Poor mans fermenting fridge

[thern001]

After getting some off flavors in my last few beers because of high temp I thought of a storage container I had and some containers with frozen h20 to keep the temp down. This the first time I've ever done this if anybody has had experience with something similar please leave me a comment.

 

[Germelli1]

It is not a bad idea, but the commonly used swamp cooler would be greatly more effective. Water has a higher specific heat capacity so it is superior to air for a few reasons: Frozen jugs have higher cooling capacity in water than in air, Water provides a buffer against temp fluctuations that air cannot.

 

[Cimerian]

If there is one thing I do understand it is heat transfer and fluid flow. Really I don't see this doing much. Have you put a thermometer inside so you can compare temps? One advantage I could see is the air in the container would not fluctuate as fast as the air outside of the container. As for colder I really don't see it happening. Why not fill the container with water and set a fan to blow across it. The water evaporating might get you a 5 degree drop. I'm all for experiments though. I would be curious to know inside chamber and outside chamber temps.

 

[thern001]

Yeah it's only about 2 or 3 degrees lower but it's cold inside my house right now the real test will come tomorrow when it gets hot.

 

[nefarious_1_]

Everything you're already using + water = swamp cooler.

I think it'll work much better.

 

[seabass07]

Yea. Turn that tub the right way and fill it with water. Put the ice in the water. I can keep my fermenter at 60f when its 74 in my house if I'm attentive with this method.

 

[thern001]

Thank you guys I went ahead an changed the setup and the beer is fermenting at a constant 65 degrees while it's about 80 in the room