Cheeap Fermenter Cooling

[ford-ute]

Hi Guys Just a post for those new here or cant afford a fidge i live in a hot climate 40 to 46 degrees C all day every day, i am lucky to have a reverse cycle air conditioner but getting a fridge out here is a major effor and cost alot of money, so im stuck with alternate cooling methods and for the first time i tried a the wet towl treatment. all i did was put the fermenter under in the shower with a wet towel wraped around it and the shower with a very slow drip to keep it wet. after 2 day my fermenter temp was 18 degrees c and held lik that fro the next 6 when i bottled it. i was amazed just how well this works i just thought i would share this with you guys to possibly give some one hope of temp control before they spash out on a fridge

PS by the way my room temp was about 24 C with the air con on

 

[Peteoz77]

Hi Guys Just a post for those new here or cant afford a fidge i live in a hot climate 40 to 46 degrees C all day every day, i am lucky to have a reverse cycle air conditioner but getting a fridge out here is a major effor and cost alot of money, so im stuck with alternate cooling methods and for the first time i tried a the wet towl treatment. all i did was put the fermenter under in the shower with a wet towel wraped around it and the shower with a very slow drip to keep it wet. after 2 day my fermenter temp was 18 degrees c and held lik that fro the next 6 when i bottled it. i was amazed just how well this works i just thought i would share this with you guys to possibly give some one hope of temp control before they spash out on a fridge

PS by the way my room temp was about 24 C with the air con on

I do something similar. I need to chill at least 2 fermenters at a time, as I do double batches. I run about 250mm of water in the tub with 2-3 fermenters sitting in it. Wrap towels around them and just dunk them every morning and rewrap them. When it's really hot, I turn a fan on a low setting and let it blow across the wet toweled fermenters. Works a Treat! I have since set up a chest freezer as a fermenting/lagering device, but when it's full, I go back to the wet towel method.

 

[Jakechan]

Its hreat to hear this really works. Ive never really tried it, but might give it a go if I end up needing 2 fermenters going at once.

Cheers,
Jake

 

[bconnery]

My understanding is that it doesn't work as well when the humidity is higher.
I haven't tested this or have any scientific evidence, I just read that somewhere...
Something to do with evaporation...

 

[Pollux]

bconnery, you are on the money, mainly works in dryer climates, in the same way that evaporative coolers do little in places like sydney....

I have used the wet towel method here in Sydney, seemed to have little effect unless I put ice blocks on top of the fermentors....

I need to buy a fridge......

 

[boingk]

Fermenter sits in an unused laundry tub, here, with ice-bottles in the water and a singlet over it. Keeps the temp to a nice 14-15'C. Otherwise I'll just sit it on my bar fridge with a damp singlet over it and change that a few times a day, keeping the temperature to a steady 18-20'C depending on weather.

- boingk

 

[Peteoz77]

Oh yeah... I left out the ice blocks. I have 8 X 1.5 litre botles that I keep frozen (3 fridges in the house) and when it's stinking hot, I toss2-3 of these in in the morning to help keep it cool all day. The bathtub full of water really makes a difference as wel, since there is so much volume to heat up, that it takes forever for it to happen. However, a couple of ice bottles will drop the temp by 2 degrees in a few minutes.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Temperature control is a major pain in the arse! :angry:

 

[boingk]

Temperature control is a major pain in the arse! :angry:

And thats why the Good Lord (or some guy, either way) invented Fridgemates!

 

[BoilerBoy]

If you can get hold of a dead fridge and use the frozen soft drink bottles it works a treat.

I use 1.25 & 2L bottles and even in the last heatwave in Adelaide I kept a lager at 9-10C changing bottles aproximately every 36 hours.

Particularly when the power goes off for 6-12 hours continually for 6 days, oh and the no advanced warning of load shedding as well <_<

Cheers,
BB

 

[raven19]

Tried the wet towel a few weeks back during the heatwave here in Adelaide. Worked really well and I shall now be doing this all the time.

