Brewing with limited means, any reviews/opinions about Brewjacket Immersion?

Hello all,

I am new to homebrewing and after an experiment with a Coopers kit, which was not too bad actually, I decided to go straight to AG with BIAB.

I did a couple of SMASH that were really acceptable, certainly not award winning but better than the commercial swill. As I live in Japan the industrial beer can be pretty bad here...

My latest batch is an oatmeal stout that is quite good but the head does not last. I suspect it's fusel oils because fermentation temp was a bit high. It gets quite warm here in spring an summer and I do not have enough space for a fermentation fridge.

It is very annoying to put so much time and effort into something (especially when the wife does not comprehend the why of this whole thing...) and it turns out to be unsatisfactory to say the least.

So I have been wondering about the Brewjacket Immersion for a while but there are very few comments about it on the web. If this works it would allow me to brew ales in the summer and lagers in winter, like in the good old times before refrigeration.

http://www.brewjacket.com/

Next week I am going to make an extract pale ale, no time for AG, and go swamp cooler but temp control will be almost non existent again, therefore it is impossible to improve the process.

Any helpful comments would be much appreciated,

Cheers,

T

I brew in southern China and have similar fermentation issues. In my first year I brewed starting in October, when ambient temps get into the lower 20Cs. In coldest winter I'd submerge the fermentor in a bin of water and drop in an aquarium heater set to 20C. Voila! Brewing in summer just wasn't possible. I looked at the BrewJacket, same as you. Saw it on Kickstarter. But it was still in pre-production then ... and expensive.

Then I got resourceful. Now each batch of beer I brew gets in a taxi with me and is taken to my office, where the computer server room is a steady 19C. (Yes, it's created a 'buzz' in the office. Pun intended.) The wort suffers not at all from the trip; the sloshing only helps aerate it. I let it sit in the server room until it reaches 19C, hit it with with a couple canisters of O2 (I'm sure Japan has aerosol cans of O2 same as China. They're marketed to pregnant women and go-climb-a-mountain types.) then pitch the yeast. I found that carrying the wort was easier in two, 3-gallon carboys. So I started doing split batches, which has been the biggest boon to my learning curve.

Think outside the house. It's easier to rig a temp-control device that warms the wort to a desired temp than it is to cool the wort to below ambient temp. Find the coldest places you could safely ferment your beer, then strike a deal. The restaurant on the ground floor of our hi-rise has a walk-in freezer. The owner always has a beer in hand. I'm thinking it might be my best (and cheapest) option for my first attempt at lagering.

Final suggestion, offered in deference: Brew a beer for your wife that incorporates the favorite local fruit. I did as much for my wife using 枇杷 (loquat) and it definitely sparked her interest. 

Thanks for the advice.

In fact I have a friend who is a wine merchant here and he keeps his stock in a controled environment, I'll ask him if he could take care of my primary during fermentation.

Meanwhile my american pale ale is fermenting nicely with some ice bottles in the bath tub. Temp is fairly constant at about 18° C (outside it's 32 C now, ground water 24) and bubbling quietly. First time for me to use Fermentis US-05 and seems to be going well so far.

Another major issue in Japan is that you are not allowed to brew anything over 1% ABV, of course lots of people do it but market potential being limited by law it's difficult to find most simple things people take for granted in other countries i.e. gear, grains, hops etc.

Thanks again for your input,

T

Almost forgot, wife is allergic to beer yeast, sends her straight to ER. So no luck there, fruit or not fruit.

T

Brewjacket Immersion chiller reviw:

This product basically does what it says it does on the brewjacket.com site. I have confirmed most of the site data based on my initial test brews. It is a heat exchange system only. In other words the room temp must be higher than your targeted fermentation temp. It does not supply heat to the fermentation carboy etc. The unit is often shown without the brew jacket itself, just the carboy and head unit. However you must use the jacket in order for this to all work. The companies new website shows the whole brewjacket set up in a living room.

