Summer Brewing

[pfullarton]

Hi Guys,

I've got my second brew going at the moment, (Coopers canadian blonde) but when I looked at the thermo the temp was 32!! I didn't realised my house got so warm. I dont have a fridge or any means to keep a fermenter cool, do you recommend I just not brew in summer or are there other things that I should know?

On another note, my first batch was bottled a week ago and is sitting in the lounge room in its boxes, the temp would have been hot in there as well. Would this be a problem?

[rwh]

I've got my second brew going at the moment, (Coopers canadian blonde) but when I looked at the thermo the temp was 32!! I didn't realised my house got so warm. I dont have a fridge or any means to keep a fermenter cool, do you recommend I just not brew in summer or are there other things that I should know?

Try wrapping the fermenter in a wet towel, and place some ice blocks (replaced daily) on top to provide both cooling and a continuous trickle of water to keep the towel wet. This should lower it by a few degrees.

Or buy a brew fridge and temperature controller.

On another note, my first batch was bottled a week ago and is sitting in the lounge room in its boxes, the temp would have been hot in there as well. Would this be a problem?

Nah, I wouldn't worry about that too much. Obviously a stable temperature is ideal, but your primary fermentation is much more important.

[Ash]

I've had similar issues up here in Townsville - my solution?

I made a box big enough to fit the fermenter + some spare room from 30mm foam from Clark Rubber (or similar) - some people just use a large cardboard box for this though & it still works, just not as well.

Inside, simply swap frozen coke bottles from the freezer into the "chiller" box twice daily. 4x2l bottles during the day & 3 of them at night keep it at about 18*c in my situation, you'll have to experiment to get your sweet spot.

(note the old wet towel trick doesn't work too well up here cause it is too humid already for evaporative cooling to work really well, it only gets it down to about 26*c from the 28-30*c it sits at without a towel)

Also, the power consumption & pain in the arse of swapping bottles constantly makes a $50 second hand fridge & a $50 Fridgemate controller look mighty attractive - I simply haven't pulled my finger out as yet

[rwh]

I made a box big enough to fit the fermenter...

Like this one?

[Ash]

Yeah, I didn't screw around with the fans & stuff though

[damian44]

Anaconda camping shop sell 100 can cooler bags that will fit a 30l fermenter. I just picked 1 up for $45. Works a treat with some frozen cordial bottles thrown in it.

[pfullarton]

some good ideas there, but can an old fridge and a temp controller keep a fermenter at 20 degrees? I didnt know that fridges could get that warm, let alone maintain that sort of temperature.

[rwh]

Yep that's what the temperature controller is for. It has a temperature probe inside the fridge, and you plug it into the wall, and the fridge into it. It just cuts the power to the fridge when it gets down to your desired temperature, so you can then set the temperature anywhere between ambient and the lowest temp the fridge is capable of. In fact, a lot of people use chest freezers.

I'll plug my Fridgemate HOWTO again.

[rohanbutler]

Love the Fridgemate howto.

Question though as this is something I'm looking at doing in the near future but I'm not an electrician or anything near it. I have a beer drinking neighbour who is though!

From what I see you basically wire the fridgemate into the extension cord and then plug that into the fridge. It controls the power to the fridge and adjusts it based on the probe attached to the fermenter inside the fridge?

This would then mean that when I wanted to brew in the fridge plug it in via the fridgemate and set the temp. When I wanted to keep my beer cold in the fridge un plug the fridge mate and plug the fridge directly to the mains.

[Kevnlis]

The Fridgemate is fairly easy to wire up, if your neighbor is a sparky it shouldn't take him more than a beer or two

You are exactly right about being able to unplug the fridgemate and plug the fridge into the mains direct to keep beer cold. I don't bother, I just set the Fridgemate for the temp I want to serve my beer at when I have finished fermenting.

[rwh]

Question though as this is something I'm looking at doing in the near future but I'm not an electrician or anything near it. I have a beer drinking neighbour who is though!

Yep, it is easy (though I've been friggin with electronics since I was a kid). By all means use the sparky if he can be bribed with beer.

