T-shirt w/fan for temp control?

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rocketman768

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If I throw a glass carboy into some water with a t-shirt over it and put the fan on it, will this be enough if the ambient temperature is 75-80F? I was hoping something easy could keep the temps down (65-70F) during the 8-9 hours in the middle of the day when the AC is off.
 
It depends on the relative humidity, but unless it's Summer in the South or corn-growing weather, it should work.
 
The effectiveness of this largly depend on your dew point. If the dew point gets above 55F the efficiency of these goes way down.

They work great here in the hot dry southwest... that is until the monsoons roll in with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.

Where do you live?
 
I live in Vancouver BC and I used the fan system for the first time this weekend. It only got me down about 3-4F.

If yours doesn't drop much then you can always add some 2L bottles of frozen water as needed. Each bottle (depending on the size of the tub and water level) should drop the temp about 2-3F, in my experience.
 
If your humidity is too high for a swamp cooler to work, try adding a frozen bottle to your water. The water around your carboy will help hold the cool there.
 
Ironic isn't it. A swamp cooler works best in the desert.

+1 to putting the fermenter in a tub and adding frozen water bottles.
 
I live in Savannah, GA (picture the devil's ballsack after rough sex, and that is how hot and sweaty it is down here).

I have a brown ale in a carboy right now, and a t-shirt soaked in ice-water, refreshed twice a day (before and after work) did the trick just fine. My AC is at around 78, but the carboy is staying well below that. No fan this time, but I think i will try it next round.
 
I don't think evaporative cooling will do the trick for you. I grew up just south of Chitown and the summers were sunny, hot and humid == corn growing weather. Although, you do use your A/C some of the time and that would reduce the RH and dewpoint. As long as you don't get too much infiltration while the A/C is off, you might be ok.
 
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