Cool Your Fermenter & Beat the Heat - Make Better Beer
Have you been struggling to keep your beer fermentation cool in the summer heat? We have some great hacks to share to keep your fermenter cool during these hot months.
Have you been struggling to keep your beer fermentation cool in the summer heat?
We have some great hacks to share to keep your fermenter cool during these hot months.
Heat is the enemy of quality brewing* so keeping your fermenter cool to maintain optimal temperature, is essential to ensure your brew turns out delicious and refreshing.
For those who do not have a temperature-controlled fridge to regulate the temperature here's a few simple steps to help you defeat the heat:
- Most obvious things first, find a cool spot for your fermenter, avoid direct sunlight or any nearby heat sources.
- The easiest cooling method is to use the evaporative cooling applying the basic principle of heat transfer which occurs during the evaporation of water. (Inspired by the famous Coolgardie Safe**)
- Simply wrap a wet towel around your fermenter and place a fan nearby, always keeping the towel wet. Ideally sit the fermenter in water using a laundry sink, bathtub or Eski etc (nb: it’s ok to submerge the tap).
- To really smash the heat add ice packs or frozen water bottles into the mix. Keep turning them over during the fermentation and your beer will love you for it.
Don't let the summer heat ruin your brew!
Follow these tips and you'll be enjoying a perfectly cooled home brew beer in no time.
* Fermenting at too high of a temperature is unhealthy for yeast speeding up metabolism causing the development of off-flavours that may wreck a good brew.
** The Coolgardie safe was an Evaporative Cooler invented by Arthur Patrick McCormick to store meat in the WA town of Coolgardie during the gold rush of the late 1890s.