From what I see you basically wire the fridgemate into the extension cord and then plug that into the fridge. It controls the power to the fridge and adjusts it based on the probe attached to the fermenter inside the fridge?

Exactly right.

This would then mean that when I wanted to brew in the fridge plug it in via the fridgemate and set the temp. When I wanted to keep my beer cold in the fridge un plug the fridge mate and plug the fridge directly to the mains.

Yeah, I do the same as Kev, I just dial down the temp on the fridgemate. That way I know what the temperature is and I can serve my different beers at the temps they are most suited to.

[Pale_Ale]

Love the Fridgemate howto.

Question though as this is something I'm looking at doing in the near future but I'm not an electrician or anything near it. I have a beer drinking neighbour who is though!

Hi Rohan,

I have fairly basic electrical knowledge and I found that the guide is so clear that I really had no trouble in putting it together - it went like clockwork. Once you go to Dick Smith's to get the parts, it all makes sense. Good luck with it.

Pale_Ale

[Piego]

Hi all
I had this problem of temps getting to high and I brought a 40 bottle wine cooler fridge from Kmart $200.00 removed the racks and put the fermenter in that.You can set the temp between 7-20 degs and keeps the brew constant it also has a glass door so you can look in.

[Pale_Ale]

I had a look at these and at $200 (a bit more at the time I think but the brand was Mistral) they were good value, I almost got one too but since I already had a bar fridge I thought the FridgeMate was a cheaper option. But I'm glad they work out, if someone is looking for temperature control and they don't have a fridge to start with, it's probably less hassle and around the same $$ as a second hand fridge & FridgeMate.

[Kevnlis]

I have read of quite a few people having problems with these. You need to make sure you get one that has a proper compressor and not the cheap plate chiller type. Even the models with the compressor appear to have problems getting the full volume of the wort down in temperature in any reasonable amount of time (i.e. before the brew has mostly fermented) but do seem capable of holding a temperature reasonably well.

[detourism]

For my current brew I picked up a Dome 24 Bottle Wine Cooler from Target (on special for $149)

I took all the bottle racks out and my Coopers fermenter fit in perfectly even with room to spare on top for the airlock.

So far over the last week temps have gotten up over 30c but my fermenter has stayed at a steady 20-21c with the coolers temp knob set to high.

Dave

[Kevnlis]

Excellent! Just a few questions, what temp was the wort when you put it into the fridge? How long did it take to reach 20C? Is it a compressor type?

[100.bottles]

I measure 3 x 1 ltre ice bricks i make in the freezer and add them to the fermenter before i pitch the yeast.

another tip is I use a fish tank stick on thermometer on the outside cost me 2 dollars for k mart to monitor the temp.

Also ice cube s added to the fermenter works. And if you can get an old fridge that wont work as mention with the box place fermenter inside and place frozen coke bottles around it.

Also you can attach ice bricks to an old leather belt and do it up around the fermenter. I find fans and wet towels did nothing for me Im in nsw on the coast and we get humid hot days here.

happy brewing..

[detourism]

Excellent! Just a few questions, what temp was the wort when you put it into the fridge? How long did it take to reach 20C? Is it a compressor type?

The wort was 22c when it went in the fridge and had dropped to 20c after about 24 hours (that's when I first checked it anyway)

It's a Thermoelectric cooler so no compressor... I was actually surprised at how well it worked.

Dave

[Canbrew]

During summer I usually put the fermentor in the laundry sink and top up the sink with water. At 23l the wort lines up perfectly with the sink water. It has been in the mid 30's here in Canberra (about 26C in the laundry though) all week but have managed to keep the wort temp down to around 21C. For the first 4 days I usually put an ice block in morning and night and it gets down to around 18-19C during the hotest part of the day. I like to put something over the window to black out the room a bit though. The wife isn't very keen on this aspect so I try and get most of brewing done by November which just happens to be when most of my drinking starts

Just to compare, in December I put two fermentors in the laundry. One in the sink and one on a shelf covered in a blanket. The one in the sink averaged about 20C over two weeks whilst the one on the shelf averaged about 25C. Not much really but IMO the 5 degrees does make a noticable difference especially if I can get it down to 18-19C during the first 4 days when most of the airlock activity is happening.