Fermenting in a hot fridge

[atxbrewify]

I'm going to be out of town for 5 days. The weather forecasts low 90s outside. We plan to leave the house temperature at 85. I also have a broken fridge that partially cools, it can get to maybe 5 degrees cooler than ambient temp. The walls of the fridge feel cold, but nothing inside it feel cold.

I've just started fermenting a Brewer's Best Scotch Ale and want to find the best option(s) for keeping my fermenter cool. Should I ice the fridge down... Should I try to make a swamp cooler out of the bath tub? Is there something I could buy in the next day or two that will handle the job?

 

[danthebugman]

I use ice packs in a Styrofoam cooler as fermentation control, but still have to change out the ice packs at least once a day depending on what I'm fermenting. Your best bet would be to replace the fridge, but that's probably not easy to do on such short notice. If you can cool the fridge sufficiently with ice packs to get a good temperature then your best bet would be to have someone stop by and tend to swapping out the ice packs.

 

[atxbrewify]

I cooled the fridge down with ice to about 64 degrees, the beer was still sitting at 70 at the time. The fridge has been maintaining the temperature for about 12hours now without ice packs. So maybe it's just strong enough to provide a fermentation environment! The fridge is running non-stop, so this isn't going to be a cheap solution.

What would you recommend for a better long term solution to cool a bucket/carboy during fermentation? I found http://www.austinhomebrew.com/Cool-Brewing-Fermentation-Cooler_p_766.html but it would be nice to set it and forget it or at least have something that can survive a weekend on its own.

 

[Jim311]

Get a cheap ass fridge off craigslist and a temp controller. It will make your beers way better.