Maintaining Constant Temp For Fermentation...

[Fodder]

Hi guys and gals,

Just wanting to probe the masses for ideas, and/or refined techniques for ways of keeping your brews cool during high temps.

Currently in Perth we are getting 35+ during the day and 20+ at night, and whilst I have an insulated cupboard and have been doing twice daily frozen bottle rotations (as suggested in this article: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...amp;hl=beginner) I am still failing to maintain optimal temps...

Short of buying a dedicated brew fridge (I cant afford it and SWMBO would highly dissapprove) what else could I do to aid cooling?

I was thinking of opening the door to the cupboard and setting up a fan to get some airflow with the freezer blocks still in there (e.g. Oldskool air conditioning type of thingo) but not sure if the benefits would outweight the drawback of having the door open...

Any ideas?

(and sorry for the link, not sure how to access topic ID's to be able to use the insert link post thingo)

Thanks,

Fodder

 

[bignath]

put your fermenter in the bath and fill the bath up to the level of your beer in fermenter.

The mass of the water in the bath will mean that the temp will take longer to fluctuate up and down giving you a more controlled fermentation. Just clean and sanitise the tap before doing anything like bottling or kegging or transferring to secondary.

I started doing this recently. I got cleaned out of kegs after a few weekends of poker nights, and friends coming around for bbq's etc. Had to get brewing real quick. I have three fermenters but only two will fit in my fridge at any one time. So i got a big plastic tub, and filled it with water, put third fermenter in the tub, it's maintained 19 degrees beautifully for the past week. If your climate is warmer than mine (highly probable) then you could use the frozen bottles in the tub too. I've got a small dial thermometer, and i've pushed the spike through a piece of foam, and i just let it float around next to the fermenter to keep an eye on the temp. Also have a digital probe thermometer sitting in it too actually. Both read 19/20 degrees.

I am assuming your trying to do ales, and if so, the bathtub trick works well.

bignath

 

[sav]

Hi guys and gals,

Just wanting to probe the masses for ideas, and/or refined techniques for ways of keeping your brews cool during high temps.

Currently in Perth we are getting 35+ during the day and 20+ at night, and whilst I have an insulated cupboard and have been doing twice daily frozen bottle rotations (as suggested in this article: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...amp;hl=beginner) I am still failing to maintain optimal temps...

Short of buying a dedicated brew fridge (I cant afford it and SWMBO would highly dissapprove) what else could I do to aid cooling?

I was thinking of opening the door to the cupboard and setting up a fan to get some airflow with the freezer blocks still in there (e.g. Oldskool air conditioning type of thingo) but not sure if the benefits would outweight the drawback of having the door open...

Any ideas?

(and sorry for the link, not sure how to access topic ID's to be able to use the insert link post thingo)

Thanks,

Fodder

I got my 80lt upright freezer for $80 out of the paper my missus was ok for that price.
sav

 

[sav]

I got my 80lt upright freezer for $80 out of the paper my missus was ok for that price.
sav

I meant 500lt freezer the heat is getting to me

 

[[email protected]]

Hi guys and gals,

Just wanting to probe the masses for ideas, and/or refined techniques for ways of keeping your brews cool during high temps.

Currently in Perth we are getting 35+ during the day and 20+ at night, and whilst I have an insulated cupboard and have been doing twice daily frozen bottle rotations (as suggested in this article: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...amp;hl=beginner) I am still failing to maintain optimal temps...

Short of buying a dedicated brew fridge (I cant afford it and SWMBO would highly dissapprove) what else could I do to aid cooling?

I was thinking of opening the door to the cupboard and setting up a fan to get some airflow with the freezer blocks still in there (e.g. Oldskool air conditioning type of thingo) but not sure if the benefits would outweight the drawback of having the door open...

Any ideas?

(and sorry for the link, not sure how to access topic ID's to be able to use the insert link post thingo)

Thanks,

Fodder

A water bath is far better at transferring cool temperatures to a fermenter.

I had fairly good success at maintaining lager temperatures (10-12C) in a hot summer by
placing the fermenter in an esky,
fill the esky with water,
fit styrafoam over the top of the esky with a hole for the fermenter to protude,
place a wet suit over the top of fermenter (blanket or towels will probably work)
and then daily place a 4l icecream tub of ice in the esky and
removing 4l of water and placing it back in the freezer for tomorrow.

If you do this all in the confines of your insulated cupboard, even better.

 

[DKS]

A water bath is far better at transferring cool temperatures to a fermenter.

