How can I cool my fermenting-pail?

[Icedpyre]

Hi all,

I live in a brick and concrete apartment(no balcony). Last summer it got INSANELY hot in here during the days, and evenings too. The temperature last summer hovered between 26-32 degrees celcius. Even if we had the blinds down all day. The temp never really dropped below 24.

My point is this. Short of getting a heat pump or buying a fridge(which I can't), can anyone offer advice on how to keep my fermenting bucket cool enough to brew in the coming summer? I have an old wooden chest on casters. I'm wondering if I could somehow use rigid foam to convert it into a make shift cellar-chamber.

[dexter]

Swamp cooler, big bucket that you can put your smaller bucket it. Add water add ice

[KB1138]

Fill your bath tub with cold water and leave the pail in there. Add ice as needed

[Halifax_Jeff]

If you got a glass carboy they fit nicely in the bucket and you can fill with cold water and cheap dollar store ice packs. Just rotate them when you need.

[Icedpyre]

I thought it was generally bad to disturb one's fermenter while the yeast is having a party? If it's in my tub I will need to either move it to shower(once daily for each of us), or wear noseplugs all summer.


I had considered building a large box out of plywood and rigid foam, and just keeping the bucket in there while it ferments. I'd had to put an airlock in somewhere to keep co2 from building up in the box, but that would be easy enough.

[elreplica]

As others said...but a big assed Rubbermaid 80 liter garbage can will do it...cheap when on sale and with dollarstore ice packs you won't go wrong...under $25...

[darciandjenn]

You'd need a way to keep that insulated box cool, though. Swamp coolers are typically what folks use if they don't have access to a spare fridge. It's worked for us in the past. Honestly, picking up a used fridge and temperature controller was easy and cheap - one of the best decisions we've made to improve our beer. If you have room for a plywood box to house your brew pail, why not a fridge?

[Andre]

I use a rubbermaid container paired with water and icepacks (or frozen water bottles) and a towel to use as a swamp cooler. It works but requires keeping a close eye on the temps and a bit more work.

[mumblecrunch]

I have had pretty good success with a swamp cooler, but it's definitely not an exact science, especially if you're not home throughout the day. A t-shirt put over the bucket and a fan blowing over the top helps out a lot, but can definitely increase the humidity of the room.

The rigid foam idea is a good one if you've got the space, in fact it has been done: Son of a Fermentation Chiller (plans available here). Note that this is just a rigid foam box, although if you Google you'll see lots of examples where people put a plywood skin on it or built it into an existing cabinet.

[GAM]

Back in the bad old days I would freeze water in a Bundt pan and place it on a carboy wrapped with a towel. As Aaron commented not exact but it cooled well.

S

[amartin]

Instead of ice cubes, you can just keep some plastic pop bottles of water and swap them out if necessary. It's less work than refilling the tray all of the time. I don't think there's any harm with disturbing the bucket anyway, with some more flocculant yeasts it can be a good thing to rouse it once in a while.

[Icedpyre]

You'd need a way to keep that insulated box cool, though. Swamp coolers are typically what folks use if they don't have access to a spare fridge. It's worked for us in the past. Honestly, picking up a used fridge and temperature controller was easy and cheap - one of the best decisions we've made to improve our beer. If you have room for a plywood box to house your brew pail, why not a fridge?

Mostly because the chest/box I was thinking of converting is already here. It's actually behind me, and currently holding the two and a half cases of ESB I just bottled. Despite having a fair sized apartment, I don't really have anywhere to stick a full size fridge. Nor do I really have the money to buy one realistically. Maybe though. It's been awhile since I looked at the prices of one. Do you need to modify one in order to set specific temperatures? I feel like most fridges I've seen just have a blue bar on their thermostat(or the elusive "cold, colder" settings).



That said, I like the ideas of the swamp cooler. I'll check around at CDN tire in the spring when they do their yard sale stuff. Maybe I can find a not-immensely huge garbage can to hold my pail.

[darciandjenn]

I use something like this to control the temperature of my ferm chamber. It's actually a small chest freezer that can fit 2 glass carboys (just barely):
http://www.everwoodavebrewshop.com/prod ... tc-308.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anyway, have fun with whatever build you decide to go with

[Icedpyre]

I'm going to look into a window-mount AC unit I think. It gets too hot here to sleep in the summer anyways. I don't want to be cycling ice packs every day for 6 months(assuming I have a batch going 2 out of 3 weeks at a time).

[jacinthebox]

You can also look at changing your yeast for the hot summer months. Lots of options for yeast that actually prefer warmer temps

Wlp644 (fake brett) make some wonderful beers. Saision yeasts as well