what is your method of temp control

during fermentation. im pretty new to home brewing and know that controlling your temp during fermentation is very important. my question is what is your method for temp control and how much money am i going to have to spend to achieve temp control.

Put your fermenter in a plastic tub of some sort, fill it halfway with water, put a t-shirt over the fermenter and allow the water to wick up into the shirt. Switch out one or two 1- or 2-liter bottles of frozen water as often as necessary, once or twice a day. Set up a fan to blow on the fermenter to more quickly evaporate the water, if you need to.

+1 to Rick500. Doesn't cost much at all.

i have had a belgian ale in secondary for about two months now. should i go ahead and start doing this or just wait and try it on my next beer? also could this method cause the beer to get to cold or fluctuate temperature too much?

Mine is pretty much the same as Rick's, no problem keeping the fermenter in the low 60s even during hot weather.

I don't do it after the beer is racked to secondary - it's the first week that's the most important. Once I rack to secondary I don't worry much about temp control, I usually start a new batch and put it in the swamp cooler.

To control my temper i use amitripteline. 40 mg.......... OOOOPs wrong forum. Man i gotta get better at this multitasking thing!

I would assume after 2 months you're probably fine.

One of the purposes of the water in the tub is that it'll take a lot more time for a large amount of water to change temperature than the air. Also the evaporation from the top with the wet t-shirt will keep it a little cool. you can just fill up the tub a little more and forgo the t-shirt to get an even more stable temp. Albeit a warmer one.

Here is a thread with a few ideas. I started using temp control with this method a year ago and it works extremely well considering how simple it is. I have been able to keep a beer at 60 degrees in a 78 degree house without too much trouble.

Eric

thanks for the help everyone. i think i will try this on my next beer. i am going to let the belgian ferment at about the temp it has been which is about 75-77 because i hear they do better at this temp. also, does the shirt need to be touching the water??

Yes. If its touching the water it will work sort of like a wick in a candle, so it'll stay somewhat wet.

Yes, the purpose of the t-shirt is to soak up the water and allow it a large surface area to evaporate (and thus cool the fermenter).

Cellar which has been a steady 68*F over the summer, although this summer hasn't been hot at all. For my Cream Common I am brewing right now I will be using California Lager yeast and putting it in a tub with water and a jug of ice.

now my only question is how do you achieve this if you go out of town. i travel a lot and can not maintain this everyday. if i miss a few days will it hurt my beer at all? from my understanding you dont want the beer to change temps to drastically which i feel like this could happen if i cant maintain putting ice in the tub everyday.

I use a modified chest freezer, its made my brew-life much easier...

Here's my solution. I paid about $10 for the sheet of foam, and it's three (or maybe four, I don't remember) layers thick. I took off the plastic lid, and kept it, so I can still use it for a regular wheeled cooler.

I fill it with water, and add ice bottles in the summer, or use an aquarium heater in the winter. I float an aquarium thermometer in it and in that way can maintain whatever temperature I want. I ferment most ales at 62-65 degrees, depending on what I'm making.

I only bother to control the temperature closely, while active fermentation is going on. The first 3 or 4 days.

ColonelForbin said:

now my only question is how do you achieve this if you go out of town. i travel a lot and can not maintain this everyday. if i miss a few days will it hurt my beer at all? from my understanding you dont want the beer to change temps to drastically which i feel like this could happen if i cant maintain putting ice in the tub everyday.

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For most beers that are quicker ferments, if you can temp control for the first 3-4 days and then you leave it alone for a while, you will still be better off than no temp control at all.

Eric

I'm blessed with a basement that maintains a steady 66 during the summer. For beers that ferment warmer, or during the winter, I put the carboy in a bucket, fill with water and use an aquarium heater.