first brew questsions

[dflan83]

Hello from hot humid southern Tennessee.
I was given a brew kit as a fathers day gift from my wife and I am itching to get my first brew in. This kit included and extract recipe for a "front porch pale ale" that I am guessing will be avg at best. I was getting ready yesterday to brew when I suddenly realized that my ambient temperature while 72F in the house is not the proper temp for the fermentation chamber.

Question.
1) I looked around the internet and found some DIY cooling options including a son of fermentor that I eventually want to build. Some others suggested filling a storage bin with water and wrapping a towel or tshirt around the carboy to achieve passive cooling.

I may try this second idea but I am still worried that once the yeast starts doing its thing, the temp inside the carboy will still be too high. Any suggestions here?

 

[BrooklynTom]

What you are talking about is a swamp cooler. I have never used one, but, I believe you will need to add some ice to it and or change some of the water to help maintain temperatures. I hope this helps, good luck.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Welcome and congrats!

You will quickly learn that fermentation temperature is a very important variable with making great beer. Keeping your fermenting beer at the correct temperature range is key, as is keeping it consistent for the first week or so. Ambient temperatures of 72F is too high IMO..once fermentation gets going, the internal temperature usually climbs 2-5 degrees higher than that.

Your second idea is known as a swamp cooler and many people find this to be sufficient. Do you have a basement that is cooler?

With the swamp cooler, you can fill the tub with water and place the fermenting vessel in the water. You can freeze plastic 2-liter bottles filled with water and add them to the water around the vessel, so they drop the water temp even further. Rotate the frozen plastic bottles to keep a consistent temperature. The towel or t-shirt method should work as well..in combination with the frozen 2-liters it will drop your temps a decent amount. Test it out before you put it into use. It also helps if you have a way to circulate the water around, like a small aquarium pump.

 

[dflan83]

Hey guys thanks for the replies.
I don't have a basement or anywhere any cooler so I waited to brew my batch until I figure out a solution. I think I will try the swamp cooler method with possibly a aquarium pump to help circulate the water.

Now lets just see what my wife says when she finds a rubbermaid filled with water and a carboy full of beer inside the closet.

 

[Biscuits]

Swamp cooler is probably the most cost effective option for you right now, but like they said above it takes a little bit of tending to. Some people have even had success with soaking a cloth (t-shirt/towel/etc) and draping it over the carboy and pointing a fan at it, along with the ice bottles in the water.

Honestly though, I would say don't sweat it too much...as long as you're keeping the temps down into the 60's, your beer should turn out fine. I imagine you have US-05 Ale yeast with your kit, which is a pretty versatile yeast and will finish pretty clean even at slightly higher than desirable ferm. temps.

 

[brew703]

I just started brewing. Have a total of three batches under my belt. First batch was bottled Saturday and the other two were just brewed this past weekend, one of which was a BIAB.
I started out using a swamp cooler. I used an insulated ice chest, filed with water to about two-three inches below the volume of your brew. This method helped keep temps in the low 60's. I can say it is a PITA to have to monitor and add frozen bottles. I would add one 16.9 oz bottle at night and one in the am before leaving for work. The first 4-5 days I kept the temps around 60-62 degrees. My wife would add a bottle around noon when she goes home for lunch.
This got tired quick so I invested in a small chest freezer and a temp controller and never looked back.

 

[dflan83]

The yeast is Muntons 6 gm dry yeast. The website says that the optimal temp ranges for this is 57 - 77F. However 77F seems way to hot to me.

I would be happy if possible to stick to something like 64F

 

[eadavis80]

I just have my carboy in a storage tub filled with water and rotate the frozen water bottles. I can see why others think it's a PITA, but it's not a big deal for me as I'm a teacher and home all summer One thing I will say though is don't fully trust those stick on thermometers that might have come with your kit. Their temperature read outs are not all that accurate. I had one stuck on my carboy above the beer line, but my beer was surrounded by water. A thermometer read my water temp as about 61-62 degrees. A stick on thermometer on the glass carboy read close to 70. When I took a gravity reading I took the temp of the sample - seconds after extracting it with the thief - and that read 63. The temperature of the liquid is what matters.