Temperature Control Methods-Newbie

Welcome to homebrewing. Best advice I can give is a gutted fridge (without freezer) or a big chest freezer + an external thermostat regulator. Hit up Craigslist and you can amazon a thermostat regulator for probably a combined total of under $250. Plug and play, set and go. This is the gold standard for homebrewing. The external thermostat regulator allows you to override the units regulator and set the temp anywhere from lagering and serving temps in the 30s F to hot fermentation temps of 80 F.

 

keeping your household temperature is not going to keep your beer at that temperature anyway. Your beer is going to have an internal temperature that is warmer than your household temperature when fermentation is most active.

 

Yep. If you tell everyone you know to look out for a fridge or freezer, with time, one will surface. Meanwhile, tub with water and rotating out frozen water containers work if you have the flexibility to monitor it about 4 times a day. The "swamp cooler" works, but if you live in even a moderate humid place you'll probably be disappointed with it.

 

Fermentation in the low to mid-60s is perfect for most ales. In other words, you can brew like 80% of all beer styles with the temperature the way it is, assuming you keep things a little cool in the 60s. If you're in the tropics, well then, you'll want to cool it down.

 

??

 

He said his house is in the 70s so that's very warm when you consider the fermentation produces heat.

 

OP said 70F will be the minimum and not all the time. The actual fermentation will be warmer than ambient.

 

Last thing I'll say: fermentation control is one of the most pivotal aspects of making good beer, better to splurge here and cut costs elsewhere. You'll thank yourself later!

 

Talking about splurging, this is something I've picked up for myself to have a set-and-forget method of constant temp control, and a nice brewing container to boot. Something to think and know about if you ever upgrade your equipment.
SS Brewtech 7 gallon conical fermenter
SS Brewtech FTSs

 

Holy fermentation batman! That looks freakin awesome!

 

I know a few that have used a chest freezer also. The big thing with that is that the fermentor has a little distance from the sides and bottom.

 

Another thing to remember is that the probe needs to be inside the beer, not just dangling around in the freezer if you want to be really accurate. I don't know to to do that without some kind of custom drilling or something to the keg lid, perhaps.