I have a 3 gallon carboy for small batches. The carboy fits right into a 6.5 gallon bucket that I have. I was thinking of putting the carboy in the bucket and filling it with to the neck of the carboy. I was hoping that in a couple of days or so that the beer in the carboy would be close to that of the water in the bucket? What do you think. Then I could just monitor the temp of the water in the bucket? I just want to monitor the temp closer. Will it work?
Temp Control
- Thread starter Dark_Ale
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El Pistolero
Well-Known Member
Yes, once fermentation has slowed the beer in the carboy will be at the same temp as the water in the bucket. But why do you need to monitor the temp that close, and if you really need to then why not do it right and just put a cooking probe directly into the wort...you'd just need to drill an extra hole in your stopper, and then you'd know precisely what the temp of the wort was.
I have lost a few batches because of temp problems and I am a little gun shy now. I guess I dont want to monitor is so much, I just want to make sure I am not to warm. Its starting to warm up allot down here in houston and I am just trying to becareful thats all.
Kaiser
Well-Known Member
Dark_Ale said:
The stick-on thermometers work fairly well. I thought about measuring inside the fermenter as well. But then I checked how accurate the stick-ons are and I found that they pretty much reflect the temp inside the carboy. Even if heat is generated.
Kai
El Pistolero
Well-Known Member
Stick the carboy in a tub of water...a big enough tub to hold the carboy and a gallon jug. Fill some milk jugs with water and toss them in the freezer. Every morning put a new ice block in there...you can easily hold the water at 65F doing that. No more heat problems, unless you're lagaring.Dark_Ale said:
The stick on temp. strips are great. Just wrap a towel around it and pour some cool water on it every day to keep it moist.. the evaporation will carry off a good bit of heat and the towel effectively keeps the light off the beer. Of course, by the end of the process the towel can get to smelling a bit iffy.. especially if you have a bubble over (though the towel does a nice job of minimizing the mess).
I will try building a fermentation fridge soon though - one of those with that stryofoam-like stuff, a little fan, and a block of ice (the directions are somewhere on this site). We'll see how that goes. I will say that the electric bill gets a bit high in FL in the summer trying to keep the house around 75F.
I will try building a fermentation fridge soon though - one of those with that stryofoam-like stuff, a little fan, and a block of ice (the directions are somewhere on this site). We'll see how that goes. I will say that the electric bill gets a bit high in FL in the summer trying to keep the house around 75F.
cweston
Well-Known Member
Lost said:
This is where a basement really comes in handy. We keep our thermostat at 77-78 in the summer here in Kansas. (Not as humid as Florida, but generally 90+, sometimes 100+, so the AC runs a lot at that setting.
It'd be really hard to control fermentation temps with that warm an ambient temp, but in the summer the basement is just about perfect.
