Fermentation sticker shock!!

[nobadays]

Just got my power bill....yikes nearly $275!! Usually don't go over $200 in the hottest months. Not all due to brewing but....

So the pipeline was almost dry after bottling out of the kegs for a trip to Oregon. When we returned to AZ it was getting hot... really hot for us up here in the mtns in June...like 102-104 degrees hot for nearly 2 weeks. I decided if I was going to brew a beer and try to keep it cool to ferment in that heat (it has cooled off now into the low 90s) I might as well brew 2 batches, which ended up being 3, 5 gallon batches by the time I got done.

I ferment in the laundry room/my office... about 10' x 10'. I have been able to cool it down to around 63-64 degrees pretty well with 1 6000btu window A/C. Well the last few weeks that just wasn't cutting it. Ended up having to move a second portable 9000btu A/C unit in to help out. Two batches, an IPA and a hoppy APA will be kegged tomorrow with the other APA, a Simcoe/Citra experiment ready to keg on Saturday.

The wife says my next project WILL BE a fermentation chamber!!

Cheers! Don

 

[myelo]

The wife says my next project WILL BE a fermentation chamber!!

Well played sir

 

[nobadays]

Wasn't my intention but no argument here!

Cheers! Don

 

[boasist]

A surprise in disguise!

I'm thinking I'll be in the same boat soon. Just set up the glycol and ftss system and it's running more than I expected.

We shall see!

 

[Jeff_T]

When we were having the hot streak of 90+ days I brewed a cream ale and kept it in a water bath (6gal carboy in about 4 gal water bucket) covered with a tee shirt and put 2-3 water bottles in it ever day for about 2 weeks and it was always between 64-68. Definitely a cheaper solution. Our house was staying at a cool 84-85 that whole period, it was pretty ****ty.
Nice to see a fellow Northern AZ brewer here

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I would think trying to hyper cool a room with an AC unit would be extremely inefficient. I use a chest freeze I got new at Best Buy for $139 along with a $30 inkbird. Works great.

It's obviously far more efficient because you're cooling a smaller, much better insulated area.

At that rate, a ferm chamber like mine would break even in 2-3 months.

 

[nobadays]

Yep.... a fermentation chamber or a water bath are both more efficient. Unfortunately I have no ferm chamber - yet - and it would have taken a pretty large water bath to hold my 7.5 gallon Fastferment with it's rolling stand and 2 - 6 gallon buckets.

Fall, winter and spring it takes very little extra kick from my window A/C or heater as needed to keep that 10'x10' room at fermentation temps, it is well insulated. I'm guessing in Flag your window for good fermenting temps is wider than ours.

I have been threatening to build a fermentation chamber and that electric bill has pushed me.... with a little help from my wife... to get one built. I will still use the window A/C as the cooling unit and make it just big enough to hold 2 - Fastferments and a brew bucket. The biggest hold up to this point has been the need to rearrange/remove/move shelving and work benches in the garage to make room for the ferm chamber....still not looking forward to that! I just kegged 15 gallons of beer so I should have a couple of months - OK a month or so to get ready for the next brew.

Hwk-I-st8.... I'm a one armed guy and old enough (60s) to put as much lifting behind me as possible! So lifting buckets in and out of chest freezers just isn't going to work. My fermenter is on wheels, and only occasionally do I ferment in buckets. But yes, for those that can, or want to go that route...chest freezers work great! My fermentation chamber will be built in such a way I can roll the fermenter in and out.

Cheers! Don

 

[MaryB]

Have one like this coming with a bad compressor. Going to hack a portable A/C unit into it with outboard temp control. Will easily hold 5-6 buckets at a time... Cost me $100!

 

[nobadays]

Well I bit the bullet and went a whole different direction. Since I have limited space in my garage to put a fermentation chamber I decided - after reading lots of reviews- to go with the Brew Jacket Pro heating/cooling units. Have only brewed one batch since getting two of these units but I'm very impressed. Kept my Fastferment within one degree for two weeks as a nut brown ale fermented out. I'm sold! No extra space or lifting involved.

Cheers! Don

 

[Sailingeric]

I got $100 chest freezer I keep out in my shed and a temp controller that works great for me in the summer. I am not sure how much it cost to run but I suspect it would not use $75 in power over a couple years of usage.

 

[The_Bishop]

Just throwing this out there: Portable AC units are horrible, efficiency wise. They take indoor conditioned air and vent it outside to cool the condenser, which causes outdoor air to infiltrate the house as otherwise it'd be a negative pressure situation.