Large cooler chest at BJs

[Brewham]

Our local big-box store (BJs) has a monster 150 quart cooler for sale at $69. If I stand it on its end, it is about chest high and the "top" would now be a "side" and open like a refrigerator. A 5 gallon bucket could fit inside. Opening the water dump valve would provide an outlet for pressure. The sticker claims it will hold ice for 5 days.

I am thinking about putting some frozen Blue Ice packets in with the bucket to cool the fermentation down. Anyone tried this or something like it?

 

[steinsato]

Hmmm, I have a cooler like that but I've never considered using it like that. So you intend to keep the inside of the cooler dry but just add ice packs to keep it cool? I guess that may work. I would think it'd be more efficient to buy a large bucket and fill it with cold water and ice packs. The temp of the water would hold longer than the air temps.

 

[Brewham]

Yes, water would normally hold the temp better but I don't see how an open bucket would be better than an enclosed insulated cocoon. Plus, in this humid climate, a bucket of cold water would sweat out in the open - even inside an air conditioned house. Maybe the answer is to see if I can put the fermenter in a bucket of water in the ice chest.

 

[Blender]

Here is an alternative method that works pretty well. Fermentation Cooler

 

[steinsato]

I'll have to try something along these lines. I think it will be hard if not impossible to find a bucket large enough to hold my carboy yet small enough to fit into the cooler as well. The above fermentation cooler method looks like a good idea. I'll have to see if I can rig up one of my current coolers with a stryofoam lid.

 

[SilverKing]

I use a cooler setup just like that, except with no insulated lid, and I can still pull off 49degrees. And that's adding ice bottles 3 times a day with the cooler in my apartment. 60degrees is almost too easy...sometimes I get it too cold.