BrewJacket Immersion Cooler

These days I exclusively use BetterBottles. It's funny, I think the BrewJacket people say it will only work with 5 or 6 gallon fermenters, but I don't see why that would be the case. I own 3-gallon and 5-gallon BetterBottle carboys, and I believe they have the same height and the same neck diameter. Possibly the 3-gallon carboy is simply too small for the "jacket" part of the BrewJacket, but I can't imagine that is a serious concern.

I am going to have to drill holes in the necks of some of my BetterBottles if I want to use them with the BrewJacket (that is how carbon dioxide is vented during fermentation), which is a bit of a pain in the ass. Because, you know, then if I don't use the BrewJacket, I have to plug the hole during fermentation. Not a huge deal though.

 

What batch size do you make with the 5-gallon BetterBottle carboy?

Cheers!

 

My typical batch is around 3 gallons, the biggest I've done is probably 3.5 gallons. I guess this is another respect in which I'm unusual, I am doing stovetop brewing and I make fairly small batches relative to a lot of people on this site. However, I assume you could pretty easily ferment a full 5-gallon batch in a 6.5-gallon bucket, which the BrewJacket is designed to fit. If you are brewing bigger batches, then a single BrewJacket would not be sufficient (and a chest freezer might be a better option due to its higher capacity).

 

this is a very cool gadget and I think it can fill a hole in the market. lager brewing is next to impossible for anyone who does not have a dedicated fridge, which is probably 90% or more of the homebrewers out there (the BA crowd maybe 50% if I had to make a w.a.g., but we're special.)

if NB or Williams etc carried this it would sell well I think. but any modifications that need to be done to better bottles are anything else is just a non starter imo. who wants to drill into their perfectly good plastic bottle?

I hope to get my hands on one soon as they started in Ithaca and one of the founders is studying here. i'll let you know.
Cheers.

 

Yeah, drilling holes in my BetterBottles is something I wish I didn't have to do. With a bucket or a Big Mouth Bubbler, though, it is only necessary to drill holes in the lid, which is not as big a deal.

 

“However, I assume you could pretty easily ferment a full 5-gallon batch in a 6.5-gallon bucket, which the BrewJacket is designed to fit.”

Yeah, I expect that is possible. I brew 5 gallon batches using 7.9 gallon buckets so I personally don’t have experience whether 1.5 gallon is sufficient headspace but I suppose it is since the ‘standard’ glass carboy for primary fermentation is 6.5 gallons. It is just that some folks will affix a big blow off tube to their 6.5 gallon carboys and you couldn’t do this while using the BrewJacket Immersion unit. Perhaps the difference is that a lager fermentation needs less headspace?

Cheers!

 

Oh, I should mention one other potential shortcoming of the BrewJacket. The heat transfer rod is made of anodized aluminum. My understanding (and I'm eager to be corrected if I'm wrong) is that you shouldn't use an acid-based sanitizer like StarSan on aluminum. This will force me to find some other way to sanitize the heat transfer rod, which unfortunately is a pretty key thing to sanitize since it is immersed in the beer.

 

Yeah, I don't know, I am actually somewhat conservative about headspace and generally leave a comfortable margin (easy for me to do because I brew relatively small batches).

I'll note that although the BrewJacket is intended to be capable of achieving lagering temperatures, it is also suitable for fermenting ales, which is how I intend to use it. I am curious to hear what other people think about the adequacy of the headspace in BrewJacket-compatible fermenters (supposedly it will fit up to 6.5 gallon fermenters).

 

Since you mentioned that your goal is to maintain ale fermentation temperatures there are simple low footprint ways to cool temperatures down via evaporative cooling. Place your 3/5 gallon carboy in a shallow pan (e.g., Rubbermaid pan) filled with water and then wrap a T-shirt or towel around the carboy to wick up moisture from the water in the pan. Evaporative cooling will bring the fermentation temperature down up to 5 degrees (in low humidity conditions). If you want further cooling then direct a small fan on the carboy.

The above solution is not exactly ‘sexy’ but it will take you fermentation temperatures down 5-8 degrees.

Since you will be receiving a BrewJacket that will work too.

Cheers!

 

Yeah, the thing is that I really want the precise control that can be obtained with a chest freezer or BrewJacket. It's not just the temperature control itself... it's the secure knowledge that the temperature is not the issue. If I don't like the way a beer turns out, I want to be able to rule out some problems right off the bat, and temperature is a good one to eliminate because it is such a common source of problems. With a swamp cooler setup, I could never be sure that the temperature had really stayed within an appropriate range throughout the fermentation.

My BrewJacket arrived today. I repeat my earlier question - does anyone know whether StarSan can be used on anodized aluminum? The heat transfer rod is anodized aluminum, and I suppose I could get Iodophor if necessary, but I would rather use StarSan if it is considered suitable for anodized aluminum. My general understanding is that aluminum is highly susceptible to attack by strong acids, so I guess I'm crossing my fingers here. (Alternatively I suppose I could boil the heat transfer rod? But that seems like a bad approach.)

 

So I sent an email to Aaron Walls (CEO of BrewJacket), who replied within 10 minutes to let me know that he recommends an iodine-based sanitizer for the heat transfer rod of the BrewJacket.

 

I want.

 

it looks like they have some kind of blow off attachment for the big mouth bubbler at least