I was hoping you could help me figure out a good way to keep my fermenter cooler without completely breaking the bank. I live in Florida and my apartment averages 75 to 80 on any given day. The place I keep my fermenter is a bit cooler than that but I still need to figure out a cost efficient way to keep it in the 68 to 72 range. Does anyone know of a cooler than might be big enough to fit a 6.5 gallon carboy or some other way of getting this done. I just brewed my first batch last night and right now I am just using a lot of icepacks.
Don’t know if it will work for you but I have successfully tried the method where you put the carboy in one of those big round laundry buckets, add water, and put a t-shirt over the carboy. The evaporation causes the temp. to drop.
The best plan would be a dorm size fridge with a temp controller. Even new, that would run you $200 or a little more total. Keep an eye on craiglist for used dorm fridges. Most likely you will need to remove the door shelves to fit the fermenter in. Easy to do.
Then you are in the set it and forget it mode. No longer needing to freeze bottles of water. Convenience has a price.
Also keep an eye out for the small 1/2 barrel draft refrigerators. I picked one up for $300 a couple years ago on Craigslist. 2 carboys fit in it nicely with no mods.
Otherwise, a large “cube” cooler, 50qt +, should give you room for a carboy/pail and some ice packs/soda bottles. See the link in my signature line for a photo.
I used a 56qt rectangular cooler, stood on end, to brew a lager a few years back. It was winter time. So the basement was 60-65*. I used two, 1lt jugs for fermentation and all I could get in there for the lagering phase.
Any cooler that you can remove the lid and replace it with a piece of pink foam board will maintain the temp better than a tub with water in it.
[quote=“mbg”]Don’t know if it will work for you but I have successfully tried the method where you put the carboy in one of those big round laundry buckets, add water, and put a t-shirt over the carboy. The evaporation causes the temp. to drop.
Mike[/quote]
+1. This works very well for me. I add ice/reusable ice packs to get the temp down and keep it down as well.
I have 2 of these I use almost all year long. Even in the cooler months in the New Orleans area it helps maintain constant temps. Not the cheapest but I’ve used mine each about 6 times and they wear well. 2 quarts jugs (I use orange juice containers) can lower by temperature from 74 to 65 overnight and then I just use 1 to keep the temps constant.
Yup…until I figure out a more permanent solution I am just rotating frozen gallon jugs out…keeps the temperature in the 64 to 68 range for almost 18 hours with one. Keeping the beer cold has been the hardest part of the homebrewing process for me and hte only thing stopping me from buying more carboys.
I just moved to Florida from South Dakota in August and I feel your pain. I found this at wal-mart. It’s one of those plastic buckets that we used to hold kegs when I was a kid, and they sell an insulated jacked and lid that actually fits it now.
Any sort of tub will work. The larger the volume the easier it is to keep the thermal mass constant. I just dump my ice bin in and fill with water… then just rotate a few frozen water bottles three times a day. Pretty simple way to keep the beer in the low to mid 60’s.
I bought an igloo cooler big enough to hold my 6 gallon carboy. I then cut a larger hole on the inside of the lid and a smaller hole on the outside of the lid. I glued a circular rubber gasket on the inside so it is airtight when I put the lid on. The top of the carboy and airlock sticks out of the top. I then put a couple reusable ice packs in and it works great. I also got an indoor/outdoor thermometer and ran the cord through the water outlet spicket and put some silicone in there to make it airtight. That way i can see exactly what temperature it is on the inside at all times. With only one or two ice packs, i can easily keep it around 62 to 65° on 85° day in southern california. hope that helps
