Temperature Control during ferment

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scogan

scogan

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I don’t currently do this but seems a lot of folk do and rate it .I don’t really want to get into fridges and inkbirds .Can I just put corny fermenter in a plastic bucket of water with an aquarium heater .Some have suggested that isn’t enough to suppress the heat generation in the active phase .Might add my house is pretty much 17-20 the time.
 
With the fermenter in water to control the temperature, bigger is better. Do you have a tub that will hold more water than your bucket?
 
Yes fermenting bucket is 5 gal , and I ferment 3 gal batches in a corny .As long as I don’t see the 5 - 10c rise during ferment that someone has suggested could happen I guess it will be fine !
 
Yes ,while l a bigger volume of water might offer some advantages I think it will suffice since the temperature differences are small
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
Are you interested in hearing what others are doing?
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Yes , you mean fridges, inkbirds, glycol chillers etc ?
While I am happy to invest when needed not sure my simple idea wont be asdequately effective .
You can even argue heat transfer from water is more effecient than air in a fridge , bur of course after a couple of the difference is irrelevant.
 
scogan said:
you mean fridges, inkbirds, glycol chillers etc ?
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Nope.

You asked about fermenting at ambient temperatures using water to control the temperature - and also stated that you didn't want to get into fridges and inkbirds ...

People do what you are thinking of doing. If you'll willing to listen to ideas, let us know.
 
scogan said:
Yes , you mean fridges, inkbirds, glycol chillers etc ?
Click to expand...

No, I think he means you need a larger volume of water for a heat sink. A corny keg that holds three gallons will probably displace at least four, so you're only going to have a gallon of water to transfer heat to and from the fermenter. I would get a ten gallon bucket if I were you.
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
Nope.

You asked about fermenting at ambient temperatures using water to control the temperature - and also stated that you didn't want to get into fridges and inkbirds ...

People do what you are thinking of doing. If you'll willing to listen to ideas, let us know.
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My apologies I am ready to listen ..
(I get a bit annoyed when you ask a very specific question a folk dont read the post fully before answering it ! )
 
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mac_1103 said:
No, I think he means you need a larger volume of water for a heat sink. A corny keg that holds three gallons will probably displace at least four, so you're only going to have a gallon of water to transfer heat to and from the fermenter. I would get a ten gallon bucket if I were you.
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Yes good point ,.....just done a try out ,and I can get 2 gallons aroud it .
 
questions and observations on temperatures

scogan said:
my house is pretty much 17-20 the time
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Is 17° c to 20° (63° f to 68°) a daily range or a seasonal range?

If it's a daily range, you may need something more than a tub to buffer that temperature swing.

So there's more to discuss once we know if it's a daily or seasonal range.

scogan said:
As long as I don’t see the 5 - 10c rise during ferment that someone has suggested
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10° Celsius ? For a 3 gal batch?

You will want to measure this.

FWIW, I see typically one or two of degrees Fahrenheit with my 2.5 gal batches. There is some variation (some yeast strains ferment faster).
 
17-20 is the daily range , yeah I took the 5-10C comment with a pinch of salt .I think someone has suggested maybe 3c but as you say it depends on how fast the yeast takes off .I am using verdant at the moment , at least with my proposed system I have the option to raise the temp to 23 towards the end as people suggest it is helpful to get verdant to finish .
 
scogan said:
Yes fermenting bucket is 5 gal , and I ferment 3 gal batches in a corny .As long as I don’t see the 5 - 10c rise during ferment that someone has suggested could happen I guess it will be fine !
Click to expand...
A 10 degree C. rise would not likely happen but the temperature rise will depend a lot on the initial conditions. At a low temperature the yeast are slow actors and generate little heat. As the temperature gets warmer they work faster and generate more heat. That extra heat warms the beer and promotes faster yeast activity which then warms the beer more.....a runaway condition with limits. If I put my fermenter in a room where the ambient temperature is 17C and the beer is about that temp to start with, I see about a 2 degree C rise. If it were in a 22C room, the temperature rise would be much higher.
 
I can only offer what I do, good or bad. I have a closet in the hallway that sits anywhere between 65 to 70. While that may be in the lower range of my yeast, it falls within. I use a small heater I found on Amazon plugged into a temp controller, I think it is an Inkbird. The heater I think cost me about 10 bucks on Amazon. I know you said you did not want to deal with Inkbird and other equipment, but I say that the small investment has made a huge difference for me. I set the inkbird to about 68 and within a degree or two, the closet stays at that temp for as long as I keep everything plugged in. While it isn't perfect, it has worked OK for me so far. Good luck.
 
