best swamp cooler in humid place

[togodoug]

I am in 70 %to 80% humidity with a constant temperature in the upper 70s at night to upper 80s in the day. I fermented a few batches of IPA at 80 degrees and it had a sweet almost fruity after taste which I think is due to the heat in fermentation. I'd like to try to get the wart down to about 70 degrees. My question is; what is the best type / design for a swamp cooler? It seems to me using a fan and wet towel so that evaporation will be a contributing factor to the cooling won't work due to the humidity here. I also have concerns with maintaining an even temperature where I will be away from the fermenting for 10 hours at a time. A good design and maintenance instructions would be highly appreciated.

 

[JBrady]

I've got the same problem as you here in Panama City. I went to walmart and bought one of those rubbermaid plastic storage containers, I put my fermenters in there and then fill it up with water until just a little over half of the fermenter is submerged in water. All you need after that is two 2 liter coke bottles filled full and frozen to swap out every 12-24 hours depending on temp, fermentation heat, etc. Using this method I can hold fermentations at 64-66 degrees by using just one 2 liter frozen bottle a day. Also by not filling the water all the way to the wort level it gives you a place to stick on a fermometer to monitor temps without damaging it. Hope this helps

 

[Sujeto]

I do pretty much the same thing! In the winter I place an aquarium heater in the tub to keep the temperature constant. In the summer I plan on placing frozen water bottles in the tub. Instead of the stick on fermometer, I use an aquarium thermometer in the tub. It floats and it's easy to take out and read the temperature.
I'm pretty confident that the wort is the same temperature as the ~10 gallons its surrounded by.

 

[JBrady]

I do pretty much the same thing! In the winter I place an aquarium heater in the tub to keep the temperature constant. In the summer I plan on placing frozen water bottles in the tub. Instead of the stick on fermometer, I use an aquarium thermometer in the tub. It floats and it's easy to take out and read the temperature.
I'm pretty confident that the wort is the same temperature as the ~10 gallons its surrounded by.

Yea I think the two temperatures should be pretty close too, at least within 2 degrees. I guess it all depends on how aggressive the fermentation is.

 

[Mista_Sparkle]

if you arent running any air conditioning, the best a swamp cooler alone can do is reach the dew point.

 

[wonderbread23]

The physics of a swamp cooler won't work in a humid environment. Evaporative cooling only can work in air that is not already saturated with moisture. Your best bet is a coleman ice cube cooler with a water bath inside and swapping out frozen bottles.

This is what I use:

http://search.coleman.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&page_id=4262&query=xtreme&hiword=xtreme

I removed the stock lid, and fabricated a new one that fits around the carboy neck from foam insulation.

 

[togodoug]

The physics of a swamp cooler won't work in a humid environment. Evaporative cooling only can work in air that is not already saturated with moisture. Your best bet is a coleman ice cube cooler with a water bath inside and swapping out frozen bottles.

This is what I use:

http://search.coleman.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&page_id=4262&query=xtreme&hiword=xtreme

I removed the stock lid, and fabricated a new one that fits around the carboy neck from foam insulation.

do you have a lid so the whole fermenter is encased, or is the top open. I wonder about traping warm air and moisture.

 

[Ogri]

do you have a lid so the whole fermenter is encased, or is the top open. I wonder about traping warm air and moisture.

The previous poster stated

I removed the stock lid, and fabricated a new one that fits around the carboy neck from foam insulation.

so he has the top of the fermenter/carboy enclosed in foam insulation. Presumably that foam insulation is then fitted/fixed to the cooler so that it's sealed.