homebrewandbeer.com

Ok, most of my research (aka reading this forum and labels )
points to good temperatures for safale yeast of ~20 degrees...

So how do you keep your fermenter there??

You can wrap your fermenter in a wet towel/blanket. You can put frozen soft drink bottles full of water next to it, and put inside a box. You can put into a large container of water.

Aside from that, pick up an old fridge if you can.

MHD,

Here are a few threads that may help:

http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... php?t=1588

http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... php?t=1476

http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... php?t=1267

Cheers,

Oliver

You can build a fermentation room with an AC unit. Thats been done here

You can build a basement, that to has been done apparently

And on a more serious note,

I like everyones answer in this thread, Chris nice job, some folks were talking about Broccoli boxes? Not sure. Wet T and fan is good to give you 5 deg or so

Dogger

Thanks for all the responses! (and the links... should have done a search)

I like the towl idea... After I bottle the current batch I will fill the fermenter with water and experiment!

MHD - The method I used before getting a brew fridge (still use it now and again) was to stack 3 polystyrene 'broccoli' boxes (like DD mentioned) on top of each other, cut the base out of the top two, then glue them all together. I then sealed all the gaps with expandable foam.

You can keep the temps easily around 12-13 degrees by rotating frozen ice packs every 12 hours or so.

As for ale temps, throw in ice packs to get the temp down to where you want it, then its a matter of rotating 1-2 packs probably once a day.

That should keep the temps close to the range you're after.

cliffo

What an interesting hobby... It has me raiding supermarkets and recycling bins

You'll be doing more than that soon. Wait until council clean-up day. You will be roaming the streets at 4am, rooting through people's junk with a crazed expression on your face. When you find a bent piece of metal, you will lift it high, and yell "I've found it! Now I won't have to buy a lauter tun/grain strainer/etc.

Welcome to homebrewing.

34 Here today
Brew down since Sunday,
Bought a plastic Vat filled with water and then put frozen bottles in it and got it down to around 18 C
Will be doing this for all the brews going down till after summer.

Phantom

Cliffo,
I've been meaning to ask for a while, what type of glue did you use on the polystyrene, as some types of glue will just melt the polystyrene?
Thanks in advance
AC

AC, From memory it was just regular supaglue from the hardware store.

Can't recall the exact type/brand but its held together without any problems.

I also taped the joins together on the outside of the box prior to filling with the expandable foam to keep the foam from expanding through the gaps + it helps in the strength of the joins and adds further insulation.

cliffo

Thanks mate
AC

You could try any could wood glue, the white one that goes translucent when dry. It works very well on polystyrene.

MHD wrote:I like the towl idea... After I bottle the current batch I will fill the fermenter with water and experiment!

I am a newbie but I believe that Fermentation gives off some heat ?
If this is the case than it would seem an innacurate test.

Cheers
501

Yeah... But a test none the less...

And the heat dies down after the first few days...

Cooling is an interesting thing from a physical perspective as the rate of cooling is proportional to the difference in temperature...

So while the batch will be producing heat, the cool towel (cooled by the latent heat of vaporisation) will be more effective...

I have used liquid nails on polystyrene with no problems.

MHD wrote:Cooling is an interesting thing from a physical perspective as the rate of cooling is proportional to the difference in temperature...

amazing, and just when i thought that Newton could do no more for homebrewing, i mean gravity is the only reason we can syphon, i am reminded about how he cools down the brew in summer.

Fantastic bloke, even if a bit of a dickhead.

if there are any real scientists on here (not just my ego telling me yr 12 physics chem and biol mean you actually known some thing ), do you recon we can use optiks to determing the gravity of wort? if so i think Newton should be made patron saint of brewing.

Kind of a real scientist...

Will be by march next year when I intend to submit my PhD thesis...

As for using optics to measure SG... well that violates the KISS principle (Keep It Simple & Stupid)

Yes, you could probably use some sort of resonance spectroscopy to determine the conc of sugars... but why bother when reading density using the hydrometer is so simple...

No what intrigues me is the bio chemistry of the yeast... and the chemistry of the process of kilning...

MHD wrote:Kind of a real scientist...

Will be by march next year when I intend to submit my PhD thesis...

As for using optics to measure SG... well that violates the KISS principle (Keep It Simple & Stupid)

Yes, you could probably use some sort of resonance spectroscopy to determine the conc of sugars... but why bother when reading density using the hydrometer is so simple...

mhd - what could be more simpler than a refractometer? one drop of your wort (at any temp) on the lense & it gives you an acurate gravity reading.. no need to adjust the reading to suit the temp of the wort etc.

I hope santa brings me one for xmas
along with a brew fridge, digital scales.... & a keg setup would be nice too

Spose... but the refractive index of a material is related to more than density...

in fact it is more strongly related to conductivity... in fact to the dielectric constant of the material which is affected by salts etc...

yes, sugary water has a different refractive index to pure water, however I do not know the magnitude of the change due to sugar in comparism with say, differing salt levels...

And measuring changes in the refractive index is not trivial as it might sound, unless the changes are gross (ie say the difference between air and glass (1 compared to ~1.2 to 1.3, off the top of my head more than likely wrong)... for more subtle changes you would need an interferometer, which , while a sound and proven device (used for measuring refractive indexes of shockwaves and plasmas (I have a paper on the subject...)) is not a cheap item...

Using a device of know density, seeing where it floats in the unknown density, is the most simple device... and therefore most usable by the consumer...

We can apply occurs razor: All things being equal the simplest explanation is the most likely...

(sorry... Will end the nerd talk )

ps: http://prl.anu.edu.au ... ats where I work