I am really cheap and was trying to come up with a way to keep my fermentation temp cooler. My first batch got quite warm and had the dreaded banana flavor. I believe my second went better by getting the wort temp down to 70° before pitching yeast and keeping a frozen bottle of water and a blue ice thing next to my bucket and a t-shirt draped loosely over it and the bucket. However I was trying to come up with a better way and I was thinking of using one of those Sterlite storage bins and cutting a hole the size of the bucket and using a couple of frozen water bottles in there. With all the mad scientist/engineers on here has anybody tried anything like this and if so how did it go? Any potential negatives I am not seeing? It should be cheap to try but it seems like half my ideas have been bad but I found out about most before attempting them.
Using a sterlite tub as a cooler.
- Thread starter CatHead
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ipaman00
Well-Known Member
You can use a tub filled partially with water and add frozen bottles to maintain temperature(swamp cooler) or you can try one of these, basically an insulated cooler bag https://www.cool-brewing.com/
I would like to have one of those but I am so new that I want/need about twenty other things before that but I think a Stetlite is about $5-6.
hogwash
Well-Known Member
Lots of people do just what you're suggesting, myself included. It can be difficult to keep lower temps but depending on your ambient temp, it can work really well. My basement stays in the low 60s and the swamp cooler will keep my fermentation temps about the same. Sometimes I need an aquarium heater to keep it warm enough. The heater comes in handy for doing belgians that may need hotter temps.
