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→Homebrew Coolships
Many homebrewers will construct a "mini-coolship", as seen by Devin Bell's picture. Devin has reported good results from using his makeshift ''coolship'' <ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1110677075627172/?comment_id=1110818382279708&offset=0&total_comments=7&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R4%22%7D Conversation with Devil Bell on the results of using his coolship. 7/16/2015.]</ref>. The benefit of building one is that a ball valve can be installed near the bottom of the coolship, which will make transferring the wort easier. Another option that some people have reported trying is purchasing a large stainless steel pans from a restaurant supply store, as well as food grade plastic trays.
The third and recommended option is to use your boil kettle. At the 2015 National Homebrewer's Conference in San Diego, James Howat's presentation, ''Wild and Spontaneous Fermentation at Home'', showed that using a boil kettle as a ''coolship'' is better equal for replicating a large commercial ''coolship'' due to when comparing the surface area to wort ratio. James showed this by figuring out the volume of the wort in cubic feet for a ''large coolship'', and the volume of wort in cubic feet for a ''small coolship''. He then compared the surface area of the top portion of the wort that is exposed to the air for each ''coolship''. There is actually a significantly greater surface area to wort ratio in the a scaled down ''smaller coolship'' (this . This same idea applies to how there is a greater surface area to wort ratio in small wooden barrels versus large wooden barrels). <ref name="Howat">[http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/resources/conference-seminars/ ''Wild and Spontaneous Fermentation at Home''. Presentation by James Howat at 2015 NHC.]</ref>.
:Example of a 36 bbl coolship:
::Wort volume: 9.35 gallons = 1.25 cubic feet.
::Surface area of the top surface of the wort = 6.25 square feet.
::Surface Area to Volume ratio = 6.25/1.25 = '''5''' square feet of top surface area per cubic foot of wort <ref name="Howat"></ref>.
Surface area effects both the microbe collection and the cooling rate. The smaller surface area to wort ratio of large production ''coolships'' is obviously adequate for collecting microbes, and more importantly it allows the wort to cool slowly. Using a boil kettle, while it still might not be as close to the 0.67 surface area to wort ratio of a large commercial brewery coolship, will be closer than a "mini-coolship". A The boil kettle will allow enough microbes method only takes into consideration surface area to be collected, and will cool slower than a very small ''coolship'' (but probably not as slow as a large commercial ''coolship'')air ratio. James Howat also recommends perhaps trying to insulate the boil kettle so that the rate of It does not take into consideration cooling is not too fast <ref name="Howat"></ref>rates. For more information on the process of brewing with a coolship, see [[Spontaneous Fermentation]].
==See Also==