Good evening everyone-
I brewed multiple batches today as I have an event I have to host in August. I have traditionally not really brewed much in the summer because I have no good method of chilling, other than a single Peltier chiller device I built. I live in a 1000 square foot house with 2 kids, a wife and a big dog, and there is nowhere else to place a refrigerator to chill fermentation.
I had tried swamp coolers with carboys, and found they can chill well, but I lose control of the temperature. Today I had to think quickly to figure out how to chill a 12 gallon conical. The legs prevent a swamp cooler from working, as the beer holding part isn't submerged.
Then a new idea hit me... I have dabbled in Sous Vide cooking, and one of the parts to this is a small pump to circulate water (a tiny 75 gallon per hour fountain pump). I plugged this pump into some 3/8" diameter silicone hose, dropped it into a large rubber bucket, and then set the conical in the bucket. I added enough water and ice to get up to about the outlet valve, then secured the tube from the pump going up with a bungee cord. After the bungee cord, I rerouted the tube to go around the conical, and clamped the distal end. I cut multiple small holes in the tube so that it would function like a soaker hose. Then I placed a towel over the "soaker tube" and secured it in multiple places with a bungee cord. When I plugged the pump in, it had ice water squirting from the little holes, and soaked the towel in ice water, which ran down the sides of the conical and back into the ice water bucket.
I didn't add any control, as I don't yet have a thermowell (Brewers Hardware is out until July 3rd), but the wort went from 72 degrees to 53 in less than 2 hours! If I added a controller I should be able to control the temperature quite well, with essentially no added space requirements, no son-of-fermentation controller, and only requiring periodic additions of ice.
This is now my preferred method of chilling. I'll post pictures when able.
I brewed multiple batches today as I have an event I have to host in August. I have traditionally not really brewed much in the summer because I have no good method of chilling, other than a single Peltier chiller device I built. I live in a 1000 square foot house with 2 kids, a wife and a big dog, and there is nowhere else to place a refrigerator to chill fermentation.
I had tried swamp coolers with carboys, and found they can chill well, but I lose control of the temperature. Today I had to think quickly to figure out how to chill a 12 gallon conical. The legs prevent a swamp cooler from working, as the beer holding part isn't submerged.
Then a new idea hit me... I have dabbled in Sous Vide cooking, and one of the parts to this is a small pump to circulate water (a tiny 75 gallon per hour fountain pump). I plugged this pump into some 3/8" diameter silicone hose, dropped it into a large rubber bucket, and then set the conical in the bucket. I added enough water and ice to get up to about the outlet valve, then secured the tube from the pump going up with a bungee cord. After the bungee cord, I rerouted the tube to go around the conical, and clamped the distal end. I cut multiple small holes in the tube so that it would function like a soaker hose. Then I placed a towel over the "soaker tube" and secured it in multiple places with a bungee cord. When I plugged the pump in, it had ice water squirting from the little holes, and soaked the towel in ice water, which ran down the sides of the conical and back into the ice water bucket.
I didn't add any control, as I don't yet have a thermowell (Brewers Hardware is out until July 3rd), but the wort went from 72 degrees to 53 in less than 2 hours! If I added a controller I should be able to control the temperature quite well, with essentially no added space requirements, no son-of-fermentation controller, and only requiring periodic additions of ice.
This is now my preferred method of chilling. I'll post pictures when able.
