I need ideas to keep carboys and buckets at ale ferment temp

I am stationed in texas. I need ideas on ways to keep a fermenter at around 68-70. My ac probably wont get it that cool if it runs around the clock. I have thought of trying to turn a plastic storage tote into make shift coolers for my 1 and 5 gallon fermentor. I need as many ideas as I can get.

 

I have been using 150 quart coolers for over 10 years with great success. I can fit 2 carboys into the cooler without a problem. I fill the cooler with cold water about 1/2 way, and a touch of bleach to keep the cooties away for a little while. I also freeze 2, 1 gallon jugs of water. I check the temp every 12 hours for the first 3 or so days of Primary fermentation. If it's to hot, I float the frozen gallon jugs for about 20 minutes, and go from there. If the water is to cold, I take water out of the cooler and I add hot water. I use a thermo pen pressed up against the carboys to get a temp reading.

 

Not saying that you aren't, but I would chill to 55F or so to give you a head start.

 

I recently put my five carboys into a bathtub filled to the overflow with cold water. The water temp stays around 62-66. Of course you may not have a spare bathtub.

 

I use a plastic storage bin to sit my fermenter in and then fill it with cold tap water. Then i use 16, 20 and 32 oz (depending on the temp I need) bottles of frozen water and rotate them out approx every 8 hours or as needed to maintain the desired temp.

 

x2 post - delete

 

simple (credit Yooper)

 

You guys are awesome. Thank you very much for the advice. Keep it coming if you dont mind

 

+1 - The only addition to this concept I would suggest would be to drape a cotton T shirt over carboy and into the water. This will wick the water up the sides and the evaporation will help cool the carboy lower than ambient without adding ice. Ice could still be used to lower it further. Do a search here for "swamp cooler"

 

My first beer is fermenting now. I was worried about temperature too, so I put my fermentation bucket in a large pot of water (my boiling kettle, actually) with a fan focused on it. It stays at about 68 degrees (compared to 76 in the rest of the apartment) at all times. I've tried adding ice occasionally, and I have to refill the water now and then, but it doesn't really do much. I'm content with 68.
Before brewing I did some experiments to find the coolest part of my apartment.
Next time I'll put a shirt over the fermenter, but active fermentation has stopped so I don't think changing things now would help anything.

 

I use plastic buckets to ferment in but I do cover with a couple of old bath towels. Cuts down on the ice needed. The cooler idea sounds awesome.....wish I had an old one big enough.

 

I use a Cool Brew bag. You can google it. $50 something shipped. Holds my 6.5 gallon carboy with the airlock in it. Use 2 liter bottles of ice to control temp. My house is 78* during the day, but the bag stays at a constant 65* with one ice bottle. Just need to swap out ice bottle every 24 hours.

 

Cool brew bag is more like $65 shipped.

IMO, if you have the space, that $65 is much better spent towards a used fridge/freezer and an STC-1000.

 

Agreed! If my wort gets to fermenting pretty hard, I drop it in my 45F chest freezer.