How high do you wanna be??

[BlatzBeer]

I'm going to use an plastic bin and ice water bath. How deep should the water be in the primary and then the secondary?

Also, Is there a certain temp you dont want to go below? i know mid- sixties seems to be ideal..

 

[Thalon]

Do you mean for the T-shirt technique? You drape a wet T-shirt over the carboy and let it sit in the water to wick up the water, and have a fan blowing on the T-shirt to evaporate it? In that case, the bottom of the T-shirt just needs to be touching the water. But the more you have in there the more thermal inertia it will have, i.e. it will take longer for the beer temp to rise and fall. That's a good thing! Yeast like a constant environment. Just don't put so much water in that the carboy floats... :fro:

The ideal temperature range is specific to the yeast strain. But as a general rule, most ales do well from 62-70, and lagers from 45-54.

 

[Mutine Bullfrog]

Wow I thought this thread was going in a different direction.

 

[BlatzBeer]

I'm not using a fan and wasn't planning on the t-shirt. Should i use the t-shirt technique?

Will the temp of the wort inside the fermenter be the same as the temp in the ice water bath?

 

[BlatzBeer]

Wow I thought this thread was going in a different direction.

We can talk about that after this first batch.....:rockin:

 

[Blender]

I use my cooler and have the water about 1/3 of the way up the carboy. I don't use a shirt on it either but, it's pretty cool where I live. I try to keep the temps from 65-68.

 

[Danny013]

I use the same technique - ive got a big tupperware container that the carboy sits in. I fill it up about 1/3 the way with water, dump a bunch of ice in there to get the initial temperature down to 66-68 for ales, and then put 2 frozen water bottles in it at a time to maintain. When the bottles melt, pull them out, put them back in the freezer, and put two more frozen bottles in. The temp should stay pretty consistent. I would reccomend stick one of those fermometers on the side of the carboy, around middle to top third.

Good luck!

 

[Bruscar]

Tried the ice bath thing early on. All the ice my freezer could pump out and 7 hours later to get it to 70 degrees. Life got SOOOOOO much better after I got a wort chiller!

 

[Yooper]

Depending on how much I'm trying to cool it, I fill mine anywhere from 1/3 full to almost full. The water batch is just about the same temperature as the beer inside, due to the insulating effects of the water and it takes a long time for the temperature to change. That's a good thing! I have an igloo cooler that I used for keeping my ales cool and even to lager in and it worked great! (See my gallery for a picture)

 

[BlatzBeer]

Depending on how much I'm trying to cool it, I fill mine anywhere from 1/3 full to almost full. The water batch is just about the same temperature as the beer inside, due to the insulating effects of the water and it takes a long time for the temperature to change. That's a good thing! I have an igloo cooler that I used for keeping my ales cool and even to lager in and it worked great! (See my gallery for a picture)

I'm using one of those plastic rubbermaid bins for now.. I've been looking for a cooler like that. It's kind of out of season right now. I probably might find one online.

Nice Pictures BTW...

 

[Yooper]

I'm using one of those plastic rubbermaid bins for now.. I've been looking for a cooler like that. It's kind of out of season right now. I probably might find one online.

Nice Pictures BTW...

Or you might find one on clearance at Target, Wal-mart, etc. I paid around $20 for it. The reasons I made a new lid are pretty specific- I noticed that the original lid is hollow and I was concerned if I drilled through it that it would loose much of the cold. And the styrofoam is much more insulative (is that a word?) since it's so thick. The airlock is the only thing that pokes out. I made those wooden stick handles to be able to lift the lid out easily to change out the water bottles and check the temperature. I have a floating thermometer I just keep in there. Also, I removed that lid and now I can still use it as a cooler just by sticking the regular lid back on!

I original bought it to use as a MLT but the wheel well made it hard for me to figure out a way to make a manifold to fit. That's how it became my lagerator/fermentation chamber.