In terms of brewing with Ale yeasts, I understand that fermenter temps can increase up to 10 degrees, or more, than the ambient room temperature. As a "cheap" method for keeping the temperature of the fermenter as close as possible to the ambient temperature of the room, can I simply set the fermenter on a cooling duct? It would seem logical that the large surface area on the bottom of the fermenter would allow sufficient heat transfer to exchange at least some of the excess heat away from the fermenter.
Has anyone tried this before or can categorically state that this method is useless or shouldn't be attempted due to negative effects? While, perhaps, questionable in it's overall effectiveness, I can't think of anything that could potentially be detrimental to the yeast or fermentables using this method (assuming, of course, that the temperature is still within acceptable range for the yeast).