Best way to control fermentation temperature inside the home?

My fermenters are kept inside my home (a condo) and ambient temperature is never less than ~72F inside the closet the carboys are kept in. This is already at the high end and with increased temperature from fermentation I'm sure the carboys are at 80F+. This obviously is going to cause some issues. My first beer brewed here has a definite ester/banana aroma. It's not awful and still perfectly drinkable; however when combined with the fusels you can tell the fermentation temperature was too high.

Since I live in a condo placing the carboys in a bathtub isn't really an option as I don't want to use up valuable bathroom space.. I *DO* however have the space to put a couple of bar fridges (not enough height space to put another full size fridge.)

Is this the best way to go to control fermentation temperature for me? Are there any other solutions I am missing?

I had thought about converting a chest freezer to use for fermentation but the thought of lifting full carboys out of it repeatedly makes me sad. With all the effort put into these all grain brews I want to make sure they are as good as possible.

Thoughts for fermentation temperature control? Aesthetics DO matter. I also considered converting a large wooden cabinet (maybe Ikea, like http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50119167) with insulation and a compressor from a bar fridge. This might get temperatures down to reasonable levels (only making ales) and not look out of place.

If you're willing to lay out that kinda coin for an Ikea cabinet, I'd say the chest freezer with a controller is your best bet.

There are plans on the net for wooden box "fermentation chillers" see: Smaller Son of Fermentation Chiller that others have had success with.

As for me, you can knock 10 degrees off of ambient with a bunch of frozen 20 oz water bottles floating in a swamp bucket. My basement runs a little hot in the summer. I'll stick a carboy in water and swap out 5 frozen bottles every 12 hours or so. This may not meet your requirement for aesthetics though.

swamp cooler should work out as long as its not too humid. plus then you get an extra couple gallons as a thermal buffer type thing

I agree with the swamp bucket (I've always called it a keg bucket). They are cheap at home depot.

I don't use ice bottles though. I simply put a cotton shirt over the carboy while in the bucket, with the last six inches soaking in the room temp water. Then aim a small fan at the carboy. The wet t-shirt technique cools the carboy as the water evaporates.

I am still using fermenting buckets. If do the t-shirt method do I need to worry about small amount of water dripping in by the airlock grommet hole?

+1 for the cooler. Its ugly and cheap but it works

I use a 60 qt. Igloo Ice Cube cooler (roughly 20" x 20" X 16")with a hole cut in the top for the air lock/blowoff tube. A 6 gallon Better Bottle fits nicely inside with plenty of room for the frozen water bottles . You can control the temps easily by using different sizes of frozen plastic water bottles. I brew ales and lagers with this cooler and can maintain fermentation temps here in Las Vegas even in the summer ( I ferment inside the house). I bought mine at Walmart. Cut the hole in the top with a Dremel tool.

johnnybob said:

I use a 60 qt. Igloo Ice Cube cooler (roughly 20" x 20" X 16")with a hole cut in the top for the air lock/blowoff tube. A 6 gallon Better Bottle fits nicely inside with plenty of room for the frozen water bottles . You can control the temps easily by using different sizes of frozen plastic water bottles. I brew ales and lagers with this cooler and can maintain fermentation temps here in Las Vegas even in the summer ( I ferment inside the house). I bought mine at Walmart. Cut the hole in the top with a Dremel tool.

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I really like this idea. I think I'll have similar cooling need this summer in Arizona. This will be my first summer as a home brewer and I was just thinking about what I'd do to keep fermenting temperatures where they need to be. In fact… my Irish Red is approaching 68 in the house right now. Thanks for the idea.

Here's mine:


It's much cooler here, of course, but I can add water and frozen water bottles to this cooler and keep the beer at just about any temperature. I float a thermometer in the water bath, to monitor the temperature, and it works really well for me.

johnnybob said:

I use a 60 qt. Igloo Ice Cube cooler (roughly 20" x 20" X 16")with a hole cut in the top for the air lock/blowoff tube. A 6 gallon Better Bottle fits nicely inside with plenty of room for the frozen water bottles . You can control the temps easily by using different sizes of frozen plastic water bottles. I brew ales and lagers with this cooler and can maintain fermentation temps here in Las Vegas even in the summer ( I ferment inside the house). I bought mine at Walmart. Cut the hole in the top with a Dremel tool.

Click to expand...

I really like this idea. I think I'll have similar cooling need this summer in Arizona. This will be my first summer as a home brewer and I was just thinking about what I'd do to keep fermenting temperatures where they need to be. In fact… my Irish Red is approaching 68 in the house right now. Thanks for the idea.

I just bought a mail-order (have a PO Box in Point Roberts, WA) Igloo cooler from the States and am planning on building a fermentation cooler a la Yooper's design for fermenting during the late spring/summer. Was sold when she said that she can get down to lagering temps with care and attention. Still an ales-only guy, but do want to brew year round on the top floor of a condo complex.

