sturdy plastic 500cc ice packs

[GerritT]

Okay, I brewed today, yay. Hottest days in the decade, probably hottest after WW2 (thanks chaps, by the way). And I have no brew fridge. So I already have some plastic water filled bottles in the freezer to accompany the first days of fermenting in the walk-in closet where it's a steady 23º-ish Celsius.

And I've been thinking: what if I froze those ice packs (thick plastic, non-toxic, came with an order of liquid yeasts) and popped them sanitised into the fv? One a day? 500 cc of frozen clean coldness should nibble an extra 1ºC off the temperature of the 17 liters of wort. Supported by a rotating set of plastic 2 liter bottles on the outside.

Madness? Or would it work?

 

[simon12]

No idea but an issue could be to much temperature fluctuation.

 

[An Ankoù]

Okay, I brewed today, yay. Hottest days in the decade, probably hottest after WW2 (thanks chaps, by the way). And I have no brew fridge. So I already have some plastic water filled bottles in the freezer to accompany the first days of fermenting in the walk-in closet where it's a steady 23º-ish Celsius.

And I've been thinking: what if I froze those ice packs (thick plastic, non-toxic, came with an order of liquid yeasts) and popped them sanitised into the fv? One a day? 500 cc of frozen clean coldness should nibble an extra 1ºC off the temperature of the 17 liters of wort. Supported by a rotating set of plastic 2 liter bottles on the outside.

Madness? Or would it work?

It's close to what I do. I brew short by several litres, put some bottle of cheap mineral water in the freezer until ice begins to form and top up to length over the next few days- the important days when the the yeast is really doing its job.
All commercial breweries use some form of attemporation, which usually involves pumping cold water through a coil in the beer. Trouble is that tap water isn't cold enough at this time of the year.
But you've given me an idea. Why not float a sterile container in the wort, fill it with chilled water and replace the chillled water when necessary. Sounds like a goer. We're expecting 37C tomorrow and I don't dedicate a fridge to fermenting beer, only to hops and yeast.

 

[GerritT]

No idea but an issue could be to much temperature fluctuation.

So the question is: do I want the yeast to perform at 22º, or do I let them work in an abrupt climate change of -2º to 20º? Considering I have 3 of those thing and I'm not afraid to use them!

 

[GerritT]

It's close to what I do. I brew short by several litres, put some bottle of cheap mineral water in the freezer until ice begins to form and top up to length over the next few days- the important days when the the yeast is really doing its job.
All commercial breweries use some form of attemporation, which usually involves pumping cold water through a coil in the beer. Trouble is that tap water isn't cold enough at this time of the year.
But you've given me an idea. Why not float a sterile container in the wort, fill it with chilled water and replace the chillled water when necessary. Sounds like a goer. We're expecting 37C tomorrow and I don't dedicate a fridge to fermenting beer, only to hops and yeast.

And it's a French heat wave by the way...
Summer is coming!

 

[An Ankoù]

And it's a French heat wave by the way...
Summer is coming!

Sumer is icumen in,
Loude sing cuckou!
Groweth seed and bloweth meed,
And springth the wode now.
Sing cuckou!

Ewe bleteth after lamb,
Loweth after calve cow,
Bulloc sterteth, bucke verteth,
Merye sing cuckou!
Cuckou, cuckou,
Wel singest thou cuckou:
Ne swik thou never now!

 

[GerritT]

Sumer is icumen in,
Loude sing cuckou!
Groweth seed and bloweth meed,
And springth the wode now.
Sing cuckou!

Ewe bleteth after lamb,
Loweth after calve cow,
Bulloc sterteth, bucke verteth,
Merye sing cuckou!
Cuckou, cuckou,
Wel singest thou cuckou:
Ne swik thou never now!

Mead is not meadow, but this brings me back to the 13th!

 

[Arcs]

Glad my brew day is not until next week xD

 

[SteveH]

I'm in the same situation, want to get a brew on today but it's going to be 30 degrees for the next couple of days - I think I'll put the FV into a stack-n-store box with some water plus some ice packs in (plus a bit of star-san probably, particularly because the FV has a tap).

Personally I'm not going to risk putting the ice packs directly in the FV, for fear of shocking the yeast or introducing an infection.

Tempted to get a cheap fridge of ebay instead!

 

[Llamaman]

It’s kveik weather!
No need for brew belts :)