Currently have a Dr S Golden Ale wrapped up nicely, with the fermentor sitting on a garden pot base - so when the towel drips it doesnt make a puddle on the floor.

When really hot, I also add the ice and water bath in a larger plastic storage box.

3rd fridge for me one day.... after the shed.... & house....

 

[boingk]

Currently have a Dr S Golden Ale wrapped up nicely, with the fermentor sitting on a garden pot base - so when the towel drips it doesnt make a puddle on the floor.

If you fill the base with water and let the towel run into it you should get a wicking action going, letting the towel pick up water from the base. Thats how my singlet-on-fermenter-in-tub rig works.

- boingk

 

[raven19]

If you fill the base with water and let the towel run into it you should get a wicking action going, letting the towel pick up water from the base. Thats how my singlet-on-fermenter-in-tub rig works.

- boingk

I like it! I shall give this a go - as I find in Adelaide (our place at the moment is say 25 inside) that after 10 hours the towel is almost dry.

Cheers!

 

[Bribie G]

If you can get hold of a dead fridge and use the frozen soft drink bottles it works a treat.

I use 1.25 & 2L bottles and even in the last heatwave in Adelaide I kept a lager at 9-10C changing bottles aproximately every 36 hours.

Particularly when the power goes off for 6-12 hours continually for 6 days, oh and the no advanced warning of load shedding as well <_<

Cheers,
BB

+1 for the dead fridge - I'm brewing ales and keeping a steady 19 degrees in my dead fridge with only one 2L frozen PET changed morning and night. I just did a fake lager using Nottingham yeast and had no trouble maintaining 14 degrees using two bottles per changeover. It's usually mid 30s in the brewhouse (garage). When ambient falls to less than 20 in the winter I'm quite confident that I'll be able to do true lagers. Sweet.

 

[RobboMC]

Even if you can't get the temp all the way down to 19, by using a wet towel your beer will be brewed cooler that it would
have been without it ( assumption is that cooler is better between 30 and 19, right? )

When I started I brewed in the ensuite with the wet towel method for two summers, before the brewing gods brought me an old fridge. SWMBO is happy the ensuite is now a fermenter free zone.

Bribie;
I have succesfully done some 13-14deg C brewing in my old fridge in winter here in NSW.
As you guess, it's a lot easier to keep the temp down when it's cold outside. I've stopped brewing
in High summer for that reason, 43 deg in the shade here last weekend, 53 deg in the garage I reckon,
I was quite happy to have an empty fermenter as I bet I'd need blocks of ice inside the running fridge to keep it cool.
A fridge gives you power to cool, but why fight nature when you can brew in the winter?

Of course the fridge gives you wider window of the seasons to make those lagers.

A fridge ( running or not ) also helps to reduce the day/night temperature variation which some say is as damaging to the beer as the temperature itself.

 

[Bribie G]

exactement. Actually although we are in the sub tropics, SEQ doesn't have the huge temperature swings that the southern states have, and if you go futher north to say Bundaberg they have a very stable climate throughout the year. They used to call it 'the latitude of comfort'. Hereabouts it rarely gets above 33 in the summer. If it gets to 39 it's front page news and if the daytime temperature ever gets below 15 in the winter there's a rush on doonahs and electric bar heaters - that's when I bought my duck down doonah that I insulate my mash tun with. :lol:

So if you know what the ambient is likely to be from one week to the next it's much easier to get your ice bottle production line going and, as in my case, sail through a brew confidently at 18 all the way, whatever.

However I agree that I wouldn't contemplate brewing in 50 degree conditions. I expect in some southern areas they have the opposite problem with sub freezing nights and 12 degree days in the winter.

Edit: the coldest I have ever felt in my life was at Mittagong on a New Year's Eve. At noon it was 11 degrees. The next day we were swimming at Harbord / Freshwater and it was 32 degrees :blink: