Keeping Fermentor Cool

[Jimbeer]

Hey guys. I'm currently fermenting a Stella Artois clone for my old man because he loves the stuff. We have a celler where he keeps all the wine and i thought it would be perfect to keep the beer below 15 degrees. Turns out the room temp is around 18c which obviously isn't ideal. I was wondering if you had any ideas to help me drag the tempereture down a bit? I tried wrapping a towel around and putting water on top so that the towel becomes moist but it just doesn't seem to be doing the trick.

I've also realised because of this that i'll probably need to invest in something a bit more effective for future brews. Are old fridges probably the best option?

 

[felten]

a moist towel isn't any good unless you put a fan on it to evaporate away the water.

 

[DU99]

old fridge is ok with some frozen bottles..even a damp tshirt slipped over the fermenter..a working 250litre fridge would be ideal..with a fridgemate

 

[marksfish]

a fermenting fridge or freezer is the best option in the long run.

 

[JestersDarts]

try your wet towel, but with air movement over it.

like a fan.

I'm sure this is everywhere on the forums.

Then, when your sick of wetting your towel every 3 hours becuase the fan has dried it out and having a panic attack that the temps have rise, or dropped below your desired temerature, look out for an old, working fridge, that fits your fermenter and your budget. research a temperature control unit, and have your brews ferment at a constant temperature, stress, towell, and fan, free.

 

[Jimbeer]

I'll sound silly here, but what is a fridgemate or a tempmate or whatever? I'm assuming it keeps the fridges at the exact temp?
I'll run down and throw in a far right now to bring the temperature down. I'm afraid the old mans brew isn't going to be as good as i'd hoped, haha.

Just another quicky. Where do you guys get your beer fridges from? Is the best option just to buy a new one or would speciality home brew places stock them?

 

[marksfish]

evilbay or the trading post or similar should get you a fridge in your price range.

 

[stm]

eBay is pretty good for second hand fridges. Any old fridge/freezer that works is fine.

Fridgemate from craftbrewer (sponsor at top of page). Click and have a read.

This combo (grand total of about $110) is one of the best things I have done to improve my beers, and it's a lot easier than frigging around with frozen bottles/wet towels etc.

 

[DU99]

even try gumtree melbourne...

 

[cdbrown]

Or freecycle, people regularly give away old still working fridges

 

[fasty73]

A small window mounted air cond. does it for my fermenting room, keeps it at 16c 24 hours a day and the compressor only runs every other 15 minutes.

 

[seemax]

if the fridge is not an option - towel, fan and ale yeast

better an ale at 15C than a lager at 15C if you want neutral ... although bribieG has had good results with S189

 

[Bubba]

Hey guys. I'm currently fermenting a Stella Artois clone for my old man because he loves the stuff. We have a celler where he keeps all the wine and i thought it would be perfect to keep the beer below 15 degrees. Turns out the room temp is around 18c which obviously isn't ideal. I was wondering if you had any ideas to help me drag the tempereture down a bit? I tried wrapping a towel around and putting water on top so that the towel becomes moist but it just doesn't seem to be doing the trick.

I've also realised because of this that i'll probably need to invest in something a bit more effective for future brews. Are old fridges probably the best option?

Yeah, I need to inverst in a fridgemate before summer hits, but what I have done previous summers worked OK with ales to keep temps down.

I always keep 12 PET 740ml bottles frozen with water in the freezer to use as ice bricks in the eski, but I also use them to lower brew temps in summer.

I put a damp towel over my fermenter and under the towel every morning in summer I place 6 frozen bottles (if you want them to last longer put salt in the water before freezing). I find even on hot days that they last most of the day if the fermenter is also kept in a cool room.
In the evening I put them back in the freezer so they are frozen for the next morning and rewet the towel. Effectively on a plus 30degree day I can keep temps of 16-18. You want to go lower so maybe this is an option before you get a fridge mate if you are already getting them down to 18 without any help.
Try it.

Bubba

 

[DU99]

get some of those tech ice packs..even ice cream containers with frozen water..

 

[MarkBastard]

Hey guys. I'm currently fermenting a Stella Artois clone for my old man because he loves the stuff. We have a celler where he keeps all the wine and i thought it would be perfect to keep the beer below 15 degrees. Turns out the room temp is around 18c which obviously isn't ideal. I was wondering if you had any ideas to help me drag the tempereture down a bit? I tried wrapping a towel around and putting water on top so that the towel becomes moist but it just doesn't seem to be doing the trick.

I've also realised because of this that i'll probably need to invest in something a bit more effective for future brews. Are old fridges probably the best option?

Don't worry mate, if you have a cellar that can genuinely stay at a constant 18 degrees you have the perfect environment for fermenting ales.

Buy a fridge for lagers + for crash chilling the ales, and then you're sweet.

What I wouldn't give for a cellar that's always 18 degrees...

 

[DU99]

Stella is a lager http://www.freewebs.com/stella-artois/history.htm

 

[MarkBastard]

Stella is a lager http://www.freewebs.com/stella-artois/history.htm

I know that.

 

[Jimbeer]

So i went in to the good guys today to look at some fridges. Now, clearly i'm no expert in both brewing or fridges, so i'm running on what i know from you guys and from the good guys salesman. He told me the warmest you could get the fridge to was about 4 degrees. From what i've read, lager yeast wants to be in the 10-15c range, yeah? So this would be too cold. I still don't know much about these fridgemates you guys have told me about. I'm assuming these could ramp the temperature up somehow?

The Stella has been sitting at 18 degrees for a few days now and been fermenting away. I wanna get this stuff asap, and i know with the warmer temps this beer isn't going to come out very good. But i was wondering, once i do get all this stuff, would it be a good idea to throw the fermentor in anyway or is it smarter to leave it at 18 degrees for the entire process now? Or turf it on this lovely melbourne day we're having? Sorry for all the questions.

 

[DU99]

mate..get a secondhand fridge there cheaper..

 

[Jimbeer]

mate..get a secondhand fridge there cheaper..

Just thought it was easier to get all this stuff asap instead of looking around for used ones. And i'm way too in to all this brewing stuff now so i wanted a fridge as soon as i could get one, haha.