Fermentation chiller - circulating cold water tubes?

[Tall_Yotie]

Howdy all,

I am going to have to keep my brew at a cool temp for a while. Unfortunately, I do not have:

-a basement
-room in the fridge
-space for a mini-fridge
-space for a "son/mother of fermentation chiller"

I was looking at my wort chiller and thought I could use something like that, but on the outside of the fermentation bucket.

I would take a long length of tubing, wrap it around the fermentation bucket, insulate, and then pump water through the pipes from a reservoir of water at the temp I am desiring. Seems cheap, simple, and easy to monitor the temperature (after a day or two the bucket should be close to the reservoir temp).

Any thoughts or concerns? Has anyone done anything like this before?

 

[TomSD]

Wouldn't a bucket in bucket work better? Ice chest full of ice water under the table and a bucket full of water with the fermentation bucket sitting in it on the table. Pump to move the water from the ice chest up to the bucket and gravity to move the excess hot water back down to the ice chest. That with a thermostat to run the pump would probably run for a while before needing recharged. When not in use it wouldn't take up much space either.

 

[Skins_Brew]

Are you trying to Lager? If so, I think your idea may be next to near impossible. What is the temp of the room you plan on fermenting in? If your room is getting too hot, I would just go with the swamp cooler setup. Works great and it is uber cheap. Get a cheap plastic tub, fill with water, put your fermenter in the tub, drape an old tshirt over the fermenter so it is in contact with the water and you are done. You can put a fan infront of it so it blows on the fermenter for better results.

 

[TheCHICompany]

Should you need a recirculationg pump...
http://www.chicompany.net/index.php...d=1897&zenid=1705225e344999471a91a8d5e9784c13

 

[Tall_Yotie]

Wouldn't a bucket in bucket work better? ...

I had thought about that, and I guess I was just over-thinking things. I could indeed do it that way, or even just add cold water / ice to the larger bucket as the temp changes.

...If your room is getting too hot, I would just go with the swamp cooler setup...

I am not lagering right now but will eventually, and the room averages in the low 70's, winter to the mid 60's (yay Cali coast). And I will look into that idea as well. I assume that as long as I keep the water at the temp I want the wort/beer at it will be a good temp control.

 

[jim313]

I am using recirculating water and copper immersion coils inside my conical fermentor for cooling. You could do the same with a bucket I'm sure.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/g...nn-fermenator-191006-post2227755/#post2227755

I have been able to cool to 55 degrees when it is 75 in the basement.

 

[hal2814]

I've been putting my bucket in a 10 gallon square water cooler lately and have had fantastic results. I can maintain lager temps that way (48F-58F) with only one 3-4lb ice addition per day.