Tips on keeping wort cool?

Hi all. I just finished brewing Midwest's Liberty Cream Ale (my second batch). The brew's been in the primary for 2 days now, hovering at temps between 68-72 degrees (still no bubbles in the airlock, even though the lid has been replaced - although I can see krausen). I'd like to keep the temperature under 70 degrees if at all possible. I have the bucket sitting in the bathtub in my spare bathroom. The bathtub is filled to about 4 inches with water. I will replace the water every couple of days. I also take a large ziploc bag filled with ice and will place it right up against the bucket every 2 days.

I used this method with my first batch, Midwest's Smooth Nut Brown Ale. It seemed to have worked pretty well - I think the warmest the bucket got was probably 72 degrees. However, spring/summer is upon us and it gets pretty hot out here in California.

Do any of you have any tips on keeping your fermenter cool? Please share - I'd love to hear them!

Thank you,
Brandon

Swamp cooler with ice bottles and a fan, basically similar to what you're doing but the bucket is smaller than the bath tub and the water level should really be at least half the height of the vessel, 4" is not really going to insulate against temp fluctuations

I fill a cooler with water, and place the fermenter in that. I switch out frozen water bottles as needed and float a thermometer in the water bath to monitor the temperature.

I made a new lid for my cooler (it was hollow) out of 4 layers of foam insulation. Then I can still use the cooler as a cooler when I'm not using it for fermentation.

Here's a photo:



In the winter, I use it with an aquarium heater in the water bath to keep it warm, and in the summer just the frozen water bottles if needed to keep it cool.

I didn't even think about freezing water bottles - i have a few in the fridge now, thank you.

This is going to be a very dumb question, but I have a liquid thermometer on the outside of the fermenter. Can this be submerged in water? That was my reasoning for not filling past 4" - so as not to get water on the thermometer (insert laughing here!)

ManTail said:

I didn't even think about freezing water bottles - i have a few in the fridge now, thank you.

This is going to be a very dumb question, but I have a liquid thermometer on the outside of the fermenter. Can this be submerged in water? That was my reasoning for not filling past 4" - so as not to get water on the thermometer (insert laughing here!)

Click to expand...

No, if they get wet they will be ruined. The good news is they are about $3, so if you ruin this one you can get another one, and put it much higher on the fermenter. That's what I had to do- near the top level of the beer for a 5 gallon batch, then I could fill the cooler with water to near that level.

Start looking for mini fridge and temp controller that you can fit your primary and secondary in. I got a $100 in store credit/rebate a while back for buying a washer & dryer. Used it for a mini fridge. Take out all the shelving and what not and can put a bucket or carboy in for 5 gal batch.
Bought a temp controller and bingo.
It's a small cost up front but worth it. Plus you can use fridge for other tasks when not fermenting. I now use mine for yeast.
TD