This thing is perfect for lager fermentation temperatures but less so for ale's as ale yeast fermentation temp maybe above your room temp. It all depends on the environment temp that the brewjacket resides in. There is a fan that turns on when the unit is exchanging heat and the current fermentation temp is above the set temp. Otherwise if set and current temp the same the fan turns off and stays off until the current temp rises above the set temp. The units temp probe that measures the current fermentation temp connects to the head unit and goes between the inside of the insulated jacket and the carboy. It does not reside in the brew stick inside of the carboy. However I saw no problem with this.

Unit as tested allowed for a fairly precise control over fermentation temp. Probably better than a frig/freezer even with controller. Since lager yeast fermentation temps (48 - 58 deg F) are higher than lagering temps (below 40 deg) I have an older frig that I use for lagering temps and cold crashing ales. Tried using the same frig for both lager fermentation and lagering but was a big headache with multiple brews.

Quality of the parts seemed generally  good.  There can be an issue between the connection of the rod to the head unit if the contact surfaces are not clean and or have some sticky insulation material on the surface. This is documented in the manual and the website and is very easy to fix.

Pros:
• Great for lager fermentation.
• Fairly compact in size and easily movable.
• Very easy to use head unit and clean the brew stick.
• Very efficient use of energy.
• Can use different carboy types and variations incl ale bucket.

Cons:
• Ale fermentation temps maybe above fermentation room temp.
• Not easy to get a 5 to 6 gal full fermentation carboy in or back out of the  jacket.*
• Fairly pricey for doing just one 5-6 gal fermentation at a time assuming purchase of one unit only.
• Fan somewhat noisy when on but depends on listening environment.
• With carboy in jacket cannot easily see active fermentation process.

* I found it somewhat difficult to install a full fermentation carboy into the insulated jacket. If using a 5 or 6 gal glass or even plastic carboy (45 to 50 lbs) you really need almost two persons. One to hold the jacket down and one to lift and insert into the top opening of the jacket. The reverse is true when taking the same carboy out of the jacket. There is no vertical side zipper just the top opening with a draw string and clip. Since I ferment in my basement with plastic type carboys I purchased a small block and tackle hoist that easily lifts the carboy (attached to carboy handle) into or out of the jacket. But please keep in mind that if using a glass carboy and handle, you are still supposed to support the bottom of the carboy or risk breaking the neck of the carboy when it contains whatever liquid etc. As another option you could go from cooled wort into primary fermentation carboy with carboy already seated in jacket and the same if racking to secondary carboy for cold lagering. The downside to this method is that when carboy is seated in jacket you cannot see its contents etc. Maybe newer insulated jacket versions will have a vertical side zipper for easier carboy installation and removal.

Conclusion:
I feel this fermentation cooler is generally best suited for lagers or where environments are 70 deg F or above. I am generally happy with the system and would recommend to those who have limited space, do not want another frig or freezer just for lager fermentation temps, or a warm climate and want to do lager beers with more precision. Cost of unit currently is about the same as purchasing a new small chest freezer (two 6 gal carboy size) and a temp controller unit.

I have not used them, but a friend of mine has in the past and has had good luck. Living in the Arizona desert I can understand where heat can cause a problem in brewing.

I'm in Korea and the heat and humidity of summer make fermenting a challenge here too. I've got a small apartment, a wife, a 16-month old kid and not a lot of space for the beer, so I ferment in my bedroom. Problem there, though, is that the AC is out in the main room and we choose not to cool the bedroom most of the time (not that temps would be low enough anyway). So I made what my father has dubbed "the redneck fermentation chamber" (RFC).

Basically it's a large bucket with cardboard for walls and then a large plastic bowl thing for a lid. I fill the bottom of the bucket with a few inches of water, throw in a few bottles of frozen water (both in the water and up on top of the carboy), close it up and watch the temp drop. The ambient temp in the room is usually around 80-82 in the summer, but with the RFC I can get the carboy's environment down to 60-62 and then from there it rises to about 70 before I change the bottles out 12 hours later. Seems to work pretty well. If you want any more details, let me know.

I like your bottle idea. I think I'm going to do it.

Can you give me an idea of a couple things?

How many bottles do you put in there? How often are you replacing them? And how much does the temperature change throughout the day within the container?

