Cheapo fermentation chamber..how will it work?

[markley]

Just looking for some thoughts/suggestions regarding a cheapo fermentation chamber. I have an Omaha steak Styrofoam cooler that I cut a hole in the lid so that my 6 gal plastic fermenting bucket cut slide through. I plan on just placing frozen bottles of water in the cooler (no water). One issue I see is that the top 1 gal of the bucket sticks out the top (though I’m only doing a 5 gal batch..so most of the wort will be “sub-styrofoam”. The room I’m fermenting in is not too warm, but warmer than I need it (is somewhere in low 70’s). So I don’t have to cool it down significantly.
I think I’ll throw a water filled fermenter in there tonight and experiment to see how many bottles I may need etc…

 

[BigFloyd]

It'll work fine so long as you monitor the temps and have frozen bottles on hand to use as needed.

One thing that will help keep things more controllable is to get your wort chilled down to a few degrees below the low end of the optimal range for the yeast you are using before pitching.

 

[rlmiller10]

Why not add some water? Does the cooler hold water? It will add more thermal mass and thus keep the temps more stable. Which will allow you to be away from it longer without having temperature swings.

It will certainly work as you described but it will work better with more thermal mass.

 

[markley]

I've read that these cheap styrofoam coolers don't hold water too well...will leak out over a few days. I do have a large rope pail that I can use for a swamp cooler, but figured i'd give this a go. I just put in a 5 gal bucket of 70 degree water and will see what happens. I know it won't be the same since it is not fermenting, but i guess it should give me some idea huh? Maybe shoot to hold a temp around 60 deg (to allow for a ~5deg temp difference due to fermenting)? I will be fermenting and IPA next.

 

[rlmiller10]

I've read that these cheap styrofoam coolers don't hold water too well...will leak out over a few days. I do have a large rope pail that I can use for a swamp cooler, but figured i'd give this a go. I just put in a 5 gal bucket of 70 degree water and will see what happens. I know it won't be the same since it is not fermenting, but i guess it should give me some idea huh? Maybe shoot to hold a temp around 60 deg (to allow for a ~5deg temp difference due to fermenting)? I will be fermenting and IPA next.

Are you fermenting in plastic buckets or glass carboys? if you are using buckets you might get a 5 degree delta between wort and water temps although probably a bit less. If you are using glass carboys you will not get more than a couple of degrees at most between the actively fermenting wort and the cold water around the carboy. Glass is quite good at thermal conductivity, plastic not as much.

Edit: reread OP and see you are using plastic. I would try for keeping the cooling water about 2 degrees below the target fermentation temp for the first 4 to 5 days. Assuming the temp is kept in the mid 60s it will slow the fermentation a bit which will further decrees the delta in temps as the heat generation rate (BTU/Volume/time) will be slower.

I knew that thermodynamics would eventually come in handy.

 

[Smellyglove]

If the cooler doesn't hold water to good just find a big plastic bag which you place inside the cooler, fill up with water and put the carboy into the bag.

 

[bja]

I've been doing this for about 5 years, except I use 2 bottoms. One with a 2-1/2" hole cut in it for the airlock to stick out of. I have about 20 1/2 liter plastic bottles of water frozen at all times and just replace them in the cooler as necessary.