8 replies to this topic

[CaptRon]

So i got home from work, and found that my fermenter was too warm. It was at between 70 and 72, this is the one that Ken's MLPA is fermenting in. So I put a tub that I bought in my second bathroom and start filling with water. I was surprised that the cold water in my house is 64 degrees, which unless someone says other wise is an acceptable temp for WLP001 California Ale Yeast.I thought it would be much cooler than that.

[Big Nake]

64 is good for WLP001. If you have one of these tubs, the best bet is to have it someplace that is already cool to a point. A basement works well and adding frozen water bottles will help also. If you live in a warm climate and do not have a basement, the swamp cooler method may not work well for you. You can find plastic water, Gatorade, apple juice bottles all over and just fill them, freeze them, etc. When I'm making a lager and I want to keep the temp cool overnight or when I'm out of the house for hours at a time, I use larger plastic bottles (½ gallon or maybe a full gallon?) and put that in there to keep temps down for longer periods. Good luck.

[tag]

Tubs and sinks are excellent at keeping the fermentation temperature under control.

[Gumbo Leviathan]

I usually sit the carboy in a few inches of water, throw in a few frozen water bottles and wrap the carboy in an old wet tee shirt. Change the bottles every day with fresh ones.

[Deerslyr]

One quick comment... I noticed last night that the ground water temps are starting to rise in the Bay Area. All the more reason for me to figure out how to pump and recirculate chilled water through my CFC, and time to get a pastic tub to put my fermenter in. Just put the T-Shirt over the carboy and it will wick the water up. Get a few water bottles and freeze them and occassionaly put them in the tub to help keep the water cool (ok, admittedly, this is for OUR summer brewing when it gets warmer up here in NorCal).Ken... basement? what's that? Just kidding. I miss mine from when I lived in Wisconsin, but when you live on or near a fault line... they just don't build the houses that way. Kind of wierd for a midwestern boy not have a place to run in the event of a tornado... but it took me a bit to figure out that I wouldn't have that risk, nor would I have to shovel snow.

[Big Nake]

I agree. The tub-of-cool-water trick is fine for some, but if you live in a ranch in southern TX or on the 20th floor of a condo complex in Phoenix, it may not work. My basement stays pretty cool all year round but it's almost effortless to make good lagers in my swamp bucket in the winter. In the summer I just use a few more frozen bottles and rotate them more often. Cheers!

[Given2fly]

I used my Fermentation Cooler in the Austin TX heat with no problems.

[BrewerGeorge]

I used my Fermentation Cooler in the Austin TX heat with no problems.

Hey G2F, there's a link at the bottom of that page that goes to some strange place...

[Given2fly]

Hey G2F, there's a link at the bottom of that page that goes to some strange place...

I know, I need to update my website...there are a few 'strange' links that need removed (aka modified)