Keeping Proper Temps

[Louz]

Whats everybodys methods for keeping your beer at proper temps during fermentation?

Thanks

 

[kh54s10]

Right now a 5.2 cubic foot chest freezer with an Inkbird 308 temperature controller.

In storage I have a home made chamber that uses a minifridge for cooling. It will hold three 6 gallon fermenters. And a 7 cubic foot chest freezer that will hold 2 fermenters. I have a Johnson 419 controller for one of those.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

welcome to the forum!

most use a cheap chest freezer and an Inkbird 308 temp controller. Its puld and play and if you ever need a chest freezer for food you have one. The only issue is having room for it in the house/basement. A cheap craigslist chest freezer for $50 if your lucky and a $30 Inkbird will get you setup for inder $100

 

[Louz]

So my "just stick it in the closet method" is not a good idea?

 

[PADave]

Chest freezer with Inkbird.

 

[Konadog]

So my "just stick it in the closet method" is not a good idea?

Not the best idea, but depending on room temp, yeast strain, type of beer, it could be OK. There are other ways of keeping your fermenter cool during fermentation without a freezer if you search.

A freezer with a controller is a great way to actually "control" fermentation to a setpoint.

 

[Mothman]

Because I don't have room for a fridge/freezer of any kind to dedicate to my brewing, I had to go small-footprint, small storage requirements, yet still functional.

I landed on a Coolbrewing fermentation cooler, and it works pretty great.

I don't have automated control, but by using one or two 2L or 1L (and occasionally 4L) frozen water bottles I can usually get the temps to within a couple degrees F, and maintain it with swapping the bottles once or twice a day.

When it's not in use, it folds down and stores against the wall in the storage room.

 

[TBC27]

I have a brew jacket pro, which is also a nice space saver. https://www.brewjacket.com/

 

[mongoose33]

I have a couple of refrigerators I use as ferm chambers. The little one can hold a single fermenter. If you look on Craigslist you can often find them for in the $50-60 range.

 

[Jtk78]

In a closet is not the best. If the closet is 68F, during active fermentation the wort may be well into the 70s, like 74 or so. That's typically a little high depending on yeast.

The cheapest option is to place the fermenter in a tub/pan with some water in it and an old t-shirt over the carboy and hanging into the water. The t-shirt will wick water up and can actually keep it cooler. You could always add ice or frozen bottles to the water to cool it a little more, especially during the vigorous part of fermentation.

Next would probably be cool brewing cooler bag mentioned above. You would need one for each fermenter if you ever plan on having more than 1 fermenter going at a time.

Most common around here is a freezer or fridge of some sort hooked up to a temperature controller. Depending on the size you get, you can hold from 1 to many carboys. Mine holds 4, and I have had 4 in at one time.

The Brew Jacket mentioned above is another option, but again, you'll need one for each carboy. I seriously thought about this option, but glad I went with the freezer.

 

[Louz]

Thanks everybody. I like the freezer/inkbird method but I don't have the space at the moment (but we're moving this summer so I will re-visit that then).
I might give the bath tub method a try for now.

I only have a regular kitchen thermometer at the moment.
Whats a good way to monitor the temp if I try the bath tub or swamp cooler method?
One of those stick on temp readers?

 

[Louz]

I have a couple of refrigerators I use as ferm chambers. The little one can hold a single fermenter. If you look on Craigslist you can often find them for in the $50-60 range.

View attachment 563118 View attachment 563120

Is that a filter for your heating and air unit wrapped around your carboy?

 

[Jtk78]

Is that a filter for your heating and air unit wrapped around your carboy?

No, that is a carboy heater to prevent indershooting tempatures as well. You shouldn't need one if you're only cooling. I use something similar as my fermentation chamber is in my garage.

 

[mongoose33]

Is that a filter for your heating and air unit wrapped around your carboy?

No, it's a Fermwrap used to raise the temp if needed. You plug both the heating mat and the refrigerator into the Inkbird temp controller. If it gets too cold, the heating mat goes on to warm the fermenter; if too warm, the refrigerator goes on to cool it. The Inkbird controls both.

I hold the temp probe against the fermenter using a piece of foam with a little channel cut out to accommodate the probe, and a bungee cord. The foam insulates the probe from ambient temp, so it's recording the temperature of the wort.



I also use a reptile heat mat for this purpose, though it's half the heating capacity (21 vs. 40 watts).

BTW, another advantage to this approach is that I often will ramp up the temp toward the end of fermentation, from, say, 64 degrees to 71 degrees to allow the yeast to clean up after itself. All I need do is change the target temp on the Inkbird controller and that's that. Then after a couple days at 71, I'll lower the temp back down to the original, and let it condition further.

Here's a pic showing each being used. If the garage is very cold in the winter, I either need to use the Fermwrap heat mat, or cover the reptile mat w/ a towel or something to help direct its heat into the fermenter.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

This generally does a great job for me.

