Hot Days: Fermenting Temps?

[dshay]

This is a questions towards everyone that brews in the warmer areas. Summer is approaching and today it was 88 degrees outside. This creates a problem for me. I do not have a fermentation chamber as of yet.

So how do you guys ferment, keeping your temperatures in the high 60's while it is 90 outside? And with no fermentation chamber?

I would like to brew this summer and would not like to invest in a chamber just yet. Is there any way?

Cheers

 

[BrewScout]

Search the HBT forums for "swamp cooler"! Its what I use.

 

[wilsojos]

You don't need anything fancy...$10 at Walmart would probably get the job done. Do a search on swamp cooler.

 

[dshay]

Sounds great, and the way to go. Is it hard to maintain the temperture with those? Just did not want to put ice in one, then go to work for 8 hours and come back while the temperture was back up in the 80's or so.

 

[thasnazzle]

I'm about to brew a saison with all Brett - apparently it doesn't produce fusels, so there's no issue with letting it get hot. This is good for me because I am about to move and don't want to deal with keeping a fermenter cool in transit.

Alternatively, try craigslisting a mini fridge. I have one set up on a lamp timer that fits my bucket. It keeps stuff cool without the hassle of a swamp cooler, and cost me $5 since I got the fridge for free.

 

[neosapien]

I went and bought myself a cheapy wine fridge with a variable control on it. I think it was like $129 at home depot. I'm sure a bit of digging will give you better luck that I had at cutting that cost. It fits a 6gal carboy with airlock just fine, has tinted glass, and saves me from the ever-encroaching texas summer.

Swamp cooler + tiny fan + frozen ice packs does wonders as well

 

[Qhrumphf]

Sounds great, and the way to go. Is it hard to maintain the temperture with those? Just did not want to put ice in one, then go to work for 8 hours and come back while the temperture was back up in the 80's or so.

What do you keep your ambient indoor temp at? Granted I keep my AC cranked 24/7 in the summer (don't ask why, it's a long story), and keep it about 68-70 indoors. With that, and my swamp cooler near my AC unit, I can hold a constant 62 by swapping out a gallon milk jug filled with ice every 8 hours, when I get up, when I get home from work, and when I go to bed. The larger the thermal mass (larger the swamp cooler and more surrounding water) the better it'll hold steady.

 

[TCool]

I just bottled my first batch. During fermentation I simply stuck my bucket in a cooler with a few inches of water on the bottom and draped a towel over it with the ends in the water. The towel will absorb water and the evaporation off the towel will lower the temp. The temp in my apartment during this time was between 70 and 85 (I live in Wisconsin-- we get crazy temp swings) and the temp in the cooler ranged between 60 and 65. On the really warm days I just needed to point a fan at the towel and it would drop the temp more. I also stuck a couple frozen water bottles in the water one day and dropped the temp down to the 50s pretty quickly, so I pulled them out.

 

[jestmaty]

Don't get me started on trying to keep my house at 72* when it gets hot outside. My 2900 s/f 2 story will cost me about $500 in electricity each month.. and that's at 8.2 cents per kilowatt hour.

It's a long, long, long story, but if I tried to keep an area in my house at 70-72 to make beer, I'd go broke. So, I took my 5 cubic foot chest freezer and turned it into a ferment chamber with a johnson controls thermostat. Right now, it has a 5 gallon batch of wheat ale (only 5 days in primary) AND 15 quarts/1 22oz/6 12oz of my Good Friday brew.