I am very much interested in this conversation . :popcorn: I have been using the swamp cooler method ... couple of inches of water in a large bucket with a towel around the carboy that wicks water up and evaporation provides the cooling . That being said I am not endorsing the method . Found this post because I want to find something more controllable ... but simple , I'm a big fan of simple.:yes:
 
i've always thought people put a t-shirt over their fermenter in the bucket of water, and had a fan blowing on it like a swamp cooler wick thing?

edit: as bellhp said....
 
bellhp said:
I am very much interested in this conversation . :popcorn: I have been using the swamp cooler method ... couple of inches of water in a large bucket with a towel around the carboy that wicks water up and evaporation provides the cooling . That being said I am not endorsing the method . Found this post because I want to find something more controllable ... but simple , I'm a big fan of simple.:yes:
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There are a number of techniques discussed in "1 gal brewers unite". Some of them appear to scale to 3 gal batches without additional effort. I know that one of them does.


2 gal of water in a 5 gal pail probably won't make a difference in the wort temperature.
 
Maybe. Back in #17, I did ask for some additional details on the proposed system.

And, like I said in #22, others are doing interesting things (1 gal batches) in this area.

It would be interesting to hear from people that have scaled these approaches to three gallon batches.
 
OP's system is aquarium heater in water bucket ... but he was concerned it wouldn't be able to keep up with temp increases during active fermentation .
To be honest I've never given 2 ****'s about temp control until now ... I just put the carboy in the corner and let er rip.
I am now realizing fermentation temp does matter and can be managed ... But like the OP I don't want to get too fancy ...
That being said ... knowing what the temp of the wort is during fermentation should be discussed also . I'm using a thermometer on outside of glass carboy and I know this is not accurate but gives me a general idea ... I don't like to muck around in the wort ... might consider one of those wifi hydrometers/ thermometers though ( tilt, spindle, etc.?) I'm gonna go dig around in the 1 gallon batch thread again ... but that's a damn long thread !
 
SRJHops said:
I use a fermentation cooler. It works well to chill wort down using ice. While it's not a solution for true lagers or cold crashing, it works fine for ales and pseudo-lagers.

https://www.amazon.com/Home-Brewing...mzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc
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I use an earlier version of this as well and have no problem keeping fermentation temperatures down into the lower 50's. I use a Rapt Pill to monitor real time temperatures, and can make adjustments on the fly. But I'm also retired so I can change out my frozen water bottles at will. It was much tougher when I was working and away from the house for 10 hours a day.
 
bellhp said:
I'm using a thermometer on outside of glass carboy and I know this is not accurate but gives me a general idea ... I don't like to muck around in the wort ...
Click to expand...

Fill your carboy with water and stick a probe in it. Then check your external thermometer against that probe. Test it over a range of temps and figure out what corrections you need to make. Use a heating pad; put it outside on a cold day; etc.
 
I tried the swamp cooler with fan and all initially. I found it a bit of a pain. You have to really monitor it at least for the first few days and check your ferment temperatures. I quit doing it with my first runaway ferment, when I forget to check on it for a couple of days. The beer was awful. It’s cheap and easy enough to try so give it a shot for sure. I ended up buying a cheap chest freezer used and Inkbird. Now I am up to 3 chest freezers (one double and 2 singles). Being able to cold crash and do lagers is worth every bit.
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
Did you mention your proposed system in this topic? At the moment, I'm only seeing is the idea of 2 gal of water in a 5 gal pail.
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....So a corny holding 3 gal of beer in a 5gal bucket and thus now housing 2 gal of water with an aquarium heater ,and in order to contain the initial temp spike, starting ferment at 20C .Least thats how the plan looks currently !
 
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1674062292962.png
 
bellhp said:
OP's system is aquarium heater in water bucket ... but he was concerned it wouldn't be able to keep up with temp increases during active fermentation .
To be honest I've never given 2 ****'s about temp control until now ... I just put the carboy in the corner and let er rip.
I am now realizing fermentation temp does matter and can be managed ... But like the OP I don't want to get too fancy ...
That being said ... knowing what the temp of the wort is during fermentation should be discussed also . I'm using a thermometer on outside of glass carboy and I know this is not accurate but gives me a general idea ... I don't like to muck around in the wort ... might consider one of those wifi hydrometers/ thermometers though ( tilt, spindle, etc.?) I'm gonna go dig around in the 1 gallon batch thread again ... but that's a damn long thread !
Click to expand...
I have an Ispindel that I cannot get to work. If you are interested PM me.
 
FWIW, I use an Igloo cooler filled with water. I find it very easy to keep the water a stable temperature, whether it's low-to-mid 60's (F) for an ale or low 50's for a lager. I monitor it often and, using 20 oz. frozen water bottles (no lid!), I drop in a half-filled frozen bottle if I want a 1 degree F drop, a full bottle for a 2 degree F drop, and 2 full bottles if I want a 4 degree drop. I then cover it with a blanket to keep the temp from rising back up quickly, as well as to keep it dark. Really easy. I don't have a need for the wet shirt/towel wicking method because I use a small 3 gallon Fermonster as shown below, so filling the water to the top of the beer level is doable. Oh, and only a tiny splash of bleach in the water is enough to keep it from getting cloudy and funky. Cheers. :mug:


Cooler.jpg
 

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