Swamp Cooler Questions

[the_mox]

hey all~
First of all, i ask you to forgive my ignorance, second, i ask you to forgive me if i'm over thing thinking this process, third, i tried searching for this info, and couldnt find it, so if its on here, i apologize.

I'm getting ready to set up my first swamp cooler, and i have two questions.

1) do i put the fermenter in the water as soon as i pitch the yeast? or wait for it to start bubbling?

2) if i have a fan blowing on the wet t-shirt, do i have to have the water as cool (since it will speed up the evaporation)?

Thanks guys for all the help!

 

[ctufano]

1. You can put in the water as soon as you pitch -- just make sure your wort is lower than 80 and closer to 70, or whatever you yeast packet calls for

2. From what I've read, you can do both. It depends on how cold you want the wort and how you will achieve that. I'd say try it with a fan and ice bottles in water, and if it gets too cool, take the ice out and leave fan, then when it warms, cut fan and add ice back and try to regulate it

 

[malkore]

the fan alone will do wonders for cooling via evaporation. if you can nudge the fermenter close to a floor or low wall A/C vent, it can actually push you under 70F, especially if you build a little box cooler out of pink foam insulation.

 

[Mista_Sparkle]

the minimum temperature of a swap cooler is a function of your absolute humidity, ambient temp, and pressure.

The water will regulate its own temperature but ideally you would want to start near your fermentation temp to minimize the time needed to reach temp.

Look up psychrometrics if you want to learn way more than you need to know.