sounds good. It's going well.

Do you have the facility to drop the temp a little. I like to have my secondary a little cooler. It may prolong the finish time a little but that's no bad thing.
I try to keep my Primary at 68-70 and my secondary at 62-66
It doesn't matter to much though, that's just my preference.

The man at the local HB said that if you take a box, insulate it with some cheap insulation from Home Depot then freeze 4 coke bottles of water and place them in the corners of the box and place the brew in the middle that you could get a good ambient temperature for a lager. Since we're doing ales right now he said they were good inside at room temperature, though for this recipe it wants to be at 63*F, we managed to find a room in the house that stays that exact temperature.

DeadYetiBrew said:

The man at the local HB said that if you take a box, insulate it with some cheap insulation from Home Depot then freeze 4 coke bottles of water and place them in the corners of the box and place the brew in the middle that you could get a good ambient temperature for a lager. Since we're doing ales right now he said they were good inside at room temperature, though for this recipe it wants to be at 63*F, we managed to find a room in the house that stays that exact temperature.

Click to expand...

Do a search here or google for "Son of Fermentation Chiller" or "Fermentation Chiller" and you'll get plans on how to build and maintain one. They're very cost effective.

BTW Ed Wort found one on Craigslist for $50.