Swamp Cooler vs Fermenter (Chest Freezer) Chamber

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

Everyone of my carboys have required a blow off tube. Never needed one with swamp cooler. Must have something to do with consistant temps in chest freezer?

 

[zachattack]

I don't know what you mean here. You have a swamp cooler and a chest freezer fermentation chamber? As long as you can get it within the right temperature range, either method works. Obviously a fridge/freezer is a good bit easier, but a swamp cooler can work pretty well if you live in a dry climate.

Some strains of yeast (ex. WLP 300) are real top-croppers and almost always need a ton of headspace or they blow out. It also depends on your pitch rate, oxygenation, OG, and probably other factors.

But if everything else is the same: if the temperature isn't controlled well and the beer gets too warm, the yeast will go nuts. This increases the likelihood of needing a blowoff as you noticed, but it will also negatively impact your beer. You'll get undesired esters, fusels etc.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

any other ideas?

 

[beergynt]

I don't see any reason to try to avoid blowoff. It won't hurt the beer.

That being said, are you setting your controller to exactly match the desired fermentation temperature? If so, try to set it ~4-5ºF lower. For a normal ale, my cooling SP is 60-62ºF (For US-05, 1056, etc.) I find that the heat created by fermentation is significant, and having the set point lower balances out the overall temp of the fermentation to where I need it.

Basically, if your controller is dialed in at 68ºF, temps in the vessel could be closer to 72-74ºF.

 

[naiek]

Everyone of my carboys have required a blow off tube. Never needed one with swamp cooler. Must have something to do with consistant temps in chest freezer?

I think the aim of both is consistent temps withing range for the yeast. different yeast strains, different OG?

BTW I grew up in Ramona, many years ago

 

[whitehause]

Temp is temp...the beer doesn't care how it gets there. It's possible if you were adding frozen water bottles to the swamp cooler it was colder than the temp set on your freezer. I found it almost impossible to hold constant temps with a swamp cooler, so I went with a dedicated fridge for a ferm chamber in the summer. In the winter I have a spare room I keep at 62deg.... one good thing about winter here in the Northeast.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

so..........should I lower my temp to 65? Recipe/LHBS says 68..

 

[beergynt]

68º is probably fine but all I'm saying is that if you set your temp controller at 68º, the temps in the carboy are going to be in the low 70s while fermentation is active. So if you set the controller to around 64º, temps in the carboy should be right around 68º.

Of course, we could now go into the great probe placement debate.... (But I don't think we wanna.)

Bottom line. Ales have a tendency to blow off. It is not a bad thing, though a little messy. Cooling fermentation temps will temper this somewhat. That being said, I have a Cream Ale fermenting at 64º that is skeeting krausen all over my ferm chamber as we speak.

 

[whitehause]

so..........should I lower my temp to 65? Recipe/LHBS says 68..

Like Beergynt said, the temp during active fermentation will be about 5 deg higher in the fermenter. I usually shoot for about 62 to 63 deg at the start of the ferment and continue this for the first week. After that I'll bump it up a few deg and let the primary finish out. If I'm dry hopping, I'll do that at about 70 to 72.

I always try to go on the low side of the temp range to help minimize the chance of the yeast throwing funky off flavors. The warm up at the end lets them clean up certain compounds. Low temps (within reason) won't hurt anything, too high a temp can cause a number of flavor issues.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

ok thanks for the info...I put the airlock on yesterday and all is well. Next time I'll dial down the temp for the first week or so