HELP! My fermentor is way too hot

i just checked on my citra ipa that i brewed last night. its so hot that the stick on thermometer doesn't have an indicator for the true temp of my beer.

how can i cool my fermentor to a safe temp with our a refrigerator (preferably quick)

if you have a spare bathtub, put it and sit in some water

i put my fermenter in my bottling bucket and filled it with water. will that work?

Rguardian989 said:

i put my fermenter in my bottling bucket and filled it with water. will that work?

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Probably. It might work better if you could put it in a bigger tub/cooler/bin and add a frozen water bottle to the water bath. That will help.

My batch was getting up in the high 70's the other day, so I went with the wet towel method someone mentioned on here. Wrap it up in a damp cloth and the evaporation will cool your fermenter down. Put a fan on next to it to force some more convection if its not cooling quick enough. I got mine down between 70 and 72 with this method

several methods of cooling without a fridge:

1. Use a 10 gallon rubbermaid-esque drink cooler, especially if you have one lying around for use as a mash tun. put the carboy in and fill it with water/ice/frozen water bottles.

2. Use your bathtub with ice and water if you can (this I've found problematic as my wife likes to use the bathtub also!)

3. Use a wet towel and run a fan to create a 'sweating effect'

4. Use a big box and put it over an air conditioning vent in your house to create a cold fermenting box (this works well if you have floor vents)

5. Use a very small closet/room/half bathroom that has an air conditioning vent. I once put my primary fermenter on the sink in a tiny half bathroom in our old condo. I opened the AC vent and closed the door, which took the temp of the primary down to 65.

and to add my opinion, i preferred the latter two. using water and ice is a pain in the ass. primary fermentation puts off heat and you find it more resilient to cooling than later in the fermentation process. that heat melts ice and keeps you working and worrying about keeping up with the cooling.

if you use the air conditioner methods, you can just open the vent, set your AC a little lower, and not worry. that was worth it for me. if you don't have a small room, a downstairs bedroom may also work--just open the vent and shut the door.