Evaporative cooling

[jtmwhyte]

Does anyone do this? Basically (if I understand properly) you put your fermenter in a larger bucket of cool water with a wet t-shirt over it and the evaporation of the water from the shirt also cools the fermenter and, by association, the wort. I was thinking of trying this with a Festa Brew Czech Pilsner to get it to a good 12 degrees C or so in a 18-20 degree C room.

 

[jaytizzle]

Yep... called a swamp cooler

 

[arturo7]

The temperature you can attain with evaporate cooling is dependent upon the "wet bulb" temperature in your area. Wet bulb is the temperature of the water in the air. Wet bulb temp varies widely from place to place, and time to time.

For best results, use a fan as well.

 

[metal850]

I was thinking of trying this with a Festa Brew Czech Pilsner to get it to a good 12 degrees C or so in a 18-20 degree C room.

It may be difficult to keep that big of difference without some frozen water bottles

 

[unionrdr]

Even then,I doubt you can keep it down to 50F or so with just a swamp cooler,tee shirt,& fan. I've used wet tee shirts & a fan in summer,& was able to lower the temp 2 or 3 degrees. The swamp cooler helps with that set up. By I don't think it'll help that much.

 

[kevokie]

I would just get a refrigerator if you want that big of a difference in temp. The swamp cooler is great and works great for ale temps, but not so great for lager temps. Using some frozen water bottles will help as well.