Transition to all grain?

[gscovel (KLbrewer)]

Great advice, as always.  Thanks guys.

[oscarvan]

Tom,

To control the fermentation temps I use a swamp cooler with an ice bath to keep the fermenter cool - approx 65F.  The swamp cooler isn’t all that effective due to the high humidity here in S.E. Asia, but the ice bath helps, and I keep it all in our guest room with the A/C cranked.  So, I think I’ll set the carboy in the ice bath (after using the IC to drop the temps to at or below 100), and pitch when the temp is down to below 68F.  I’ll see how long that takes, then maybe for the next batch I’ll purchase a pond/utility pump, per hopfenundmalz’s suggestion.

Thanks to all for helping out a brewer a long way from home!
KLB

Sounds like you would benefit from a small used fridge with an external controller… in fact, if you keep it clean and sanitized it would be a perfect place to park the brew kettle for a while after you get it down to 100º… A lot less hassle, and better control.