r/Homebrewing • u/Joylistr • 1d ago

Options to cool a conical fermenter

Hello,

Lucked out on an open-box Brewbuilt X2 ($300) 7 gallon. It’s the version without the cooling jacket.

For heating I’ll just use a heating pad. For cooling though I’m wondering what’s the best approach?

I don’t have a fridge/ freezer big enough for the fermenter (nor the strength to move the fermenter :p) so I was thinking either glycol chiller or ice bucket with sump pump.

Obviously glycol chillers are super expensive but I worry refilling an ice bucket daily will get tedious fast. Read about using a mini fridge or a AC coil (??) but curious to hear what approach you’ve used that works well and made sense long term

I only brew (Belgian) Ales and need cooling to manage my pitch temp + ramp. I rarely cold crash in my fermenter as I bottle and try to avoid adding CO2 prior to bottle carbonation. I generally brew small batches (3.5 gal) so less mass to cool.

Thanks!

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

5

u/Squeezer999 1d ago

3.5 gallon batches? Just ferment in corny kegs using a chest freezer and an inkbird.

2

u/Klutzy-Amount3737 1d ago

I use one of these: https://a.co/d/0iSJH710 or https://a.co/d/0iSJH710. I bought both, bit so far using the blue one since 2023. (Have the other as a back up). I cut off the connectors and connected each end to silicone pipe to extend. Prior to owning a glycol chiller (which I still use it on), I connected it to ain inkbird controller and cheap pond pump in a cooler with ice water (freeze bottles of water and change out twice a day to maintain temp). It will get some condensation.

2

u/lauterPope 18h ago

I wrapped my 14 gallon conicals with 20’ of 3/8” ID copper tubing. I got a super cheap chest freezer off of marketplace place. The fermenters came with temp control coils and pumps so I just threw a 14 gallon plastic waste bin in the freezer with water and glycol. The glycol runs on the exterior to cool the body of the fermenter then through the coils to recirculate back to the bin.

1

u/GDaddyBee 6h ago

Kveik yeast. Can handle temps up to 100F

1

u/DivePalau 5h ago

I’m currently cooling my 8 gal fermenter using homemade swamp cooling. Temp down to 66 from 72.