Using cooler to control fermenting temperature

[Barny]

Hi all,
I grabbed one of the larger home depot coolers yesterday with a thought towards using it to try to keep fermenting temperatures down (am also keeping my eyes open for a mini chest freezer).

I know people refer to the general setup as a "swamp cooler" but I'm not sure whether they mean using this type of cooler or rather the flimsier very large buckets people store ice in for events. As I was thinking about it today I became more and more unsure whether using this cooler would be a good idea. On the plus side I can get a bit of ice around the primary. But on the downside it won't be a ton and as the temperature rises with the ferment it's going to melt the ice and I'll end up insulating and trapping in the very heat the yeast is producing. Thoughts? Have people used these coolers for fermenting or should I steer clear, try to find one of the larger containers, and train a fan on that?

I do have a thermometer on the primary so I can track the temperature about twice a day to gather data, if it doesn't work well I'll at least have the record of it and know not to do it again. Worst case I bought my first piece of AG equipment for down the line.

 

[DSorenson]

What you are describing is an ice bath, and it is very effective if you have enough ice or produce enough fast enough to replace it about every twelve hours.

I used an automated pump that would pump ice water into an insulated container once the temp got higher than two degrees above what I wanted. It worked well.

Consider how you plan on emptying that cooler: it's something I overlooked and it was a pita. Put your ice in there and close it up if you can. The internal energy of fermentation is likely not greater than the heat imparted from the environment. This will also help get the most from your ice.

 

[BrewWNC]

I second dsorenson.

Adding ice can be a pita if you have to constantly reduce water to add more ice. But if you are using a cooler with a spigot it may be a lot easier than the plastic buckets you are referring too. But maybe not as colder water sinks so you will be draining the colder water. not that big of a deal though.

The way I look at it(and I use the plastic buckets) is that it doesn't matter how you control fermentation temps, just that its done.

 

[JohnSand]

I have used a cooler with ice packs, it works.
I currently use a trash can, wrapped in reflectix. (Home-made cooler) The can gets water, only up to the therm strip. Blue ice packs are put in the water or atop the fermenter. They don't melt into the water, the volume stays constant. The water helps buffer temp swings, and draw heat from the process. I use a cheap aquarium thermometer to monitor from outside.
You can do something similar with your cooler. And you only need control the temp for the first few days, until activity slows.

 

[Barny]

Do any of you use a fan in your setups to help carry heat away? Or do you find the ice and cold water to be enough?

There are only a few inches clearance between the fermenting pail and the cooler so ice packs for this particular setup I think may work really well (along with ice at the bottom both where the pail has tapered slightly and below the fermenter) we've got a handful around, I'll grab a bunch more since I'll have to rotate them morning / night.

The ambient air temp is about 72/73 right now so I am figuring on taking it out after day 3/4 and just letting it ease up to ambient.

 

[thaymond]

I bought a cheap Aldi 24 pack of water bottles and froze those. When I used a swamp cooler, I would just rotate the bottles out of the freezer. I never ran out of ice, and never worried about raising the water level. That would circulate the water and be able to pump all of that water out once I'm done with it.

My basement stays at a nice cool 60 degrees in the winter. I place a fermentor on the tile floor and let it ride. It never shows higher than 66 for the fermentation temp inside the fermentor. This would alleviate any temperature fluctuations... Dang it, I just talked myself into swamp cooling again. Besides, my beer fridge is full of beer, and my keg fridge (formerly lager chamber) is full of kegs. :-D

 

[JohnSand]

No fans, just ice and water. When I put an ice pack on top of the fermenter, I wrap it in a dish towel to catch the condensation.

 

[IslandLizard]

Not sure I can picture what you bought. Did you get one of those 10 gallon round drinking water coolers with a spigot on the bottom? If so there won't be much space left between the fermentor and inside cooler walls to put in a decent amount of water to act as a decent heat sink, which is what you're after I guess.

I use a fairly large rectangular cooler filled with chlorinated cold water (10 gallons or so) and add frozen water bottles to keep the temp within range. 2-4 bottles once or twice a day is all it needs. I can put 2 fermentation buckets in there. The lid stays half open of course, but I cover the whole thing with a thick blanket to insulate it from the ambient temps (mid 70s).

A swamp cooler works by evaporation.

 

[JohnSand]

That's interesting Lizard. How much chlorine do you add?

 

[IslandLizard]

That's interesting Lizard. How much chlorine do you add?

About half a cup to a cup in 10-12 gallons. It prevents molds and algae growing and keeps the water smelling fresher. Just don't get it inside your fermentors, which is really bad, either chlorinated or not!

I used Clorox the last time, but the scent barely resembles chlorine, and definitely was not as effective as a sanitizer than the old and true bleach, sodium hypochlorite. I guess half a cup of a real chlorine bleach or some granulated swimming pool chlorine or shock (calcium hypochlorite) would work better. A tablespoon of those granules is probably plenty. Stop by at Ollie's.

When the water gets scummy I drain it and start a new one. Usually no more than every 4 weeks.

 

[JohnSand]

Thank you. I didn't add anything but tap water last time, and it got smelly and moldy.

 

[Potamus]

I put my 6 gallon carboy in a large cooler filled with cold water and have been rotating 2-3 bottles of ice every 8-10 hours while I ferment a California common. Ambient temp is about 70 degrees and the water has stayed pretty steady around 60 without much trouble. It's a pretty cheap and easy setup that in my experience is more effective than a swamp cooler.

 

[nateburn]

Before acquiring my modified under-counter freezer I used an automated swamp cooler. I would place the carboy in a large bucket of water with a towel wrapped around it. Your typical swamp cooler, but to regulate evaporation I controlled a fan blowing over the towel with a solid state relay and PID controller. I used a 24" stainless thermocouple probe to measure the fermentation temperature directly. It worked well but you are limited on the cooling capacity.


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