3 replies to this topic

[CaptRon]

So I purchased a couple of big tubs to hold my carboys that I can fill with water to help with temp control. Anybody else do this? Seems pretty straight forward for cooling it off using frozen water bottles, but what about if I need to heat it up? Just add hot water is what I was thinking.If anyone else does this, does it seem to work well for you? Any cons?Thanks!

[awall]

I've heard a good sized aquarium heater works great for raising temp

[Big Nake]

I do it all the time...I have 3 fridges dedicated to brewing, but I don't use any of them for primary fermentation temps. So I have the plastic tub filled with 10 gallons of water and it sits on my cool basement floor. In the dead of winter, it will sit close to 50° without even using frozen water bottles. I will make lagers year round with this setup. When the lager is done fermenting, I leave it in secondary on the cool basement floor and eventually it gets to a keg and into my spare full-sized fridge where it's force-carbed and then it will sit in there for anywhere from 3 weeks to 5 months (depending). I also like the fact that the 10 gallons of water should nicely insulate the primary and keep fluctuations to a minimum. I'll make ales in there too and ferment them in the high 50s, low 60s. Cheers.

[CaptRon]

Awesome.. I'm hoping to be able to move my entire brew process out to the garage. I just fear the day that I have a huge catastrophe in the house with one of my carboys and end up with 5 gallons of beer on the floor. That would spell the end of my brewing career I think.