Home Brewing Fermentation Cooler for small 1 gallon batches

Hey Guys

I'm thinking of brewing my first batch of beer next week and am considering using the "Home Brewing Fermentation Cooler" for maintaining a cool temperature during fermentation (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008EKD7CQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20).

In general, this seems to have favorable reviews and people seem to recommend it; However I did have a couple questions about it:

- Are there any concerns about using a 1 gallon carboy with it? Most reviews seem to talk about "traditional" 5 gallon batches.

- I'm guessing that the smaller size of the carboy will make it cool faster than larger carboys so I should probably use less ice than recommended?

- If anyone's ever used this to ferment 1 gallon batches, would you recommend it?

Thanks!

Well I pulled the trigger and brewed my first batch and am currently fermenting and maintaining the temperature using the cooler. So far its working great, today was an especially hot day (85 degrees Fahrenheit) and the cooler maintained fermentation temperature was 74 (it's a saison). I'd definitely recommend it.

If you decide that you'd like to move up a little in size check my videos below. I do 1.9 g batches in 2 gallon buckets from Home Depot. Gives me 3 six packs most of the time. BIAB of course.

tsharma said:

Well I pulled the trigger and brewed my first batch and am currently fermenting and maintaining the temperature using the cooler. So far its working great, today was an especially hot day (85 degrees Fahrenheit) and the cooler maintained fermentation temperature was 74 (it's a saison). I'd definitely recommend it.

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Good glad it is working for you. Are you keeping it outside? You might try putting it in a closet if possible that way it will not need to work as hard.

C-Rider said:

If you decide that you'd like to move up a little in size check my videos below. I do 1.9 g batches in 2 gallon buckets from Home Depot. Gives me 3 six packs most of the time. BIAB of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nYwf86unc4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5oIhI2XLZY&list=UUdObnyKPx3hfPdYd9-PcuUg

Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll definitely check those out. I do plan on moving to larger batches after I've brewed a couple more 1 gallon batches.

Brian77095 said:

Good glad it is working for you. Are you keeping it outside? You might try putting it in a closet if possible that way it will not need to work as hard.

Click to expand...

Yep, I have them in a closet, and I doubled how much ice I had in my cooler. My beer is now fermenting at a pretty consistent 67 Fahrenheit.