With the hot weather remaining and my cheap approach to cooling failing to get the temp down, I went and got a chest freezer and a thermostat (Inkbird 308) to control it. I've got a little tubular space heater to add for cooler times, but for now whilst outside is higher than 20C I only need cooling and it isn't fluctuating too much.
First pic illustrates the bucket in the freezer with the thermostat prob thing strapped to the bucket side with some insulation (packing foam stuff).
Second pic shows my wall art. The thermostat shows the prob temp on top and the target below. There's a fancy word for the above and below ranges it's allowed before it turns on/off the cool/heat. It's at 0.5C either side. The little display next to it is the garage temp just so I can see how ridiculous it gets in there. The rest is a raspberry pi with camera which is hanging from an LED bar thing I made. That lot was on the 3D printer, but for now it's providing the ability for me to keep an eye on the temperature without having to go into the garage
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Anyway now it gets to do its thing for about 14 days, hopefully getting from 1044 starting gravity to 1014 or 1012, which translates to around 4%. When it's finished fermenting I've a bunch of bottles and a couple of growlers to throw it all in.
Oh yeah, it's an imperial stout! Or it will be. That also means low carbonation if I'm going to be traditional - which I am.
