To all who recommended a swamp cooler

[thed163]

Well, after an interesting day...
I had set my porter in the basement overnight. It was just as full as other batches in the car boy...
Recommended the blowoff tube, roommate said let's just see. Go down this morning and yup! Foam everywhere, beer more places...
Took a dremel to an air lock (most places closed today and tubing didn't match the od of the air lock)

...beer blew the stopper after that. Brought it upstairs. Swamp cooler I did.

...should I swap the sanitized water? It's brown now. I figure anything in it is sanitized, but no air tight lid so?

...it's bubbling wild still. I'm new, but by far the most vigorous fermentation ive seen
Temp in apartment was ninety. It's in the ac now. Probably eighty when began in basement.

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[Subdivisions]

You can replace the sanitized water. It's not going to suck back up the line if that's what you're worried about.

Toss some bottles of frozen water in that swamp cooler. That temperature is pretty high. Next time get the wort temperature down in the swamp cooler with frozen bottles first before you pitch. Then keep replacing the bottles every 12 hours. It's not that big of a pain if you get a system going. Once fermentation gets going it's harder to keep the temperature in check if it was too high to begin with.

 

[thed163]

You can replace the sanitized water. It's not going to suck back up the line if that's what you're worried about.

Toss some bottles of frozen water in that swamp cooler. That temperature is pretty high. Next time get the wort temperature down in the swamp cooler with frozen bottles first before you pitch. Then keep replacing the bottles every 12 hours. It's not that big of a pain if you get a system going. Once fermentation gets going it's harder to keep the temperature in check if it was too high to begin with.

What I'm struggling with is that the bucket is small. It's not ideal. I was putting ice packs in it until they broke.

...so you think it was a high temperature for the wort? That is probably right. It was a little warm but our thermometer broke mid brew (not in it of course) but we just had to guess... So I need another bigger bucket to make that bottle plan work. To the basement of hoarding I go!

 

[Yooper]

What I'm struggling with is that the bucket is small. It's not ideal. I was putting ice packs in it until they broke.

...so you think it was a high temperature for the wort? That is probably right. It was a little warm but our thermometer broke mid brew (not in it of course) but we just had to guess... So I need another bigger bucket to make that bottle plan work. To the basement of hoarding I go!

Put the fermenter in a cooler, and put some water in the cooler up to the level of the beer. Add a frozen water bottle or two, and float a thermometer in the water bath to see what the temperature is. It's way to warm where it is now, but it may be too late anyway.

 

[MadHomebrewer]

I'm a fan of the cool brewing bag. I know others prefer swamp coolers or a ferm chamber but the bag works for me. No mess and no building. Just one or two frozen two litters changed daily and I stay in the low 60's. I live in south Florida. House gets up in the high 70's during the day and low 70's at night.

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[SlamDunkel]

What I do is place a towel around the bucket to wick water in a pan below. A large turkey aluminum pan will work also. The towel is wrapped at 2 places with electrical tape hugging the bucket surface area as much as possible. I use a Inkbird controller that cycles the fan. I add ice both to the top and the bottom when fermentation takes off. My ambient temp is 76 deg. Humidity around 20 to 30 %.

 

[madscientist451]

you need to create a micro climate for your fermenting beer. Cardboard or wood box, Bag, small closet, whatever, add ice, monitor your temp, and you'll be ok. . 80's is just to high for a good ale.

 

[thed163]

It's reading 70 now on the fermo...
Thanks everyone who has contributed, good ideas and best practices here. We're in a 90°+ a day heat wave in New England and temps have been a struggle.

I think the swamp cooler on this brew then figuring out consistency at right temp next brew

 

[kh54s10]

A larger container for the water with enough room for the ice bottles is best. I have not seen or tried the brewing bag. The water will change temperature more slowly than air so that the wort temperature is more stable.

At the reported 80 degrees ambient, the wort temperature might have reached 90 degrees, this beer is likely to have some serious off flavors.

 

[thed163]

It was only at eighty for twelve hours maybe but we immediately hopped into action...
We assume it might have of flavors but are doing our best now to keep where it should be...
69-70?

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[ballandkeg]

Temperature control will help you and also make a better beer. That said, I've had the same issue with excessive blow-off even at 68 degrees in my basement. It happens when I use the Windsor ale yeast, primarily with high gravity porters and stouts. I split my porter batches into two fermentation vessels and that eliminates the blow off loss. I combine them again in the secondary.

 

[thed163]

Temperature control will help you and also make a better beer. That said, I've had the same issue with excessive blow-off even at 68 degrees in my basement. It happens when I use the Windsor ale yeast, primarily with high gravity porters and stouts. I split my porter batches into two fermentation vessels and that eliminates the blow off loss. I combine them again in the secondary.

Yeah I estimate we've lost about a gallon to blowoff? I haven't fully taken it out of the bath to check.
Since I am new, and most people here seem to be against it, I strictly to primary fermentation. A split batch would certainly help and make it easier to control the temp also.
What's weird was we thought the OG was super low... but later realized we added 2 gal of water to the top, and when we took our grav reading, it was probably not mixed well... thus a super low OG.
We took a second before figuring this out, just knowing that something was way off with an OG of like 1.020... and we got around 1.045... even that I think was lower than it really was.

