South Florida - Home temtemperature 78 - Spare fridge question

[saeroner]

I'm getting my 1st home kit today (FedEx). It's a 5 Gal kit from. Going to try and start with an IPA.

I guess I should have worried about this earlier.

It's hot and humid here. I have a spare normal size kitchen fridge in my garage that i don't use. My question is, how hard is it to get the fridge to a temp of 60-65? Also, it's in my garage which gets really hot -- is that a bad thing for the fridge? Would this Be a good idea for the carboy/fermenting?

Would it be easier to get a portable A/C and have it blowing on the fermenting area or something? I have a spare room (not the garage) that I would rather keep everything in.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Mozart]

Most people who use spare refrigerators as fermentation chillers have some kind of external temperature control for them. It's my understanding that it can be difficult to get the right temperature dialed-in without one. After all, refrigerators are designed to maintain temperatures much less than the 60-65 degrees you're shooting for.

An external temperature controller can be a little pricey, depending on the model, and whether or not your're a do-it-yourselfer.

Rather than the portable A/C, I'd personally go with a swamp cooler.

Just fill some sort of tub (plastic totes are popular) with water and set the fermenter in it. Rotate frozen water bottles in and out as necessary, and putting an old t-shirt or something similar over the fermenter with the ends dipping in the water will wick water up the side and increase the amount of evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling can also be aided by the use of a simple fan.

Good luck!

 

[adriedel]

You would need to get a temp controller for the fridge. Good chance that is more expensive than you would want to spend. Around $75. If you keep it around 68 it should be ok.

 

[JoeMomma85]

If you use the.fridge you will a temperature controller to get it up towards.60 (do not use it for.food). Swamp coolers don't work in the summer here unless you add ice. Filling a spare tub with cooler and.dropping smaller frozen bottles into it is how I got started.

 

[freisste]

You may need a temperature controller for the fridge to keep it from getting to cold.

Edit: Sorry, my computer didn't refresh, so I didn't see all the answers above mine.

 

[LovesIPA]

You would need to get a temp controller for the fridge. Good chance that is more expensive than you would want to spend. Around $75. If you keep it around 68 it should be ok.

$75? You can get an STC-1000 controller for $20.

You can either build a project box with outlets (if you don't want to re-wire the fridge) or you can wire it into the fridge and directly control the compressor.

 

[firerat]

Swamp coolers in South Florida during summer are a lost cause as Joe said.

You fridge won't have a problem cooling to 60F. Your problem will be it cooling too much. I've yet to see a fridge that will set to the 60's even on the hottest setting. usually it'll hover in the upper 40's or 50's.

Get yourself one of these:



You can find them from $40-$60.

You'll be happy you did.

EDIT:

Ok it seems they are a bit more expensive than I remembered. More like $70-$80. Still worth it.

 

[Mozart]

Ok it seems they are a bit more expensive than I remembered. More like $70-$80. Still worth it.

Closer to $90-$100 if you want it pre-wired with the plugs, I think.

I wouldn't call a swamp cooler in Florida a 'lost cause'.

Any temperature control is better than no temperature control. Yes, a temperature controller for the spare refrigerator is clearly superior, but if the original poster decides against that option, for whatever reason, the swamp cooler will be of benefit.

Again, any cooling is better than no cooling, even if the cooling method chosen can't quite get to the optimal temperature.

 

[JoeMomma85]

Closer to $90-$100 if you want it pre-wired with the plugs, I think.

I wouldn't call a swamp cooler in Florida a 'lost cause'.

Any temperature control is better than no temperature control. Yes, a temperature controller for the spare refrigerator is clearly superior, but if the original poster decides against that option, for whatever reason, the swamp cooler will be of benefit.

Again, any cooling is better than no cooling, even if the cooling method chosen can't quite get to the optimal temperature.

He is going to have to ice the water for it to be useful. With just a wicking Tshirt and fan he might break into the upper 60s on a dry day like today (73% humidity right now).

 

[saeroner]

Thanks guys. I'm guessing i will have to go to an electric supply store to get the control temp? Guess they don't sell this at Home Depot.

 

[JoeMomma85]

double post

 

[firerat]

Closer to $90-$100 if you want it pre-wired with the plugs, I think.

I wouldn't call a swamp cooler in Florida a 'lost cause'.

Any temperature control is better than no temperature control. Yes, a temperature controller for the spare refrigerator is clearly superior, but if the original poster decides against that option, for whatever reason, the swamp cooler will be of benefit.

Again, any cooling is better than no cooling, even if the cooling method chosen can't quite get to the optimal temperature.

Fair enough. I say useless because my attempts at swamp cooler was an utter failure. Your mileage may vary.

It's really going to depend on ambient temperature though. A swamp cooler indoors when the A/C is around 75 or even 80ish could be effective.

A swamp cooler in a garage when the ambient temperature is 90F is going to be pretty much useless unless you ice the water every hour or so.

 

[saeroner]

I think I can cough up $90 for the temperature controller seeing as I got the Beer Kit as a gift and I inherited the spare refrigerator. The swamp cooler seems to be a pain for the long run.

