Improvising modest temp control on a sanke fermentor

I'm brewing a Cream Ale on Sunday and would like to use some basic temp control to keep my fermentation temp around 64 degrees. I've been fortunate to have a cellar that keeps a very convenient 65 degree ambient temp, so I haven't needed much for temp control for my ales and I have a keezer that I will repurpose temporarily to lager. That being said, I've been saving up for a proper temp control chamber.

I would go with a standard swamp cooler, but I use half keg sankes to ferment 10 gallon batches. Does anyone have a convenient way of swamp cooling these? I have a temperature controller as well that I can connect to a fan. That's how I've been thinking of doing it: put a pan of water under the fermentor with wicking cloth draped over and put the fan on the temp controller with it set to keep it at 64 degrees.

Any ideas?

Its hard to control temperature in that volume of fermenting beer, I'd try the method you listed. I'd wager that whatever you use will be running constantly, even glycol coolers on large fermentors run constantly.

Also, one degree won't make any difference at all, why dont you just use the cellar? Unless the fan temperature probe is within the wort?

Thanks for the feedback. I put the fermenter in a breezy, damp corner of my cellar that, surprising to me, has an ambient temp of 59 degrees. With 7-8 degrees of fermentation temperature increase, that puts me right about where I want to be for the cream ale fermentation.

Next step: find an upright freezer big enough to accomodate my sanke fermenters that I can afford!

Keeping the temp consistent is all about increasing the thermal mass. Get a big bucket/container that will fit the carboy along with a bunch of water on the outside, and that will keep the thermal mass up and the temps consistent without having to do pretty much anything else in these cold months.