I know the variance in temperature can cause some problems, which is why I ask.

Thanks

ajzimme said:

How many bottles do you put in there? How often are you replacing them? And how much does the temperature change throughout the day within the container?

I know the variance in temperature can cause some problems, which is why I ask.

Thanks

Click to expand...

I'm still playing with what I do and learning, but basically I put two smaller bottles (about 16oz) down in the water and then up on top of the carboy I put one 16oz bottle, one 25 oz bottle, and one bigger (50oz) bottle. They are all frozen solid when I put them in the RFC and then I change them out about every 12 hours. I try to change them out a little more frequently when the yeast is in full-blown party mode as I figure it's creating more heat, but after the blow-off tube slows down, it's typically about once every 12 hours.
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Also, don't fill the bottles to the brim with water as the bottle will crack/split when the water freezes and expands; I usually leave a couple inches of air in them to allow for this.

As for temps...Yeah, it's not perfect and they do vary a little. After the active fermentation, I find it easy to get the temp down in the high-50s and then it rises over the 12 hours to the mid-60s. Of course all this depends on how diligent you are in changing out the bottles and how hot the ambient temps get in the room. But I figure that the liquid mass that is the wort/beer is changing inside the carboy much more slowly than the air around it. If I had to guess, I'd say that it probably stays in the low to mid-60s, but this is purely a guess.

Anything else you want to know, just ask.

Thanks. Yeah that's what I've read: 12 hour changes.

That's doable. For a person who works full time and isn't at home most of the day I think.

As for the inner temperature variances, I was recommended by somebody else just to gauge the difference between the outside and inside and just calculate that each time to estimate it...not perfect but I suppose it would work.

I don't plan on brewing lagers so I am curious on doing a mild swamp cooler for my hef ales...since I hear people screaming at me to do it in the low 60's (which is ten degrees cooler than what WL recommends).

Fun times.

Thanks again.

I just recently brewed an ale in my basement where the temperature is reading 74F. I put the carboy in a plastic tote with a bottom big enough for it to fit, added a couple inches of water (and a few drops of bleach to prevent mildew), used a clothes pin to secure a towel around the carboy, soaked the towel, pointed a fan at the rig, and let her rip. I had to re-soak the towel once or twice a day, but it did the job. Kept the fermenting wort at 68F which, while not ideal, is a lot better than the mid 70s.

Recently purchased a Brewjacket, it's arrival last week spurred me on to do my first all-grain batch of a Czech pilsner recipe I've always wanted to try. I do not have much space left in my house (what cool space is available is taken up with wine), and what space is available is warm. Hence, I'm hoping the Brewjacket is a perfect fit, no pun intended. First, I wish to state that one of the owners, Aaron, is very responsive to emails with regards to problems or questions. Second, the set up of the equipment is very easy. Importantly, one should read the PDF online manual (not the crappy photocopy they send you), which implies that temperature calibration is important. Sanitize the probe, the metal bar, and the PET container (in my case, a 6-gallon carboy). I warmed some water to 20C/68F, as measured by the "primitive" lab thermometer, and the included probe-controller unit returned an identical reading, 20C/68F. But the manual does guide one on calibrating the controller head, if necessary. I ran my batch, got the wort down to 20C/68F, and readied the yeast starter (Wyeast 2278). I attached the unit, snuggled the carboy with 5 gallons of wort into the jacket (it wasn't that difficult: I'm pretty strong, but nestling the carboy WITH a carboy strap hauler with a straight, downward motion into the jacket cavity got it in on first try), tightened the drawstring, and set the controller for 13C/55F. Surprisingly, it took only about 6 hours to get it to that temperature. I just pitched the cooled yeast a half hour ago, and set the controller for 12.5C/54F. The controller, when it's running, is a bit loud, so keep it at some distance, close the door, or shove it in the basement. I'll run the unit at that temperature for 14 days, then increase it to 16.5C/62F for a 2-3 day diacetyl rest, then lager at 7C/45F for 30 days. As an initial impression, this item, though expensive, is perfect for my needs. I won't be making a lot of lagers, mostly ales, so this single unit is all I (think I will) need.