Swamp Chiller temps

[Indy418]

Tired of buying ice to fill my bathtub with, I'm making a quick swamp chiller this weekend for a new brew. I've heard, however, that you need the temperature of the water in a swamp chiller to be lower than what you actually want to ferment at.

Anyone have any methods, theories, ideas of what temperature to keep the water in the swamp chiller for fermentation at say...68 degrees?

Thanks!

 

[HoppyMaltPoet]

I rotate frozen water bottles. I Have been able to get the temperature anywhere from 70 to 58 degrees without a fan or towel covering. If I keep switching out the bottles on a regular basis (2 to 3 times daily) I get a pretty stable temp. I use an unused shower to ferment in and it can get hot in there during the day in summers (no central AC). But I find that as long as I keep switching the frozen bottles the water temps stay consistent. Not sure what the actual internal temp is inside the fermenter but I always shoot for a few degrees cooler (2 - 3)then the temp reading on the outside of my bucket reads. Always happy with the results.

 

[LCTitan]

+1 on the frozen bottles. Bigger or more bottles during the day and smaller or less bottles at night. If you want the fermentation temp of the beer at 68 you will need to keep the water temp down to at least 62 for the first 72 hours of active fermentation.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I assume my fermenters around 5* warmer than the water during active ferment, so I adjust the water temp, surprisingly with frozen bottles, accordingly. A fan and a wet towel/tshirt to wick water over the fermenter help a ton too.

 

[hoppymonkey]

I put 1 frozen water bottle in 4" of water in my up stairs bath tub. I throw a wet t-shirt on it and pour water on it once a day and it stay between 66-68 degrees with just cheap box fan on. ( ambient air temp is 74) I dont add ice past the intial and it keeps it there just fine. I add two bottles if I want it closer to 62-64 degrees which sometimes I do.

 

[kpr121]

I use my Mash tun cooler, immersion chiller, pond pump and temp controller to keep my fermenting temperatures within +-1 degree. Swap out two frozen 2-liters once per day and you are golden (Full thread can be found in my signature):