cooling fown the carboy during ferment

What method do you guys use during the summer to keep the fermentation from getting too hot? I might be brewing with a warm basement this summer. I used to use a wet towel on the carboy with a fan blowing on it to cool the carboy down, which worked decently from what I remember.

Other ideas?

And, how good is ye olde towel for cooling the carboy down? It's been a while, so can't really recall. What's the warmest the basement should be? Thoughts? I usually don't want to ferment above 70.

You can make a box from styrofoam, and keep your carboy there together with 2-3 2L PET bottles with water, frozen in a freezer. It is quite efficient, you can even make lagers, but you have to replace the bottles almost daily.

sth. like this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/new-fermentation-chamber-build-102846/

my set up . 15 gallon tub with ice and a wet towel . I can maintain mid 50's no matter the ambient temp.

I bought a 15.8cu.ft. chest freezer for $60. Needed some rustoleum, but it works like a champ! I can put at least 4 (maybe more) carboys in there.

Add a Johnson Control A19 analog temp controller onto it to control the temp to anything you want (Ales or Lagers). Get these from Northern Brewer ($60, all ready to go) or Ebay ($30 - got to do a bit of wiring yourself).

This setup is a dream come true for me.

Ack! Bloody typos! "fown". Ah well.

Anyway, I'm not looking to lager or anything. Just wanna reduce the temp a little and have no room for a freezer or other large equipment. The frozen water bottles might do the trick. Will see if the freezer can fit them when we get home this upcoming weekend.

Thanks guys.

Basment temp was 75
Fermenting beer temp was 50 degrees

Old cooler



Top made of styrofoam insulation board