Thank you

 

[firerat]

I think I can cough up $90 for the temperature controller seeing as I got the Beer Kit as a gift and I inherited the spare refrigerator. The swamp cooler seems to be a pain for the long run.

Thank you

Like I said, you'll be happy you did.

I didn't make a good beer until I built my fermentation chamber.

 

[Puckhead]

I'm with fire rat after buying my stc-1000 and building it out my beers have changed a lot. I live in Coral Springs and its constantly above 74 in my place. The water bottle in the bucket trick worked for about half a day and then it got to much to keep up with. Look at the eBay aquarium temp controller build on here that should help you out! Cheers

 

[LovesIPA]

I think I can cough up $90 for the temperature controller seeing as I got the Beer Kit as a gift and I inherited the spare refrigerator. The swamp cooler seems to be a pain for the long run.

Thank you

Why not cough up $20 for the STC-1000 instead? I have two of them and they work great.

 

[firerat]

I'm with fire rat after buying my stc-1000 and building it out my beers have changed a lot. I live in Coral Springs and its constantly above 74 in my place. The water bottle in the bucket trick worked for about half a day and then it got to much to keep up with. Look at the eBay aquarium temp controller build on here that should help you out! Cheers

I'm right down the street from you right now at my office in Pompano.

 

[Ster]

I am in fla.

Garage is way too hot for a swamp coller.

I got a temp controller.. pre-wired. Simply plug you fridge in to it. I put the temp sensor in a glass of water in hopes to more accurately measure liquid instead of air temp. I keep a thermometer in the glass too. I have found that to get 65F in the glass, I need to set the controller to 58-60F.

 

[chocotaco]

If you don't want to wait for a temp controller to ship (or pay for one) you can try this - you will probably save a bit of money in the short term and all these pieces are multi-taskers.

1. Fill two buckets with tap water right now and put them in your spare fridge.
2. Buy two rope-handle tubs (I like black) if you don't have them already. These are 6-10 bucks each.
3. Buy 6-10 reusable ice packs as large as you can find (if you don't already have a ton of reusable ice packs - like this one http://www.midlandhardware.com/164782.html ) and put them in the spare freezer right now.
4. After you pitch, pour the chilled water into one of the rope handle tubs and place the carboy in the water. Don't worry about t-shirts; they won't help much in your humidity. The water should come up nearly to the level of the beer in your carboy. 60-75% of the way up is fine; more is better.
5. Add half the ice packs. When you get home from work, swap them out (from freezer to tub and tub to freezer). Do this when you wake up as well. Take a temp reading from the water in the tub frequently when you can, and make sure it's staying roughly between 55 and 65 degrees. If not, adjust your ice-swapping schedule accordingly.
6. It's also nice to add some water ice (I like to freeze a block of it in a loaf pan for this purpose) every day or two to make up for evaporation.

This has worked pretty well for me. I live in CA where it's a bit more dry, so I can use the t-shirt trick, but moldy t-shirts and fans running all the time are kind of a nuisance to me. My spare fridge is full of beer, so I won't be moving up to a "fermentation chamber" until I can get a spare-spare fridge or figure out something else.

Edit - forgot to mention why you got TWO of the rope-handle tubs. Invert the second one and put it on top of the first to keep the light out. When they're not in use you can nest them for storage.

 

[hikemor]

Some good advice above. If you want to brew tomorrow, an ice bath/evaporative cooler will be satisfactory and cheap. In the longer term a temperature controller (build yourself or pre-wired) + your spare refridgerator is ideal. However, since you are starting out, concentrate more on getting your brew done right and don't worry too much about fermentation.

To use an ice bath/evaporative cooler in FL, you must ferment indoors. In A/C you should be running about 50 percent RH so the evaporative part (T shirt) will help. Running a refridgerator in a hot garage is not ideal for the compressor but that is where millions(?) of people have their fermenting chambers/spare refridgerators/freezers.

Temperature control is most important for the first 3-4 days so that is the time to fuss with the water bottles.

 

[saeroner]

Thanks a lot guys. Maybe I will try the alternative until I can get my spare fridge in order. Thanks for the quick replies. This forums seems like a great one.

 

[LovesIPA]

This forums seems like a great one.

It is.

If you need help wiring an STC, let me know. I posted a wiring diagram in a thread a while back.

 

[MindenMan]

Initially I was looking for a line voltage evap cooler controller/thermostat, before I got the STC-1000 controller. I know the STC controller will be more accurate programming wise, but this T-stat is plug and play, and available at Home Depot:http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cadet-Do...e+voltage+evap+cooler+controller#.UgqBMNgWlNU And, it's $19.95 too!

