Reverse Swamp Cooler Fermenting

[tokerlund]

This summer I was cleaning out the garage when I came across my old livestock heater for my (dead) dog's water buckets in the winter. It sparked an idea.

I am planning on filling a rubber-made tub full of water once temps hit a constant below freezing level. For where I live that might be December at the latest. Then I will throw the tank heater in there until the temp of the water stabilizes. I figure that should be right around 35* - 40*. This should be a perfect set-up for fermenting a lager. . . Right?

I have never done a lager as my fridge space is reserved for extra gallons of milk (damn kids), the wife's soda, and my beer/cider on tap. I would like to try a lager, but haven't had the ability.

I am thinking this should work, but I'd love to hear flaws in my logic before I discover them organically.

 

[duboman]

There is no reason it won't work as long as the heater is hooked up to a thermostat and doesn't take that long to heat and maintain the volume of water in the bath

 

[dhallila]

This summer I was cleaning out the garage when I came across my old livestock heater for my (dead) dog's water buckets in the winter. It sparked an idea.

I am planning on filling a rubber-made tub full of water once temps hit a constant below freezing level. For where I live that might be December at the latest. Then I will throw the tank heater in there until the temp of the water stabilizes. I figure that should be right around 35* - 40*. This should be a perfect set-up for fermenting a lager. . . Right?

I have never done a lager as my fridge space is reserved for extra gallons of milk (damn kids), the wife's soda, and my beer/cider on tap. I would like to try a lager, but haven't had the ability.

I am thinking this should work, but I'd love to hear flaws in my logic before I discover them organically.

35 to 40 degrees is pretty low and the yeast won't work as well. If you can achieve 45-50 degrees would be a more optimal fermentation. Let us know how it works though. Cheers!