So tell me if I'm looking for trouble...

[seatazzz]

Here in the great PNW, the weather can be....stupid. Normally at this time of year we've got highs in the 60s and lows in the 50s, perfect brewing weather. Not this year. We've had two heat waves so far that have ruined what should have been darn good beers. I don't yet have a fermentation chamber, working on it. All I've got right now are swamp coolers. So here's what I'm thinking.

Our spare bedroom has a concrete floor (pulled the carpet up because cats used to live in that room) and has the most stable temperature in the house. I've got a nice rolling a/c unit and a temperature controller that works well, it's currently attached to my kegerator. So what if...I hook up the temp controller to the a/c unit, make sure the one window and the door are sealed as well as possible, and ferment in that room? My main concern is my electric bill as well as safety. And I shouldn't even need the temp controller because the a/c unit has its own. Whadda y'all think? If I have a fan going as well, the a/c shouldn't have to run all the time. Need input from smarter brewers than me.

 

[Transamguy77]

I think you will be fine keeping the whole room cool, I can say that sitting the fermenter on the cement floor helps keep the temps stable, in my last house I'd ferment in the garage on the cement floor.

You cold also build a box out of 2" foam insulation and put the fermenter on the floor and cover it with the box, you could also put frozen bottles in it to help keep the temps more consistent.

 

[seatazzz]

That's my plan for my (future) fermentation chamber but that will have to wait a while. I want to be able to build something big enough to hold two fermenters.

 

[kh54s10]

How hot were your heat waves? I fermented my first summer using a swamp cooler and while it was a PITA it did quite well. I now live in Florida and the swamp cooler was such a PITA in February that I went out and got a chest freezer.

 

[aprichman]

I would just spend the $150 on a chest freezer and not worry about the temperature. Being able to lock in fermentation temperatures year round is really nice.

 

[bellabrew]

I would just spend the $150 on a chest freezer and not worry about the temperature. Being able to lock in fermentation temperatures year round is really nice.

+1 to that. As I live in an apartment, my keezer doubles as a fermentation chamber (don’t have room for 2). Only downside is that I don’t have cold beer on tap when I’m fermenting

 

[Lefou]

Swamp cooler + A/C + fan seems like a good interim plan. As long as you have a good stable temperature range in the room already, getting the temperature down to 65F should be fairly doable - if the outside weather cooperates.

Swamp cooler + fan can introduce some humidity to the room as your first level of cooling.
The A/C unit can act as the second level by removing the slightly saturated air but make sure the fan doesn't circulate air toward your A/C unit.
I have a small fan in our family room and it will push cooler air toward my wall-mounted thermostat. On hot days I try to keep the air flow away from that side of the room so it won't mess with the temperature sensing the thermostat provides.

...other than that, it sounds like you have some saving up to do for more beer gear.

 

[mongoose33]

You might be just as far ahead to put the fermenters in swamp coolers and just blow a fan on them. Have you tried that? Anything you can do to hasten the evaporation of water will help cool them.

Have you checked out Craigslist for used refrigerators?

I have a keezer, plus I have a largish refrigerator I use for fermentation. I can get two fermenters in there, and if I stagger the brew days by 3 days, I can do active fermentations with two different brews in the same refrigerator.

I know a lot of people have chest freezers for ferm chambers, but I don't personally like that solution because you have to lift a full fermenter up and over to get it inside, then repeat to get it out. Much easier to just lift into a refrigerator.

You could also see if you can find some small dorm-style 4.4 cu ft refrigerators. Probably can find them in the $50-60 range. You can fit a single fermenter in one of those.

 

[Lefou]

Chest freezer and Inkbird = fairly easy solution, but works much better when kegging with the right sized freezer. I still use glass carboys which are fairly risky to some degree, but patiently waiting to go stainless at some point in the future.
We do what we can, though, until circumstances change or improve.

I've been considering using Hothead and Nord kveik yeasts as they are strains that are reported to be useful in warmer temps, more than Belgian strains. Perhaps a style change in beers when the temps vary would be another approach to compensate. If any of your PNW area shops carry Yeast Bay strains, kveik could be an alternative, too.

 

[aprichman]

For chest freezers using a milk crate is really helpful for getting carboys in and out. It also prevents the bottom of the carboy from making direct contact with the chest freezer which helps minimize temperature overswings.

A full size upright would have been my preference for both my fermentation chamber and keg storage but the cheapest uprights I usually see start around $500 for smaller models.

I had a hard enough time justifying the chest freezers to SWMBO

 

[Lefou]

I have a commercial front opening wine refrigerator with a built-in thermostat control.
It's just large enough for one 5gal carboy in case I want to do a true lager when temps get warm. Space is tight - as is free cash for the more expensive gadgets in the hobby, but the wife tends to pity me once in a while.
All my carboys go into handy neglected milk crates liberated from a local loading dock. Much easier to store and carry.

 

[mongoose33]

OP is in Seattle....

https://seattle.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=mini fridge&sort=rel Minifridges

and

https://seattle.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=refrigerator&sort=rel Regular Refrigerators

Some of those refrigerators are free, or under $75.