 

[tarawa]

I knew nothing about fermentation temperature control, so my first brew (Scottish Wee Heavy)spent the first few days in my bedroom at about 78 degrees. Next few days I wrapped a wet towel around it with a fan blowing on it. I managed to get the temperature in the low 70's. I found a commercial Pepsi cooler (like at the grocery store check outs) for $75.00 on Craigslist. And Had my beer in it at its highest setting for a few days. Picked up a Ranco controller on Amazon for about $50.00 and the remaining fermentation was in the mid 60's. I just finished my first brew. Its in the bottles and maintaining about 67 degrees for carbonation. All the temperature changes didn't hurt my beer at all. It tastes great!
You can brew beer in South Florida. Its a little more difficult to get started though.

 

[Puckhead]

I'm right down the street from you right now at my office in Pompano.

I have a cabinet shop in pompano I work out of sometimes, off Coplans and 95. I always toy around with brewing there but never do..

 

[Puckhead]

I have a cabinet shop in pompano I work out of sometimes, off Coplans and 95. I always toy around with brewing there but never do..

Copans

 

[firerat]

Copans

Dude your like a few miles from me. I'm on Hammondville between 95 and Powerline.

Right down the street from Diamond Dolls and Cheetah.

 

[JoeMomma85]

Dude your like a few miles from me. I'm on Hammondville between 95 and Powerline.

Right down the street from Diamond Dolls and Cheetah.

I like your landmarks.

 

[Puckhead]

I'm familiar with both of those " fine establishments". Haha

 

[kh54s10]

Try the refrigerator in the garage. Set it at the highest temperature setting and check the temperature throughout the day.

You ideally want to control the wort temperature by having the temperature controller sensor in a thermowell (a tube immersed in the wort) or secured to the side of the fermenter with insulation outside it.

If your fridge does not get too cold it might work.

 

[nhindian]

Gonna piggy back off this topic... A temp controller like the STC won't affect the freezer temp right

 

[shetc]

English Bitter being bottle conditioned in a Pembroke Pines bathtub. My first brew so I'll let you how it comes out in a week. Carboy was kept in a big tote tub / swamp cooler.

 

[freisste]

Gonna piggy back off this topic... A temp controller like the STC won't affect the freezer temp right

The temp controller doesn't affect the temp of the freezer - only the on/off set points for the compressor. So it is more like a thermostat. It is really no different than the dial setting on the fridge/freezer, except it isn't as neat and has a much wider temp range.

Very similar to your home furnace. It kicks out one temp (pretty hot). Your thermostat tells it to turn off when it gets to your setpoint (say 68 ) then turn on again when it cools a set amount (maybe 66). The thermostat has nothing to do with how hot your furnace is, just how long its on.

 

[freisste]

English Bitter being bottle conditioned in a Pembroke Pines bathtub. My first brew so I'll let you how it comes out in a week. Carboy was kept in a big tote tub / swamp cooler.

I don't think you're hurting anything having the bottles in water (except that some caps will rust), but temp control after bottling - and really after initial fermentation - isn't particularly critical. I've heard of people experimenting and letting bottles get up to like 90f and all they reported was faster carbonation - no off flavors detected.

 

[shetc]

I let the house warm up during the day to save on electricity. I was concerned that the changing temperature would effect the beer. Let me know if I'm wasting my time keeping them in the water.

 

[firerat]

I let the house warm up during the day to save on electricity. I was concerned that the changing temperature would effect the beer. Let me know if I'm wasting my time keeping them in the water.

For bottle conditioning? Yeah probably.

Are you turning your A/C completely off during the day? When you crank it at night it's gonna cost a lot more to get it to a comfy level then if you maintained say 78F through out the day.

Set it to 78ish when you leave. A friendly tip from a former FPL employee.

 

[MindenMan]

According to my power company, setting the "daytime" temperature more than 10 degrees higher will cost a lot more to cool off the house again.
What most people don't think of is everything in that house has got to be cooled all over again, furniture, walls,etc. and that takes time and LOTS of energy to find stasis again. I hope this helps...

 

[firerat]

According to my power company, setting the "daytime" temperature more than 10 degrees higher will cost a lot more to cool off the house again.
What most people don't think of is everything in that house has got to be cooled all over again, furniture, walls,etc. and that takes time and LOTS of energy to find stasis again. I hope this helps...

That's what I was getting at.

 

[shetc]

Ok, I pulled the bottled beer out of the bathtub as recommended by you guys, and let it stand for another week inside the house. Popped open my first bottle today, and it tastes and feels like English Bitter! So a swamp cooler can be used to make home brew in the middle of the SoFla summer. Thanks for you help!

 

[scrapes]

hey all, having just moved from the northeast to South Florida i have been scratching my head thinking about fermenting.

I thought it would be easy to just get a small fridge and I'd be done. My research on here, you guys are informative, leads me to believe fridges run to cold without an external thermostat. Why not lager as plan B? If I wire the external thermostat should I expect good results?

I'm in a condo type place, I have nice spot for a "college" fridge. I read up on the swamp cooler, meh, it doesn't thrill me.

I also read somewhere on the forums about a Cool Brewing Bag, sounds like a pretty convenient way to go, any more input on the bag would be nice to read.

Its been awhile since I brewed, I've regressed to newb status.