High temp environments (eg. Arizona fermentation)

[wulfsburg]

I am curious to know how everyone who lives in a hot climate during summertime, keeps their fermenters cool.

I live in Arizona, and I started brewing at the end of Jan. It has hit 100 the other day, and I have just brewed a batch. I put my fermenter in a tub with about 6 inches of water, wrapped a wet towel around my fermenter, and put a fan on top of it. I am currently fermenting a peach ale. This morning my fermenter was 70 degrees, and yesterday it was 74. I have not turned my air conditioning on yet, and at certain times during the day it is 88 degrees in my home.....

How does everyone else keep their fermenters cool??

Thanks!!

 

[gxm]

I don't mind using a cold water bath the 2 or 3 times are year I need it. However, if I lived somewhere that hot, I'd:

A - do all my brewing in cool weather

B - do all my hot weather fermenting in a converted fridge or freezer.

I say that mostly because the home grown solutions (wet towels, son of fermentation cooler, ice in water, etc) tend to require regular attention, and are still quite variable in temp.

 

[ChshreCat]

Chest freezer with an external controller is the way to go!

 

[A4J]

I live near Palm Springs and the weather here has reached 100F. I use frozen water bottles in a tub of water. This allows me to ferment between 64F and 68F. I change out the water bottles twice a day.

 

[Malticulous]

I'm in St. George. I used to crank up the AC, now I have a chest freezer. I've lagered in December out in a shed with a water bath and ice bottles.

 

[jgbrown]

I use a chest freezer.

You are crazy for not having turned the AC on yet.

 

[November]

I haven't turned on the AC yet, but it is a bit cooler down here in Nogales. I tried to use the water baths in the past and the results were so-so. I recently converted a mini fridge to a fermentation chamber and it works fantastic.

 

[TipsyDragon]

im a fan of a mini-fridge set on its coldest setting and an external Ronco ETC. the ETC turns the fridge on and off. the lowest setting insure that with the ETC turns it on the fridge comes on and cools your brew.

 

[Homercidal]

I use ice bottles in a tub of water, but am working on a fermentation chamber. Our summer is not as warm as some, but it's def too warm nearly the whole summer.

Nice thing about a ferm chamber is that it uses less energy then an air conditioned room, and requires less hands-on. Plus, it's easy to add a small heater for winter use if needed (and your temp controller features this, which most do).