Here's one I particularly like, it's small but tall enough to accommodate almost any fermenter:

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/app/d/roper-refrigerator/6599449934.html

 

[aprichman]

Mongoose did all the work for you, time to build that fermentation chamber OP

 

[Rodent]

Just about to keg my first brew utilizing an Inkbird temp controller + Fermwrap + small chest freezer vs my previous method that made use of cooler ambient temps in our below ground basement.

We had a family health emergency 36 hours after I pitched yeast and set primary fermentation temp. I 'lived' at the hospital from 7A to 11P every day for the next two weeks. What a relief it was to not have to think about the fermentation underway, and to simply up the temp on day 5 to my elevated secondary level

@seatazzz - based on my experience with this little freezer, and the impact the tighter temp control has had on just this one brew, you'll be doing yourself a favor by taking the plunge and getting one

 

[anchornm]

This is a curious situation. I have been down this road, and none of the answers met my needs.
The number one consideration (as I see it) is if you want to rack the beer from the bottom, or siphon it.
A conical is a great idea, but it throws a damp rag on the idea of using gravity to rack, unless you can get it into a very tall refrigerator (and maybe raise it a few feet). If you siphon, then just use a cooler full of water to slow down the flywheel effect (and put your fermenter in a big puddle).
The original poster says the temp swings 10 degrees. I would use Cry Havoc yeast. It will slow down at 50F, and produces excellent beer at 60F...

 

[seatazzz]

Thanks for the input guys. I do have a chest freezer (was using it for storing hops, but inventory is low enough that they can go in the house freezer) that I'm now going to re-purpose for fermentation. Just turned it off to defrost a bit and will hook up my temp controller later today. Sucky part is it can only hold one bucket/carboy at a time. Need to hit up craigslist for another bigger one.

 

[505-Brewer]

Those igloo water coolers you see on job sites are another option. Get a thermowell and stopper so you know the actual temp of your beer. You can add ice to reach your temp easy. During high krausen 10-12 ice cubes will lower your temp 1-2 degrees. They r about $50 new but can double as a mash tun and be found used cheap from time to time. I got tired of lifting in and out of the chest freezers plus theyre usually filled w beer. In winter you can use a heating blanket instead of water. I have 4 i use now. While not perfect since i bought em i havent used my chest freezer once for fermentation. If u can put them on a pedestal then its easy to replace the water as you add ice. You can cut stryofoam to seal the top or just drape a towel or two over them. Crash cooling is also doable. They are so well insulated and water has such a high heat capacity it works really well.

Just another option to consider

But yes I’d use the kveik strains and just knock out at 85 and ignore it for a couple days

 

[seatazzz]

An update: brewed up an APA yesterday that is now in the chest freezer. Couldn't get the darn thing to stop chilling it last night, so finally just unplugged it and set some ice bottles in it. This morning (with a much clearer head thanks to coffee) did some research and fiddled with the temp controller (it's a Ranco, don't know the model #), also cranked the temperature selector on the freezer to the highest setting. I have the controller set at 62, temperature is currently at 60 (thanks to ice bottles) and once all plugged back in and turned on, the compressor didn't kick in. So I think it's working right now. OCD me keeps checking every five minutes or so to see if it's changed, and it hasn't. Airlock is gently bubbling away, none of the hyper-frenetic action I've had with my other beers in the swamp coolers. Yeeha, success!! Next brew: a real lager!!!

 

[mongoose33]

Where is your temperature probe? The air in the freezer may be below freezing, but what matters is the temp of the wort.

 

[Rodent]

Carboy stopper with thermowell for temp probe. Amazon has one for $8.99 on sale here: http://a.co/1x3zGWD

If your temp controller also has a heat control option, you can add a Fermwrap and enable the ability to raise the temp at the 4-5 day mark for secondary
fermentation

 

[aprichman]

From everything I've read having the probe on the side of the carboy covered with insulation (foam, bubble wrap, etc.) is going to have less temperature swings than using a thermowell when using an STC-1000 setup.

Also I've had really good luck putting my heat wrap in the chamber instead of directly on the carboy. I stay within +/- 1°F of my set temperature.

 

[seatazzz]

The temperature probe is sitting in a jar of water on the compressor hump. Was too impatient to dig out some styrofoam to tape it to the fermenter. Fermometer on the bucket is reading 66-68 which is where I like my ales to be for the first 72 hours anyway (didn't have a clean carboy to ferment this in yesterday). I did adjust the controller up to 67 as it got down to 58 the first time the compressor kicked on. Next item on the agenda is building a collar for it so I can fit two buckets with airlocks...and next brew will be a "true" lager done at the right temperature. I've had the freezer for years, and the temp controller for almost a year, and I just now got around to doing something with it. Can't wait for this one to be done!

 

[aprichman]

Here's a picture of my setup - after two years of using a chest freezer as my fermentation chamber I really believe this is the ideal setup.

*Temperature probe insulated and attached to the side of the carboy

*Heat source located in the chamber but not directly to the carboy

*Carboy in milk crate to make lifting easier

*Blowoff tube using 1/2" silicone tubing and an airlock