Carboy Cooler or Temp Control

Can you recommend a carboy temperature control that includes cooling? I'm brewing Saturday and the leaving town for a week, but it only now dawns on me that it's going to be hot here and I have no way to control my carboy temps.

I was thinking of submerging it in water, but that won't really help with cooling.

Thoughts?

For your immediate situation, you can put it in a basement (if you don't have one, take it somewhere that does).

Longer-term, a chest freezer or refrigerator with an external thermostat is perfect.

You could also brew when you get back from your trip

Put your carboy in a bucket with water and a damp T-shirt over it that will create an evaporation cooling effect.

E-Mursed said:

Put your carboy in a bucket with water and a damp T-shirt over it that will create an evaporation cooling effect.

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While that will help, depending on ambient temps it may not be enough. I have an IPA in a bucket of water with a damp t-shirt draped over it. Once outside temps hit 90 that wasn't enough to keep it in the 64 degree range for fermentation so I started having to rotate ice bottles and use a fan to force evaporative cooling. Neither one of those are conducive to traveling.

I'd put it in a basement (or a friends if I didn't have one) or wait till after I traveled to brew.

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, I can't wait since I'm brewing for an event and don't have the time.

I have a garage, but the temps in there are all over the place. I'll look into the wet t-shirt option. I also remembered my kegerator has temp control, but not sure it would keep it in the 60s. I'll check on that since it would be perfect.

Thanks again!

Been dealing with the same issues. I've been using a towel draped over the bucket into the water bath. I think it wicks better than a tee shirt. You can also turn a fan on the fermenter to accelerate the evaporation rate and cooling.

jambafish said:

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, I can't wait since I'm brewing for an event and don't have the time.

I have a garage, but the temps in there are all over the place. I'll look into the wet t-shirt option. I also remembered my kegerator has temp control, but not sure it would keep it in the 60s. I'll check on that since it would be perfect.

Thanks again!

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Is there anyone at your place who can keep an eye on it for you? If so put a towel or tshirt on it to wick water and add a fan to speed up evaporation..

Have your helper keep an eye on the water level to refill as needed and add in ice bottles for extra help

So I purchased a temp controller for my kegerator. Only issue now is that there is no heating option, which is sometimes an issue. I've been keeping it in a room that is always warmer than fermentation temps, and I'm looking into terrarium heating for cool evenings. This has been a real learning process.