Hello, I am a recently renewed homebrewer and currently BIAB'ing with good results. I have a couple BrewJackets that work fine for ale temperatures, but nowhere close for lager.
I would like to make a few kinds of lagers, or have the ability to cold crash ales before kegging. While glycol seems to be the gold standard for such a requirement, darn is it expensive! Even "The Stasis" is a $750 deal, and the $699 MoreBeer glycol chiller isn't going to be in stock until sometime this summer. Not sure I want my most expensive piece of brewing equipment to be a chiller.
I've looked at upright freezers and sometimes a good deal can be found used. I live in Tucson AZ and there has not been a lot of upright freezer action on craigslist. A new upright runs about the same as a glycol chiller (that can chill to fermenters at once vs. one in an upright freezer).
Any suggestions for getting fermenting beer down to 40F or so without using a gazillian frozen water bottles? Do aquarium chillers work? Is there a sub-$500 option for making lagers without using ice to chill.
I would like to make a few kinds of lagers, or have the ability to cold crash ales before kegging. While glycol seems to be the gold standard for such a requirement, darn is it expensive! Even "The Stasis" is a $750 deal, and the $699 MoreBeer glycol chiller isn't going to be in stock until sometime this summer. Not sure I want my most expensive piece of brewing equipment to be a chiller.
I've looked at upright freezers and sometimes a good deal can be found used. I live in Tucson AZ and there has not been a lot of upright freezer action on craigslist. A new upright runs about the same as a glycol chiller (that can chill to fermenters at once vs. one in an upright freezer).
Any suggestions for getting fermenting beer down to 40F or so without using a gazillian frozen water bottles? Do aquarium chillers work? Is there a sub-$500 option for making lagers without using ice to chill.