Controlling Temperature?

[Haibane]

Hello, new to home brewing and my first brew will be a Cooper's Lager with their brew enhancer 1 from the new Cooper's DIY Brew Kit.
Given that the temperature is currently 27C here, I'm kind of stressing about ways to control temperature and what the recommended temperature for this brew is.

What's the coolest room in the house?
Will a wet towel with a fan pointing at it suffice?
If so, will I need to rotate the bucket every hour to insure the temperature is dispersed evenly?
Are there any other cooling methods I can utilize with simple house-hold supplies, eg, frozen water bottles and the like?

Expect plenty more noob questions as I plan to cross-check everything in the Cooper's instructions with you guys as I know that kit instructions are very basic and often far from ideal

 

[Yob]

Hello, new to home brewing and my first brew will be a Cooper's Lager with their brew enhancer 1 from the new Cooper's DIY Brew Kit.
Given that the temperature is currently 27C here, I'm kind of stressing about ways to control temperature and what the recommended temperature for this brew is.

What's the coolest room in the house?
Will a wet towel with a fan pointing at it suffice?
If so, will I need to rotate the bucket every hour to insure the temperature is dispersed evenly?
Are there any other cooling methods I can utilize with simple house-hold supplies, eg, frozen water bottles and the like?

Expect plenty more noob questions as I plan to cross-check everything in the Cooper's instructions with you guys as I know that kit instructions are very basic and often far from ideal

Firstly welcome to the obsession..

there are loads of threads about this here on this site, with many a helpful hint.. it really depends on your situation.. do you have a celler? A wet towell and Ice rotation will definatly work its just a pain in the arse.. I wouldnt think you will have to rotate the water but the ice definatly... wet towel will help.. fan in emergency..

fridge? throw your food out and put it in the fridge.. you wont be needing food in there anymore mate.. it's all over for you now you have asked the first question :lol:

check out the search bar at the bottom.. loads of threads in multiple forums.

good luck

 

[Haibane]

Firstly welcome to the obsession..

there are loads of threads about this here on this site, with many a helpful hint.. it really depends on your situation.. do you have a celler? A wet towell and Ice rotation will definatly work its just a pain in the arse.. I wouldnt think you will have to rotate the water but the ice definatly... wet towel will help.. fan in emergency..

fridge? throw your food out and put it in the fridge.. you wont be needing food in there anymore mate.. it's all over for you now you have asked the first question :lol:

check out the search bar at the bottom.. loads of threads in multiple forums.

good luck

Thanks, mate. I bet you guys get sick of the same questions being asked all the time, huh.

 

[Yob]

Thanks, mate. I bet you guys get sick of the same questions being asked all the time, huh.

asked almost the same question myself once apon a time ...wasnt even that long ago in the scheme of things..

Im still asking questions too

:icon_cheers:

 

[Camo1234]

Mate I am only new to this as well but the best investment you will make is a fridge to dedicate to your fermenter.. I live in brisbane and tried to do the towel thing for my first batch and apart from the mess and filling it up each day it just didnt do the job...

The first batch tasted very poor and I have put it down the the 28c ferment temp...

I then bought a second hand fridge for $100 and a temp controller and my next batch is now sitting at 20.5c non stop.... my first batch smelt good for the first few days (yes I love the smell coming out of the airlock!) but then tasted and smelt average the longer it went on... my second batch just keeps smelling better and better


I would definitely say that the fridge will be the best investment that you will make unless you have a basement with constant temps under 20c

camo

 

[Crusty]

Mate I am only new to this as well but the best investment you will make is a fridge to dedicate to your fermenter.. I live in brisbane and tried to do the towel thing for my first batch and apart from the mess and filling it up each day it just didnt do the job...

The first batch tasted very poor and I have put it down the the 28c ferment temp...

I then bought a second hand fridge for $100 and a temp controller and my next batch is now sitting at 20.5c non stop.... my first batch smelt good for the first few days (yes I love the smell coming out of the airlock!) but then tasted and smelt average the longer it went on... my second batch just keeps smelling better and better


I would definitely say that the fridge will be the best investment that you will make unless you have a basement with constant temps under 20c

camo

camo is spot on.
Fermentation is such a critical stage of the brewing process & stuffing up this stage will be a sure sign of a poor final product. Get yourself a Tempmate controller & a dedicated fridge for your fermenter & you'll be stoked.

 

[Haibane]

camo is spot on.
Fermentation is such a critical stage of the brewing process & stuffing up this stage will be a sure sign of a poor final product. Get yourself a Tempmate controller & a dedicated fridge for your fermenter & you'll be stoked.

Alright guys. I'm currently looking for fridges on eBay, but I'm going to use a temporary solution until I can afford the gear. I'm just going to buy a large bucket, put my wort in it, fill it with water, put a towel over the wart, put a few frozen PET bottles in it and point a fan at it. Should do the trick. Also, seeing as I'm not a handy man, I could just hire a sparky to install the fridge mate right? Wonder how much his services would be. Great to finally get into home brewing - just wish it wasn't summer and that my kit doesn't contain lager...

 

[peaky]

Get yourself a fridge and then buy one of these STC1000 I've got two and they work well. Nice and cheap also. I've had the electricity cut out for 30 min because of a storm, when the power came back on the temp controllers picked up where they left off. They were the first thing I checked when the electricity came back on! Too easy :icon_cheers:

EDIT: Also, I use a Burker Heater for heating.

 

[going down a hill]

a large bucket, put my wort in it, fill it with water, put a towel over the wart, put a few frozen PET bottles in it

I put my fermenter in a large bucket of water and fill it with a small amount of ice, when that melts I check the temp of the water then put more ice in it until it stays at a constant 18c. Once that's done I take it out of the water and wrap it up in a couple of kids sleeping bags and a wool blanket to keep out the heat. On crazy heat spells it might do that process every second day. I put it back in the water when it hits 21/22c.

 

[peaky]

You'll be glad to get a fridge then. I have 3 fridges and 2 temp controllers. I put the fermenter in the fridge, set the temp, and forget about it for about 6 days then check gravity. 3 fridges from ebay $40 (oldies but still kicking), 2 temp controllers from ebay $60. Misc plugs, leads, and wiring etc $20. All up $120, laughing :lol:


Edit: The immersion heaters came along afterwards