Temperature Control

[maltedhopalong]

Hi All,

Interested in making a coolgardie safe for keeping my ferment temperatures down.

Apparently, the old coolgardie fridge used to keep meat from spoiling even in the extremely hot town of Coolgardie.

The system used wet Hessian bags wrapped around a metal frame. Air could blow through the hessian bags cooling the interior via evaporation. The tops of the bags sat in a water tray and the water soaked down and was collected in a bottom tray which would then be poured back into the top tray when it filled up.

My idea is to get a very big cardboard box and put styrofoam packing inside all of the faces (this is basically what I have lying around) to at least partially isolate the temperature of the fermenter. Then I'm thinking of putting a clothes drying horse inside the box, hanging wet towels over it and then blowing air from a pedestal fan through a hole in the box, through the wet towel, onto the fermenter and then out a hole in the other side.

My questions:

1. Would this system work in a closed container like this or do you suspect the air inside will get saturated and the water will stop evaporating?
2. Would I be better to scrap the clothes horse and just wrap the towel around the fermenter?
3. Would it be worth ducting the box so that the air that gets blown out is what gets sucked back in by the fan? i.e. 5inch conduit coming from the exit hole and back around attached to the back of the fan with a cowling.
4. If instead, i sit the fermenter in a plastic tub with water (say 4 inches deep) and throw a few ice bricks in there every day and a temperature cover over the top, will the temperature at the bottom of the tub be too cold compared to the top? I am using a lager yeast.

A few quick things: I am unable to get a fridge (SWMBO + TINY house). I don't really WANT to buy much if anything (partially because I tend to go overboard when I do and partially because I consider it a hobby and want to engineer something myself). Finally, current temp ranges from around 12-13 degrees at night to a probabe maximum of 26 during the daytime inside.

 

[paul]

You only achieve a temp drop of about 12 degrees using an evaporative air conditioner. As this works the same on a 40 degree day it'll be 28 degrees inside, assuming its not humid.

It sounds better than nothing but keep your eyes out for a fridge thats getting thrown out and using frozen bottles of water in it to control your temperature.

 

[Brewer_010]

I use a couple of large medical goods eskys (each one is about 40cm deep and square) which I rest one upside down on the other, with (medical grade) ice bricks for maintaining temps. The styro is 10cm thick all round. Works a treat; I've brewed pilsners in summer with average temperatures b/w 9-12*C inside the boxes, and during winter the heat of the brew keeps it warm to 19-21. Very stable temperatures if checked every morning and evening (I always do to check the krausen).

I dont have room/inclination for a fridge either, and my method works for me. I have no idea what boxes such as these would cost to buy, but if you see some grab them.

And when not in use I store my fermenter and other junk inside.

 

[maltedhopalong]

Thanks for the input. Any thoughts on whether the coolgardie idea would work better contained or not contained?

Also, has anyone has used lager yeasts in the "ice box" type thing? If so, any tips? Fill the bottom with water? How many iceblocks?

Particularly interested in any thoughts about whether sitting the fermenter in cold water with ice would make (an obviously bottom fermenting) lager yeast TOO cold???

 

[bonj]

The evaporative coolers work best in dry heat. In humid heat like we have in SE Qld, they are practically useless, I'm afraid.

 

[petesbrew]

Without a brewfridge (only have a small bar fridge), these are the 2 methods I use:
1. freeze soft drink bottles & freezer bricks, and rotate them every day with the 100 can cooler bag, combined with a wet towel.
2. wait for the cooler autumn, winter & spring temperatures to hit, and then brew like there's no tomorrow! I have lots and lots of empties to fill and a bag of grain waiting to crack.

 

[Wrenny]

Thanks for the input. Any thoughts on whether the coolgardie idea would work better contained or not contained?

Also, has anyone has used lager yeasts in the "ice box" type thing? If so, any tips? Fill the bottom with water? How many iceblocks?

Particularly interested in any thoughts about whether sitting the fermenter in cold water with ice would make (an obviously bottom fermenting) lager yeast TOO cold???

I've just finished a Pilsner.

I use a garbage bin that I have attached pink insulation batts wrapped in a tarp. I sit the firmenter in here and add water up to the wort level so that it doesn't try to float. I then add ice blocks.

The tempretures are great for lagers now. I live on the Beaudesert side of Tamborine mountain, so nights are probably a couple of degrees colder than on the coast, and the days a touch warmer. I pitched the S189 yeast at 18 deg then put in about 4 litres of ice swapping 2 l twice a day. Incredibly, this brought the water down to 8 degrees in about 3 days. I then only had to swap 1L of ice a day to maintain at 10 deg for a week. I've not put it beside the fridge aiming for 20 deg for a couple of days for the contraversial diacetyl rest.

I'm about to put a porter in there with nottingham yeast. It is sitting at a constant 18 deg without any ice at all.

Cheers,
Wrenny

 

[SDJ]

Try this site if you like making things

http://www.olderascal.com/brewing/fermentationchiller/

 

[maltedhopalong]

I use a couple of large medical goods eskys (each one is about 40cm deep and square) which I rest one upside down on the other, with (medical grade) ice bricks for maintaining temps. The styro is 10cm thick all round. Works a treat; I've brewed pilsners in summer with average temperatures b/w 9-12*C inside the boxes, and during winter the heat of the brew keeps it warm to 19-21. Very stable temperatures if checked every morning and evening (I always do to check the krausen).

I dont have room/inclination for a fridge either, and my method works for me. I have no idea what boxes such as these would cost to buy, but if you see some grab them.

And when not in use I store my fermenter and other junk inside.

Just wondering of Brewer_010 and any others who use this method... do you have any water in there or no? And how many litres of ice are you using and how much do you change per day?

 

[el capitan]

looks like the goods compared to using the 100 can cooler method, although the morning here in Brisbane are getting chilly and I should be able to brew on mass production during the winter peroids