My condo's second bedroom/brewing room is at about 66-68F from October until May; after that it gets quite a bit warmer. Made some pretty bad beers during last year's late-July Vancouver version of a heat wave. Lately I have been immersing the fermenter (6.5 gal. carboy) in a tub of water, sometimes with a t-shirt on it (no fan), when I wanted to ferment a bit cooler for a drier beer. Worked great during the months noted above. Temp on outside of carboy (under the wet shirt) or in the water was about 3-4F cooler than the ambient air temp. That was without any frozen water bottles. Hoping that with some research and experience that the cooler will be the least expensive (70.00 CDN including shipping to Point Bobs) solution to my summer fermenting woes.

Might be worth a ferry trip to Anacortes and go to the Target or Costco in Burlington, WA to see about a proper cooler. There are lots of brewpubs in Skagit county . There's nothing that I can find in Canada that will work similarly to this system. Some other CDN HBTs might have some further info on this.

Good luck. I feel your pain.

YooperBrew said:

It's much cooler here, of course, but I can add water and frozen water bottles to this cooler and keep the beer at just about any temperature. I float a thermometer in the water bath, to monitor the temperature, and it works really well for me.

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With your level of dedication, I am shocked that you haven't invested in a chest freezer and controller.

In my opinion, the hassle of any other setup (son of fermentation, swamp cooler, constant monitoring, etc.) far outweighs the $300 investment in a chest freezer and temperature controller. I LOVE it...no worries, no hassle...just set and forget. As fermentation temperature control is one of the most critical elements of the process, you are making an investment in the future of your brews...save up $300 and pull the trigger:

I stumbled across this a while ago. This person is from socal as I am and it gets up there in temp in the summer. Really wanna do this myself. BUT...I'm having trouble convincing the SWMBO. I assume he's using food grade antifreeze.

krops13 said:

I stumbled across this a while ago. This person is from socal as I am and it gets up there in temp in the summer. Really wanna do this myself. BUT...I'm having trouble convincing the SWMBO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bb4VUleM5s

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Not to be a dick, but yeah ****ing right...

Doc Robinson said:

With your level of dedication, I am shocked that you haven't invested in a chest freezer and controller.

In my opinion, the hassle of any other setup (son of fermentation, swamp cooler, constant monitoring, etc.) far outweighs the $300 investment in a chest freezer and temperature controller. I LOVE it...no worries, no hassle...just set and forget. As fermentation temperature control is one of the most critical elements of the process, you are making an investment in the future of your brews...save up $300 and pull the trigger:

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+1.....You hit the nail on the head. Why skimp on one of the most important aspects of brewing.

swamp coolers are awesome!!!

scinerd3000 said:

swamp coolers are awesome!!!

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So is a $50 Vegas hooker...that is until you realize that you were too drunk to realize that should have spent a few extra bucks on a quality product and saved yourself the hassle of a lifetime monthly trip to Walgreens to pick up your Valtrex prescription for a $20 copay.

You get what you pay for.

It really depends on your climate, too, I think. Right now my house is 62 degrees- I have my fermenter in the room I'm in since it's the warmest room in the house. My basement is at 48. So, I can do ales or lagers. (Then lager in the fridge, or the cooler set up). My laundry room is 58 degrees- I just made a steam beer. It's limiting sometimes, not having a fermentation chamber, but it's definitely not needed for me. In the summer, my basement never gets above 65 degrees. But there are times when I've needed that cooler set up- sometimes to use ice to cool the fermentation in an unusual heat wave, but just as often I put an aquarium heater in it to bring the temperature UP!

Doc Robinson said:

Not to be a dick, but yeah ****ing right...

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What do u mean?

Doc Robinson said:

So is a $50 Vegas hooker...that is until you realize that you were too drunk to realize that should have spent a few extra bucks on a quality product and saved yourself the hassle of a lifetime monthly trip to Walgreens to pick up your Valtrex prescription for a $20 copay.

You get what you pay for.

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Classy analogy.

YooperBrew said:

It really depends on your climate, too, I think. Right now my house is 62 degrees- I have my fermenter in the room I'm in since it's the warmest room in the house. My basement is at 48. So, I can do ales or lagers. (Then lager in the fridge, or the cooler set up). My laundry room is 58 degrees- I just made a steam beer. It's limiting sometimes, not having a fermentation chamber, but it's definitely not needed for me. In the summer, my basement never gets above 65 degrees. But there are times when I've needed that cooler set up- sometimes to use ice to cool the fermentation in an unusual heat wave, but just as often I put an aquarium heater in it to bring the temperature UP!

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I agree.

To the OP, we live in a very moderate climate compared to many HBTers. Some kind of insulating vessel for your fermenter should be enough to avoid the wild swings in air temperatures or unusually high, ale-unfriendly temps in the summer.

I'm not dismissing the freezer/temp controller idea at all; I looked for something simpler and that would take up less room at this stage. One day, when a decent house in Vancouver isn't a million dollars or I will the 649, I might have the room to improve my set-up. A man can dream, can't he.