South Florida - Home temtemperature 78 - Spare fridge question

[nhindian]

Gonna piggy back off this topic... A temp controller like the STC won't affect the freezer temp right

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

English Bitter being bottle conditioned in a Pembroke Pines bathtub. My first brew so I'll let you how it comes out in a week. Carboy was kept in a big tote tub / swamp cooler.

 

[freisste]

Gonna piggy back off this topic... A temp controller like the STC won't affect the freezer temp right

The temp controller doesn't affect the temp of the freezer - only the on/off set points for the compressor. So it is more like a thermostat. It is really no different than the dial setting on the fridge/freezer, except it isn't as neat and has a much wider temp range.

Very similar to your home furnace. It kicks out one temp (pretty hot). Your thermostat tells it to turn off when it gets to your setpoint (say 68 ) then turn on again when it cools a set amount (maybe 66). The thermostat has nothing to do with how hot your furnace is, just how long its on.

 

[freisste]

English Bitter being bottle conditioned in a Pembroke Pines bathtub. My first brew so I'll let you how it comes out in a week. Carboy was kept in a big tote tub / swamp cooler.

I don't think you're hurting anything having the bottles in water (except that some caps will rust), but temp control after bottling - and really after initial fermentation - isn't particularly critical. I've heard of people experimenting and letting bottles get up to like 90f and all they reported was faster carbonation - no off flavors detected.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

I let the house warm up during the day to save on electricity. I was concerned that the changing temperature would effect the beer. Let me know if I'm wasting my time keeping them in the water.

 

[firerat]

I let the house warm up during the day to save on electricity. I was concerned that the changing temperature would effect the beer. Let me know if I'm wasting my time keeping them in the water.

For bottle conditioning? Yeah probably.

Are you turning your A/C completely off during the day? When you crank it at night it's gonna cost a lot more to get it to a comfy level then if you maintained say 78F through out the day.

Set it to 78ish when you leave. A friendly tip from a former FPL employee.

 

[MindenMan]

According to my power company, setting the "daytime" temperature more than 10 degrees higher will cost a lot more to cool off the house again.
What most people don't think of is everything in that house has got to be cooled all over again, furniture, walls,etc. and that takes time and LOTS of energy to find stasis again. I hope this helps...

 

[firerat]

According to my power company, setting the "daytime" temperature more than 10 degrees higher will cost a lot more to cool off the house again.
What most people don't think of is everything in that house has got to be cooled all over again, furniture, walls,etc. and that takes time and LOTS of energy to find stasis again. I hope this helps...

That's what I was getting at.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

Ok, I pulled the bottled beer out of the bathtub as recommended by you guys, and let it stand for another week inside the house. Popped open my first bottle today, and it tastes and feels like English Bitter! So a swamp cooler can be used to make home brew in the middle of the SoFla summer. Thanks for you help!

 

[scrapes]

hey all, having just moved from the northeast to South Florida i have been scratching my head thinking about fermenting.

I thought it would be easy to just get a small fridge and I'd be done. My research on here, you guys are informative, leads me to believe fridges run to cold without an external thermostat. Why not lager as plan B? If I wire the external thermostat should I expect good results?

I'm in a condo type place, I have nice spot for a "college" fridge. I read up on the swamp cooler, meh, it doesn't thrill me.

I also read somewhere on the forums about a Cool Brewing Bag, sounds like a pretty convenient way to go, any more input on the bag would be nice to read.

Its been awhile since I brewed, I've regressed to newb status.

 

[dstockwell]

I have a STC-1000 on a Peltier (thermometric) fridge in S. GA, no problem maintaining 64F in 95F garage.

 

[dkeller12]

Lived and brewed in Clearwater FL and own two cool brewing bags. They work great and with one or 2 gallon jugs of ice you can keep the fermenter in the mid to low 60's easily. Best investment and improvement I have made in my beer.

 

[cvbjmk]

You would need to get a temp controller for the fridge. Good chance that is more expensive than you would want to spend. Around $75. If you keep it around 68 it should be ok.