Fermentation Chamber

i just put a wet towel around my carboy and then put a fan on it. i've never done it before so i'll let you know how it it turns out, but so far it's fermenting a few degrees cooler than it would otherwise, which is right where we want it.

EDIT: if you do this, either put it in a bucket and fill the bottom with water so it continually wicks water up, or stay on top of it and soak it again when it dries out.

 

You could do a pimped-out swamp cooler...get the cooler, a thermowell and digital thermometer so you can monitor the internal temp of the fermenter.

 

Swamp cooler with damp towel and fan. I don't bother with the beer temp, I just monitor the surrounding water and assume 3-5 degrees warmer inside during active fermentation.

 

Swamp cooler with damp towel and fan ‘works’ for me as well. You also have the option of adding refreezable blue cubes to the water if you need ‘extra’ cooling.

My recommendation to the OP is to try the simpler approach first (which happens to ‘work’ for many homebrewers including me). All you need is a rubbermaid type pan, water, a towel and a fan. Many times I don’t even use the fan; just plain old evaporative cooling is sufficient the majority of the time.

Cheers!

 

“Already use that method but unfortunately find that it is too inconsistent for me.”

I am sorry to hear that you have had ‘inconsistency’ problems. Evaporative cooling has worked very well for me.

A potential solution for you is to construct a Son of Fermentation Chiller (SOFC) but I am uncertain whether this ‘fits’ with the small apartment aspect.

I built a SOFC last fall. I used it this past winter as a lagering chamber for my homebrewed Pilsners. The SOFC maintains a very precise temperature. I maintained 39 ± 1°F with my SOFC. I will not use SOFC for my ales; I am very happy with the results of my evaporative cooling method. Evaporative cooling is pretty much hands off.

Here are plans for the SOFC is you are interested: http://home.roadrunner.com/~brewbeer/chiller/chiller.PDF

Cheers!

 

Check out some of the projects on the BNs website, they have two different DIY projects for temp control. One is a pond pump immersion swamp cooler, the other is a dead chest freeze, bot require a working refrigerator to be handy though.

 

Im doing it in a big garbage can half way up the carboy with water, putting ice in a few times a day with a damp towel around it and a damp towel over the top of the can. Its 95 here and I have been fermenting just under 70 consistantly. By tasting it during gravity readings its pretty smooth and nice.

 

“Is it hard to maintain temps that low for the lagering period, or does it just take changing the ice a little more often?” Well, I had my SOFC in my half-basement and I lagered during the winter months. The ambient temperature was on the cool side (upper 50’s). I had the swap out the ice (frozen jugs of water) every couple of days. I would think that if the SOFC was located in a room temperature area (e.g., 70 degrees F) then it would be a chore to maintain lagering temperature but you could probably do it.

I also augmented the lagering cooling temperature by placing blue cubes within the fermentation chamber as well. I placed them very close to the carboy.

Cheers!

 

if you can't get it down to lagering temps consistently you could always use a california lager yeast, which ferments closer to ale temps.

 

I've used the Igloo Ice Cube cooler with a hole cut out for many years, along with my small chest freezer. I use frozen ice packs or water bottles to keep cool and work really well. I monitor temps with a remote thermometer probe. If you add water and are diligent about replacing water bottles on a daily basis you'll be able to lager in it. However, I found that too labor intensive, hence the chest freezer I have now.