Using a Cool Brewing Fermentation Cooler

I bought a Cool Brewing fermentation cooler from HopTech when I ordered my porter ingredients. But I put Pliney the Toddler in it.

It's big. And soft. And floppy. It was difficult for me to put my Williams Brewing plastic fermenter (like the one in the background). The cooler is about 30 inches tall, and I had to hold the side while I lifted the fermenter into it.  If the side was a bit more rigid, it would make solo brewing much easier

I started off with a frozen gallon milk jug (I only put a half gallon of water in it.), which took the air temp down to 34°. I replaced it with 7 ice packs. (I have quite the collection. Austin Homebrew Supply always sends some with their yeast.). The lid is also floppy, so I had to roll the thing up and shove it behind the cooler to access the ice packs. That caused the wall behind the fermenter to sag a little.

I was fairly diligent the first week, changing the ice packs first thing in the morning and in the evening. It worked well keeping the air temperatures constant., between 67-70°. (That's about 8-9° below ambient room temperature.) By the second week, I began to tire of "feeding the beast" and was replacing the ice packs once a day. Even then, it kept things cool.

I recommend it enthusiastically, especially if you life here in the South.