cweston
Well-Known Member
I'm currently fermenting a California common and am using the poor man's lagerator: a tub of water on the basement floor that the fermenter sits in.
In this case I only need to maintain a temp a few degrees below the ambient temp, so a small ziplock bag of water frozen solid added once or twice per day works beautifully.
The trick with this method is to know what size ice block you need to achieve the amount of cooling required. A gallon milk jug added morning and evening will keep the water bath significantly below ambient temp: maybe 10-15 degrees.
The water bath helps even out the temp changes so it's quite steady.
In this case I only need to maintain a temp a few degrees below the ambient temp, so a small ziplock bag of water frozen solid added once or twice per day works beautifully.
The trick with this method is to know what size ice block you need to achieve the amount of cooling required. A gallon milk jug added morning and evening will keep the water bath significantly below ambient temp: maybe 10-15 degrees.
The water bath helps even out the temp changes so it's quite steady.