closet cooling

[hylowa]

these next few months are gona prolly heat my fermenting closet up past the ambient 68-72 degrees, which has worked well in the winter.

any ideas on how to keep it at that temp, or possibly even lower? its a 4x3 closet, with the door closed at all times to keep sun/light/kittens from messing up the brews.

any ideas? i figure an air contitioner is gona kick heat out the rear, inside the closet wouldnt make any sense since that would be counter productive. anyone know of small tiny ac units that dont put heat off?

[Mylo]

I have no ideas for your closet, unless you are going to do something like Jamil's walk in cooler - see mrmalty.com for details.

Otherwise, you'd do yourself right to get a chest or upright freezer, or a extra fridge - and an auxillary thermostat controller. Craigslist is a good place to find these.


Mylo

[Bugeater]

. anyone know of small tiny ac units that dont put heat off?

Sorry, but that is how they work, pull heat from one area and exhaust it to another. Pumping the heat back into the same area won't accomplish anything other than burning up electricity.

Do a search for "son of fermentation chiller". This is simply a homebuilt insulated box in which you place two liter bottles of ice along with your fermenters. By changing out the bottles everyday you can maintain nice cool temps for your beer.

Other ideas include setting your fermenter in a large plastic tub with water. Pull a t-shirt over the carboy so it hangs into the water. The shirt will wick water upwards and when it evaporates it will cool the carboy. Variations on that include sticking bottles of ice into the tub and/or letting a fan run on the shirt to speed up evaporation.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[BadRock]

Check these out they might help!

Son of Fermentation Chiller


38DD Mother of a Fermentation Chiller

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

I bought some insulation board for a fermentation chamber on Friday. I was going to work on it over the weekend. But I got thirsty, and drank a lot of beer, then I got lazy. Maybe next weekend. . .

[Retread]

....I got thirsty, and drank a lot of beer, then I got lazy. Maybe next weekend. . .

I resemble that remark.....

[mykafone]

I have made both the son of fermentation and 38DD.

I still use both as they both have + and -


son of fermentation - ugly- wife hates it - cools better - less ice changes - only does 1 carboy

38DD - nice looking wife doesnt mind it - does 10 gallons - more ice changes -

[baltobrewer]

You could do the Bub method for kick-ass cooling of a carboy - freeze water in a Bundt pan and put the ice ring over the neck. Repeat as necessary.

Ghetto as hell and even cooler because it works...