I had fairly good success at maintaining lager temperatures (10-12C) in a hot summer by
placing the fermenter in an esky,
fill the esky with water,
fit styrafoam over the top of the esky with a hole for the fermenter to protude,
place a wet suit over the top of fermenter (blanket or towels will probably work)
and then daily place a 4l icecream tub of ice in the esky and
removing 4l of water and placing it back in the freezer for tomorrow.

If you do this all in the confines of your insulated cupboard, even better.

Yes this works well, a tub with water and ice bottles, was going to be my suggestion.
Old T shirts slip nicely over a ferentor. I used 2 x 2lt frozen soft drink bottles. Two in the morning and two when I got home from work. Surprisingly efective and accurate for consistancy.Good luck.
Daz

 

[Fodder]

Thanks all for the input, much appreciated!

Seems like the old bath tub will start to see some use...and I like the dial thermometer floating in the foam idea too...

Will be giving this a try this weekend

Failing that, gumtree/quokka/ebay for a el-cheapo fridge/freezer will have to be my next stop.

Just one quick question with regard to the bath tub trick. You mention making sure to sanitise the tap before bottling...any tricks on how to get inside that little opening? Cotton-wool bud doused in bleach?

And how do you go with the fermentor floating in the tub, I imagine after the water level reaches the height of the brew the fermentor may be prone to bobbing around a little (the reason I ask, is that I can see me coming home from work to find my whole brew floating on its side and leaching into the tub...)

--> Actually, cancel that. I figure i'll just drop a brick on top of it if im that worried.

Thanks again...

 

[roverfj1200]

$20 for a fridge on Evilbay and I use a $120 temp control but you can get cheaper ones on Evilbay..


Tap water here in Brisbane is 26 deg so a bath full will only keep it warm not cool it.... :icon_cheers:

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks all for the input, much appreciated!

Seems like the old bath tub will start to see some use...and I like the dial thermometer floating in the foam idea too...

Will be giving this a try this weekend

Failing that, gumtree/quokka/ebay for a el-cheapo fridge/freezer will have to be my next stop.

Just one quick question with regard to the bath tub trick. You mention making sure to sanitise the tap before bottling...any tricks on how to get inside that little opening? Cotton-wool bud doused in bleach?

And how do you go with the fermentor floating in the tub, I imagine after the water level reaches the height of the brew the fermentor may be prone to bobbing around a little (the reason I ask, is that I can see me coming home from work to find my whole brew floating on its side and leaching into the tub...)

--> Actually, cancel that. I figure i'll just drop a brick on top of it if im that worried.

Thanks again...

The problem with this is you have a lot of surface area exposed to air and the walls of the bath aren't well insulated. If you have a esky you can fit your fermenter this is a much better solution. Even a styrafoam box from your local fish n chips shop will work wonders (may need a plastic lining to stop leaking). Plus the water in the tap can be in the upper twenties and cooling a bath down takes a lot of ice. Less water in an esky is far easier to cool.

Basically the more you can trap in the cold the less changing ice you will have to do. The main problem with your current system is cold air is hard to store and every time you open the cupboard it all escapes.

 

[Fodder]

Good point Paxxy...

Just need to find an esky that fits, or a friendly F&C shop owner...

Looks like I have a bit of experimenting to do either way

 

[Bribie G]

Keep looking for second hand fridges, I have two and they never miss a beat - especially if used for brewing. I think fridges get a bad name for longevity because 99 percent are kitchen fridges that get bashed and smashed by kids and opened 40 times a day just to have a look in, and konk out after five years. If you can get one that's been in a quiet location like a garage or whatever and they are just getting rid of it for room / no further use you can pick up bargains quite often. Even if the seals aren't perfect if you use for temp control brewing only they only come on a few times a day and cost pennies to run.

Happy hunting :icon_cheers:

 

[bignath]

The problem with this is you have a lot of surface area exposed to air and the walls of the bath aren't well insulated.

I tend to disagree somewhat with this. Yes, there is a lot of surface area exposed to air, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a problem.
Admittedly i live in a fairly cool climate, however, my shed can get quite hot. The plastic tub i refer to, is just a cheap rectangular tub from *insert hardware store/plastics shop name here*, no insulation whatsoever, and the temp hasn't moved more than 1 degree.

Anyway, if you decide to try the fermenter in the bath option, no the fermenter will not float if you fill it up to the brew line. Atleast mine doesn't....It's a pretty failsafe way to ferment (infection risk aside if you are not careful with the cleaning of the tap stuff..)
And about that, when i pull the fermenter out of the bath to take a reading, i get some tissues, thoroughly wipe up inside the tap, and use liberal dosage of no rinse sanitiser. I've never had a problem with this.

Water in the upper twenties? serious? (not taking the piss, just wouldn't have thought so..) Even if you leave the cold tap running for a minute or two, is it still close to the upper twenties? My tap water comes out at around 14 or 15....