 

[mongoose33]

This generally does a great job for me.

What is that? Just a thermometer? Thermostat? Enquiring minds want to know!

 

[FloppyKnockers]

What is that? Just a thermometer? Thermostat? Enquiring minds want to know!

Just my home thermostat. Sometimes I'll put a bucket next to the vent... sometimes I don't. Upstairs is always a bit warmer so that's where the wine goes. It's a whole-home ferm chamber.

 

[TheHopfather]

It's a joke. Fermenting at ambient temps.

 

[Mothman]

I only have a regular kitchen thermometer at the moment.
Whats a good way to monitor the temp if I try the bath tub or swamp cooler method?
One of those stick on temp readers?

You can buy an inexpensive digital kitchen thermometer, with a temperature probe. (This sort of thing https://www.amazon.ca/Taylor-Digita...=en-CA&tag=googcana-20&ref=pd_sl_8fngtzv23f_e)

Attach the temperature probe to the outside of your bucket/carboy, at about mid-liquid level, cover it with some form of insulating material so it's reading the temperature of the bucket/carboy, not the air temperature (can use bubble wrap, I use a piece of pipe insulating foam taped flat to the side of the bucket, and stick the probe in behind it).

Once the temps of the wort/beer and the container stabilize, you'll have a pretty accurate reading of the temperature.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

It's a joke. Fermenting at ambient temps.

No joke. That's what I use to keep proper temps. I will adjust it if a style of beer dictates. Lagers on the other hand... I will use a mini fridge.

 

[Kharnynb]

I use a basic concrete mixing bucket for swamp warmer(I ferment in the cellar, it's a tad cold for ale).
put water inside with a aquarium heater connected to a bit more accurate temperature controller.

 

[Wash1]

What is that? Just a thermometer? Thermostat? Enquiring minds want to know!

Smart (?) home thermostat. You can program it for different modes and it talks to the home WiFi. You can also run it from a smart phone.

 

[mongoose33]

Whats a good way to monitor the temp if I try the bath tub or swamp cooler method?
One of those stick on temp readers?

If you're going to eventually go the refrigerator/ferm chamber route, you might consider picking up an Inkbird. They do 15% off specials from time to time--in fact, they have one on right now. Normally the 308 sells for $35 on Amazon, but 15% off puts it under $30. Here's the thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...temp-controller-giveaway.647248/#post-8253593

Below is a pic showing me using that method to monitor the swamp cooler on the left; you can see the readout in the back between the tubs. The temperature target, 65 degrees, is irrelevant; what matters is the temp read from the temp probe (which is 64.2).

So in the meantime, you have digital temp monitoring and if/when you get the ferm chamber, you're set with that too. BTW, I own 5 Inkbirds.

And yeah, that's the pic they used on the current main article.

 

[Carolina_Matt]

I also use a chest freezer with Inkbird. It can fit two fermentation buckets at a time. The only downside is that it has no way of heating, so if my garage got into the 50's then the fermentation temperature would be a little low. So at the peak of winter next year, I may just put it in a closet for a month or so. My downstairs temperature is usually around 64-65 degrees in the winter, which is fine.

Or I can focus on brewing lagers next winter, with a lower temperature.

 

[Louz]

Awesome info here. Thanks everybody

 

[bleme]

Before I got my mini-fridge I'd just put my fermentor in a big rope tub, fill the tub up with water, and set my home thermostat at 62F all winter long. The extra thermal mass of all that water kept the yeast from swinging the temperature up. My wife was very happy to buy me a mini-fridge at a yard sale.

 

[balrog]

Gotta jump in with a plug for the STC1000+ project, which is like Inkbird but hackable to give programmable ramping. Or the BrewPi on a laptop using Arduino. But those two projects are for those with soldering fantasies and EE geekitude and like tinkering with said same.

 

[Zimm9]

I made a couple "son of a fermentation chillers" to get me through last summer's heat in a house with weak a/c and no basement. They work great but take up some space.

 

[Lefou]

So my "just stick it in the closet method" is not a good idea?

This is basically what I do for now. After cooling the wort and pitching yeast, I take the carboy into another room where the ambient temperature sits at a constant 62F.
Wife got me a small temperature-controlled refrigerator to use for summer lagering, but it's not summer yet. Just brewed my latest beer during last night's fourth Nor'Easter of the year.

 

[NGD]

Thanks everybody. I like the freezer/inkbird method but I don't have the space at the moment (but we're moving this summer so I will re-visit that then).
I might give the bath tub method a try for now.

I only have a regular kitchen thermometer at the moment.
Whats a good way to monitor the temp if I try the bath tub or swamp cooler method?
One of those stick on temp readers?

Theres at least one brewer I know of that went “pro” and doing well for himself. He told me that many of the beers he had won awards on were done using the bathtub method. My understanding being due to the extra volume there is a slower fluctuation in temp.