Fermentation Temp Control

[CoachHirsch]

I am looking for temp control that does heating and cooling. I do not have a fermentation chamber at this time.

Any options out there in a wrap?

 

[johnwpowell]

if you are using carboys or buckets your best bet is a chest freezer with temp controller that will switch the freezer or the heater wrap as needed. if you are using a conical like me you can drop some $$$ for ftss with glycol chiller.

 

[Jtk78]

I use a large plastic tub that will hold 2 carboys (pic below). I also have 2 aquarium heaters connected to a temp controller, and a small fountain pump to gently move the water. This works great for warming, and it lives in a small storage cubby in my garage. Coldest it got in the cubby was 45 this past winter.

For cooling, I plan to use the same tub and fountain pump, but will be doing frozen water bottles that will get swapped out periodically. Also planning on brewing a saison or two so I only need to keep them cool a few days. I will also probably brew a little less in the summer. That cubby will get into the 80s.

I'm trying to find other cooling alternatives, and I do not have the room for a chest freezer. I'd love 2 brew jackets pro, but I don't want to drop $400 on those right now.

 

[CoachHirsch]

if you are using carboys or buckets your best bet is a chest freezer with temp controller that will switch the freezer or the heater wrap as needed. if you are using a conical like me you can drop some $$$ for ftss with glycol chiller.

Thanks, John. Is there anything like the Immersion Pro but in a wrap?

 

[beernutz]

A 5+ cf chest freezer with a wood collar and an Inkbird/stc1000/etc temp controller has worked for many thousands of brewers and is pretty economical. You can often get used freezers cheap on craigslist though that's riskier than buying new.

I recently bought a new 10.6 cf GE chest freezer with a DIY stc1000 controller set to 64F (it is in my garage where ambient is typically 75 or higher) when my old hand-me-down 1996 model freezer died. The new one was $300+ but only uses a whopping $7 of electricity per year according to my Kill-a-watt meter. The larger freezer size is nice as I brew 10 gallon batches and I can ferment two at a time in there.

If you don't have room for a freezer there are other options such as temp controlled wraps/covers like the cool zone at http://www.gotta-brew.com/ or things you insert in the fermentation container like the brew jacket to control the temp. You can also do some type of swamp cooler like someone has already posted.

Do you have a budget or have space limitations or other reasons for not going with the freezer/controller option?

 

[johnwpowell]

There is the http://www.brewjacket.com/ but I'm not sure how good it is.

 

[CoachHirsch]

A 5+ cf chest freezer with a wood collar and an Inkbird/stc1000/etc temp controller has worked for many thousands of brewers and is pretty economical. You can often get used freezers cheap on craigslist though that's riskier than buying new.

I recently bought a new 10.6 cf GE chest freezer with a DIY stc1000 controller set to 64F (it is in my garage where ambient is typically 75 or higher) when my old hand-me-down 1996 model freezer died. The new one was $300+ but only uses a whopping $7 of electricity per year according to my Kill-a-watt meter. The larger freezer size is nice as I brew 10 gallon batches and I can ferment two at a time in there.

If you don't have room for a freezer there are other options such as temp controlled wraps/covers like the cool zone at http://www.gotta-brew.com/ or things you insert in the fermentation container like the brew jacket to control the temp. You can also do some type of swamp cooler like someone has already posted.

Do you have a budget or have space limitations or other reasons for not going with the freezer/controller option?

Space/time limitations and just trying to keep how much I have to learn to build at one time to a minimum.

 

[berndawg84]

Do you have an area in your house that stays in the low or mid 60s? Put your carboy in there and add a heat wrap and inkbird 308 for $55. That might be all you need. Most beers I have fermented in the upper 60s or into the 70s as I do a lot of Belgians. I recently tried to keep an IPA at 65 and I struggled with that...very active fermentation brought it to 70-72. In that case you could try a wet towel.

If you can afford it, the Brew Jacket at $200 seems like a great option. It takes up no extra space.

 

[CoachHirsch]

My basement is around 65 right now and I have a DIPA fermenting right now. It started at 77 the first day and I was lucky that it was cold enough I could cool it down in the garage outside where it was 50 and use a space heater to keep it at 66 after the first night.

Thanks for the other thoughts/comments... I will check those out!

Much appreciated!