Lesson for next time. Taking meticulous notes on each batch.

 

[kh54s10]

Yeah I estimate we've lost about a gallon to blowoff? I haven't fully taken it out of the bath to check.
Since I am new, and most people here seem to be against it, I strictly to primary fermentation. A split batch would certainly help and make it easier to control the temp also.
What's weird was we thought the OG was super low... but later realized we added 2 gal of water to the top, and when we took our grav reading, it was probably not mixed well... thus a super low OG.
We took a second before figuring this out, just knowing that something was way off with an OG of like 1.020... and we got around 1.045... even that I think was lower than it really was.

Lesson for next time. Taking meticulous notes on each batch.

You might not have lost too much, unless your catch vessel is settled (no foam) and full. A lot of what goes through the blow off is foam so it looks like a lot...

Although there is a relation to temperature and gravity with the amount of blow off, I have had low gravity beers ferment vigorously with quite low temperatures. The recipe, amount and health as well as the type of yeast make the fermentation action different from brew to brew.

To be on the safe side, start EVERY fermentation with a blow off tube installed. I also look up the ideal range for the yeast and control the temperatures just below the middle of the range in most cases.

When using top up water it is common to get a false gravity reading. It is fairly difficult to get the wort fully mixed. If you suspect that the OG reading was not accurate, just let it be.

If it was a kit or a recipe where the ingredients were measured out accurately, you used all the ingredients and ended up with the proper volume, then your OG will be very close to what was indicated in the instructions.

 

[thed163]

You might not have lost too much, unless your catch vessel is settled (no foam) and full. A lot of what goes through the blow off is foam so it looks like a lot...

Although there is a relation to temperature and gravity with the amount of blow off, I have had low gravity beers ferment vigorously with quite low temperatures. The recipe, amount and health as well as the type of yeast make the fermentation action different from brew to brew.

To be on the safe side, start EVERY fermentation with a blow off tube installed. I also look up the ideal range for the yeast and control the temperatures just below the middle of the range in most cases.

When using top up water it is common to get a false gravity reading. It is fairly difficult to get the wort fully mixed. If you suspect that the OG reading was not accurate, just let it be.

If it was a kit or a recipe where the ingredients were measured out accurately, you used all the ingredients and ended up with the proper volume, then your OG will be very close to what was indicated in the instructions.

That's our thoughts...It called for2 gallons of tap water to be added at the very end, we added exactly 2 gallons to hit our 5 gallon mark.

I think we're good. The temps is really what is going to determine the outcome. We added in some orange peel also at the end after flame out. .5oz orange peel, .5oz cascade... That was only deviation, really.

Maybe not banana and orange chocolate coffee taste? lol we'll see!

 

[KVANTAN]

There sure are some crazy contraptions for swamp coolers out there. I use an actual cooler big enough to put a 5-gal carboy in, I then drop in a liter or half gallon frozen plastic water bottle and drape dry towels over the top and filling in any empty space. I have no problem getting into the 50's (during TX summer) with 2 half gallon water bottles. One in the cooler, the other on rotation refreezing in the freezer. Easy, dry, low maintenance. Swap one at night the other in the morning. And you can use your bath.

 

[ChelisHubby]

In the future Most Ale yeast like to be 65 to 68 to start and after 4 days of bubbling let the temp raise to 68 to 70 this is just a good rule of thumb.

 

[tgolanos]

There sure are some crazy contraptions for swamp coolers out there. I use an actual cooler big enough to put a 5-gal carboy in, I then drop in a liter or half gallon frozen plastic water bottle and drape dry towels over the top and filling in any empty space. I have no problem getting into the 50's (during TX summer) with 2 half gallon water bottles. One in the cooler, the other on rotation refreezing in the freezer. Easy, dry, low maintenance. Swap one at night the other in the morning. And you can use your bath.

This is similar to what I do. I got a large freezer bag from Costco and I drop my fermenter in there with 2 2L milk jugs full of frozen water. Rotate out 2 more milk jugs that I keep in the freezer and the fermenter stays well below 10°C (50°F).

 

[Sarge]

I think you'll be happier with a larger container. I use a 18 gln (I think) rubbermaid tote. I put in as much water as I can until the carboy thinks about floating and then rotate frozen water bottles during fermentation. I feel this keeps the temperature more consistent. Periodically I'll check the wort temp and compare it to the swamp cooler temp and they're always within a half of a degree. I also cover the cooler and carboy with an old sleeping bag.

Good luck

 

[thed163]

I bought one of those bigger buckets with the rope handles... But, I'm using that to HEAT the water currently (saison yeast in that one). Right now, all I have is that bucket.

Although I have a styrofoam cooler I may just try that. It seems it'll insulate a bit better too. I can get very very little water into that bucket (6 gal bucket, 5 gal carboy).

Thanks for the tips!

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I chuck my fermenter into a chest freezer with a 2 stage temp controller and a brew belt.

Sorry, I had to add that. I couldn't help myself.