Tips on cooling down my basement?

[Glibbidy]

I own a Victorian Duplex built in 1900. It's got an unfinished basement that works well with running my brewing operation.
Last we my tenant acidentally turned the heat on, now the basement is about 85-90f and the pipes have remained warm all week. I opened all the windows to vent out the hot air, but thats not working so well.
Any ideas for cooling it down?
An AC won't fit in the basement windows
I have been running my exhaust fan for brewing all week, and it has helped a tiny bit.

 

[BierMuncher]

Until the ambient temp goes down, focus on keeping your fermenters cooled. Place the fermenter into a cool bucket of water and drape a-shirt over the carboy with the bottom of the shirt sitting in the water. This will wick the water up and keep the carboy cooler. Place a fan nearby to get the evaporation effect, and you'll have no worries.

 

[Jaybird]

Costco sells those in room A/C units for like $100 or less they wook KILLER for small room temp drop. They sit in the room so no need for a window ar anything. I bet they would drop the temp in your basement 10 deg in 2 hours
but as BierMuncher said control the temps on the fermenters first and formost
Cheers
JJ

 

[the_bird]

You're more that welcome to bring the conical over to my house for "storage"... I'll make sure to get it back to you ASAP

Portable A/C sounds like a decent idea, but that is a pretty good-sized basement; I'm surprised, though, that you haven't been able to get it aired out and cooled down. The heat's definately OFF, right? I'd get a crapload of box fans and try and create as much of a cross-ventilation as I could.

 

[EdWort]

A dehumidifier would help, but I think the portable A/C would be best. It can be vented out the window.

http://www.jr.com/ap077r-portable-air-conditioner/pe/AMV_AP077R/

 

[AnOldUR]

Costco sells those in room A/C units for like $100 . . .

I have one of those portable units that's both an AC and a dehumidifier in my basement. Good thing to have down there regardless of your current problem.

 

[Bobby_M]

Interesting fact: An air conditioner IS a dehumidifier. You can't really have one without the other. An undersized AC for the space would dry the air out faster than the cooling aspect. An oversized AC would cool the air down faster than it can can remove all humidity.

A standalone dehumidifier is simply an AC that is not allowed to vent hot air outside.

 

[kram]

I own a Victorian Duplex built in 1900. It's got an unfinished basement that works well with running my brewing operation.
Last we my tenant acidentally turned the heat on, now the basement is about 85-90f and the pipes have remained warm all week. I opened all the windows to vent out the hot air, but thats not working so well.
Any ideas for cooling it down?
An AC won't fit in the basement windows
I have been running my exhaust fan for brewing all week, and it has helped a tiny bit.

Without AC all you can really do is open the windows at night and close them 1st thing in the morning. moving the air with fans could also be helpful, but again, you'd need to keep the area closed up during the day or the heat will cause you to lose any cooling gained at night (when the outside temp should be cooler than the cellar.

I do this regularly to keep my basement cool enough for fermenting (ales) as far i9nto summer as possible. Of course usually that's at best the end of July. After that it's the old wet t-shirt approach (or halt brewing) until fall.

 

[AnOldUR]

Interesting fact: . . . A standalone dehumidifier is simply an AC that is not allowed to vent hot air outside.

The dual purpose unit that I have has a 5" diameter tube that vents out a basement window. It blows cold air into the basement in both the dehumidify mode or the airconditioning mode. I'm not really sure what the difference is? Either way it blows the hot air outside.

 

[Glibbidy]

Thanks for the ideas. I have been keping the windows open 24/7 since the pipes are still warm.
We have a portable ac unit here at the office that I can hook up and vent it to the outside. Do you think it would also help to run my dehumidifier at the same time in that space?

I have a saison in the Conical right now, so with any luck it is enjoying the heat.
My other WIP is in the lager chamber at 50f.

 

[Bobby_M]

Don't run the dehumidier. It throws heat into the space. Maybe you ought to cycle fresh water into the heating system and purge the hot stuff out. Collect it in the washing machine so it's not wasted.

 

[Revvy]

Until the ambient temp goes down, focus on keeping your fermenters cooled. Place the fermenter into a cool bucket of water and drape a-shirt over the carboy with the bottom of the shirt sitting in the water. This will wick the water up and keep the carboy cooler. Place a fan nearby to get the evaporation effect, and you'll have no worries.

This is what BM is talking about and what I use...

It's a rubbermade bin, I have an aquarium thermometer stuck on the side of it in the water and I use frozen 2 liter and smaller bottles of water to chill the water in the bin. Adding a fan blowing on the t-shirts will help lower the ferm temps even further...I can get my fermenters down into the low 60's in my loft this way.

 

[Glibbidy]

Don't run the dehumidier. It throws heat into the space. Maybe you ought to cycle fresh water into the heating system and purge the hot stuff out. Collect it in the washing machine so it's not wasted.

Check on the humidifier. So this may sound like a stupid question. I'm clueless when it comes to this. I have radiators in the house. How do I get the fresh water in, and the old water out, are there special valves to run cold water thru?

As far as cooling goes, I'll have to get creative with cooling my conical.

 

[Bobby_M]

Depending on the age of the system, there's either a manual or automatic topup valve connecting the boiler to your water supply. I remember going down into the basement with my grandmother because she had to top up the old oil fired steam boiler about once a day. Later they figured out a way to regulate the city pressure into the system with an auto fill valve.

To dump the old stuff out, there's usually a drain valve down low in the system's plumbing. I don't know enough about steam radiator systems though so ignore my advice.

 

[Glibbidy]

Thanks again, I'll haveto check this out when I get home this evening.

 

[Glibbidy]

I ended up up draining my boiler. All the pipes are now cool to the touch.
This of course is no without casualty. My Imperial Pilsner's fermentation temp spiked at around 84f. Not exactly the optimal diactyl rest.

With any luck my basement will level out around 65-68f and I'll be back in business.

 

[the_bird]

I'd like to place a small wager that you get about 5% greater attenuation than you were planning on.

 

[homebrewer_99]

As I was reading this thread I was thinking 2 things...drain the system and insulate the pipes...

I used to have a Victorian house built in 1885 that had radiators. Draining the system was the fastest way to cool the place down.

 

[Glibbidy]

The pipes are all very well insulated. So well, that they held the heat at around 184f for over a week. I managed to figure out how to cycle fresh water thru the system. Not only is my basement cooler, I also flushed the radiators.
The irony in all this is that if my yeast and beer weren't at risk, I probably never would have flushed the radiator lines, which from what I researched is a good thing. (flushing the radiators).
The super pilz is still fermenting away!

 

[MrFebtober]

Was the water pretty nasty when you drained the system? I wonder if my house needs and enama, too?

 

[Glibbidy]

It seemed to cycle thru in waves. Clear then rust colored. Other then the red tint, no real schmeg came out of the system. It's situations like this, that makes me wish I went to the Naval Academy. Seems them Navy guys could engineer anyting with duck tape and zip ties.