sweetspot wrote:I use a big honkin' igloo cooler that I bought at Walmart for $25. I keep a six pack of water bottles in my freezer and switch them out every 8 hours or whenever I remember to do so. I have no problem bringing my temps down to the low 60's when the ambient are temps are the mid 70's. That in combination with a couple of gallons of water in the base and all of the things mentioned in previous post; you are set for lagering my friend. Here is the link
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... id=5663765
I have been very happy with it and it even has a spout on the bottom so that I could use it for all grain.
I was going to recommend the same thing. like he says the key to this is to fill the cooler with water for the best surface contact (make sure theres a drain on the cooler). I use one of the cube shaped coolers for some temp control and have thought about using it for lagers since it wouldnt have to be mostly empty space filled with water. If you wanted to you could throw in a cheap fountain pump, around $12 from walmart, to circulate the cold water around. my best guess is that you could get internal temp of the carboy down into the 30s with that method assuming you change the bottles of ice out very regularly.