Obviously, these "alternative" methods pale into insignificance compared to the wonders of a dedicated temp controlled fridge, but if that's not an option, then seriously, the bath is a good way to do it. Lots of brewers do...

cheers

Nath

 

[mwd]

Sounds about right Tapwater in Cairns in Summer comes out about 26C and we don't get temperature extremes so I would reckon fairly high in Perth if the air temp has been in the 30's for any amount of time. Reservoirs warm up too given time.

 

[michael_aussie]

Keep looking for second hand fridges, I have two and they never miss a beat - especially if used for brewing. I think fridges get a bad name for longevity because 99 percent are kitchen fridges that get bashed and smashed by kids and opened 40 times a day just to have a look in, and konk out after five years. If you can get one that's been in a quiet location like a garage or whatever and they are just getting rid of it for room / no further use you can pick up bargains quite often. Even if the seals aren't perfect if you use for temp control brewing only they only come on a few times a day and cost pennies to run.

Happy hunting :icon_cheers:

+1
A s/h fridge is the easiest and most reliable way to decrease temperature.
baths, fans, ice blocks etc will help, but at the end of the day you need an easy consistent way to remove heat.
Nothing beats a fridge.

Ebay
Gumtree
swapace
freecycle australia
the local paper's under $50 section.
trading post....
put a notice up at work = i picked up 2 fridges this way.

There are lots of options.

 

[Nick JD]

Watch out with old fridges though. It's a false economy to run them.

Older fridges use more than 1200 kwh/year ... $200 per year.

Newer efficient ones use about a third of that.

5 years later you've spent $1000 on electricity brewing your beer. Could have bought a brand new one for $600 and run it for 5 years for the same price.

And also the ecomentalists won't come at night with pitchforks.

 

[Rotgut]

Have you got room under your house? I get temperature fluctuations of less 3 deg a week under my house all year round.

 

[[email protected]]

Water in the upper twenties? serious? (not taking the piss, just wouldn't have thought so..) Even if you leave the cold tap running for a minute or two, is it still close to the upper twenties? My tap water comes out at around 14 or 15....

Not meaning to argue a point, but I worked for Sydney Water testing water reticulation quality for about a year and have measured the temperature of many taps. In the height of summer there are plenty of resevoirs and house taps measuring well into the high 20's, in Sydney atleast. And this obviously corresponds with warm weather when colder tap temperatures are needed to keep a fermentation cool.

This isn't everywhere in Sydney. If you're reticulated by large resevoirs the body of water holds the cooler temps for a lot longer. Anyway it's easy enough to measure a tap yourself.

 

[WitWonder]

Keep looking for second hand fridges, I have two and they never miss a beat - especially if used for brewing. I think fridges get a bad name for longevity because 99 percent are kitchen fridges that get bashed and smashed by kids and opened 40 times a day just to have a look in, and konk out after five years. If you can get one that's been in a quiet location like a garage or whatever and they are just getting rid of it for room / no further use you can pick up bargains quite often. Even if the seals aren't perfect if you use for temp control brewing only they only come on a few times a day and cost pennies to run.

Happy hunting :icon_cheers:

When you say second hand, you could also mean "not working". Not that I use one (I have two fermenting fridges) but I am sure a dead fridge with ice etc in it would be a pretty good bet if money was an issue.

Not meaning to argue a point, but I worked for Sydney Water testing water reticulation quality for about a year and have measured the temperature of many taps. In the height of summer there are plenty of resevoirs and house taps measuring well into the high 20's, in Sydney atleast. And this obviously corresponds with warm weather when colder tap temperatures are needed to keep a fermentation cool.

This isn't everywhere in Sydney. If you're reticulated by large resevoirs the body of water holds the cooler temps for a lot longer. Anyway it's easy enough to measure a tap yourself.

I swear the cold water temp of the showers at work during summer are 25 degrees plus. Just what you want after cycling to work....

 

[Fodder]

Thanks all for the responses. Plenty to go on with from here...

In terms of tap water temp, its pretty warm at the moment. Dont know exactly, but its 'luke warm' to the touch (so guessing low/mid 20's...?)

As far as under the house goes...Perth dwellings are mostly double brick on concrete slabs, so there is no under the house, unless your a lucky bugger with a basement. Which im not.

Anyway, thanks again..will give the bath a crack this weekend and keep eyes peeled for 2nd-hand fridge... :icon_cheers:

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Tap water is undrinkable in Bris-vegas this time of year. This house is the best house we've had and it is still pretty tepid. I don't think we've paid for hot water at all in the last 3 months - between the solar and the fact that the tap temp is already warm.

Goomba