Fermentation ice bath

[mfranzer]

Hey guys, I have decided that fermenting at 80 or so isn't such a good idea. So I am in the market for a tub for making an water bath for my fermenter. My question is this. Would buying an insulated 10 gallon beverage cooler (ie. igloo, coleman) be better than buying something like this

http://m.lowes.com/pd_115370-84240-TU0154_0__?productId=3198981

I feel the igloo type cooler will hold temps well, but it is 40 bucks or so. The tub will hold more water therefore be less sensitive to temp swings, and I can get one for 5 bucks.

Let me know what you think!! Thanks!

 

[jtratcliff]

I just got one of these to use as a swamp cooler. Previously I was using my 10 gallon brew kettle as a swamp cooler for my 6 gallon fermenters. It was a little tight. Had to use smaller 20 oz water bottles since the 2 liters wouldn't fit.

Much easier with the tub in my opinion. Don't forget to mount your stick-on LCD thermometers higher so they don't end up submerged in the cooler.

 

[bratrules]

I use a igloo cooler myself and it holds its temps a lot better than those tubs. I started off using those tubs but in hot temps you really have to be more on top off things. In a cooler everything is a lot more steady. I can ever ferment lagers in the summer. But if u want to use the tub they work pretty well and you can ferment ales with no problem.

 

[dantodd]

While an ice bath is better than nothing I would recommend building a chamber out of rigid foam insulation and using frozen water-filled milk jugs to control the temperature. If you have a small fridge floating around folks have also use those to cool down their fermentation chamber.