Fermentation Chamber

The ambient temp. in my apartment is generally around 75 degrees. The optimal temp. of the yeast I use to brew my ales is 70 - 74 degrees. In the past, I have covered the carboy with a wet towel and used an ice tray to bring the temp down 2 or 3 degrees. The beers have been fairly good, but the wet towel is messy, temperature control is spotty, and refilling the ice tray is time consuming. I'm looking for a more elegant solution.

Would the temperature inside a home-made styrafoam/insulated "cooler" be lower than the ambient temperature in my apartment? Or, would I need to add ice to the "cooler"? Keep in mind, I only need to lower the temp. by 2 or 3 degrees.

 

A "cooler" is really an "insulated box". You'll have to add something to make it colder than the outside temp.

-walker

 

Check out this thingy...

http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/chiller/chiller.PDF

 

You can get a carboy in a 60 or 70 quart Ice Cube Cooler. You will still need to use ice but could use frozen soda\water bottles to cool your brew.Like this one >http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-1/qid=1158717813/ref=sr_1_1/602-5329131-1714259?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B000F6UJ5K

 

This thread has useful info in it as well. I know it's the same thing I directed you to but I figured since I posted it in the other thread which is exactly like this one I'd post it here too.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=13586

 

My 48 quart Ice Cube works fine for keeping my fermentation temp down. I add a quart of ice once or twice a day. The carboy is taller than the cube, so the lid won't close, but I just wrap a towel around the top and it still does a fine job.

Of course, if you can close the lid, your "cool" will last longer.

 

I have a big cooler, I put my primary in it, filled it to the edge with water and covered it in a towel. I put a thermometer in the water and it was always between 60 and 70 degrees with the temp never fluctuating more than 5 degrees in a 24 hour period. I had a fan blowing on it too, in the garage the day time temp is about 95, night time is 60... I think all of the water regulated the speed of the temperature change, since it takes a lot to warm that much water up (or cool it down at night)

 

I have used the "Son of Fermentation Cooler" plans by Ken Schwartz. Being the forgetfull person I am I wanted to add an active device to cool the box without any ice. I used a thermoelectric module to supply the cold and controlled it with a thermostat. The whole device only uses about 70watts. Pictures are here. http://home.comcast.net/~reddog83/

 

Anyone have any problem with mold or something similar growing?