Chamber build, needs review

Hi folks, I've decided I need to build a fermentation chamber. I can put a finish on a dog turd that'll make you go ahhhhh, but as far as building.. ehh, well I try. And I want to do this so I sat and did a diagram of what I want to do. I am open to suggestions and critcism as well as snarky comments. For those that have built their chambers, do you see anything wrong here? The cooling will be coming from a dorm fridge with 2 pc fans mounted inside top, just outside the freezer. The internal area is 4x3x2. 1.5" insulation in between all of the 2x4s with .5 reflective on top of that. At max capacity, it'll have one 6.5 gallon carboy, a 7.5 conical and maybe 3 full kegs. Two 100# drawer gliders will allow me to slide out platforms so I can lift onto and just glide right in.

some of the questions I have are:
a. do I neeed to use 4x4's to hold this up? with all this wood and 25 gallons +, i should go big.
b. Will a little dorm fridge be enough to cool to 55/60 degrees?


Any other issues you may see, just holler.

And thanks for looking. I want to do this within, well the next two hours lol, but realistically, two weeks.

Of course after i posted, I realized I forgot to correct my numbers. There was going to be a foam wall between the 18" chamber and the rest which would have brought my dimensions more in line so please ignore the 5.5" under the fridge. That will now be 9 inches. Also the height should read 4'8" not 4'9"

Everyone seems to have an answer to this when I ask, but I'll ask it anyway (and again):

With the price of materials (which has to be up past $200, if I were to guess and I might even be on the low-side), and the unknown if that fridge will have the cooling power for that size space (it will probably do ales ok; but nothing else).....

Why not consider a fridge/chest freezer off of craigslist as a better alternative here?

That's a good, valid question. I would assume you always get an answer because each persons needs are different. In my case:

a. I want something with plenty of room for my conical, a carboy, and a couple keggs.

b. I'm 6'4" and 44 years old. I ain't getting younger and will be doing this for, well as long as I can. I don't want to keep bending over lifting heavy 5 gallon containers so I want to have something raised up.

c. I don't, but should, use co2 to push the wort into my kegs. Therefore I need gravity. Another plus for b.

d. I had a chest freezer. My conical didn't fit it. Yes, I could have put a collar on it to raise the lid, but now I would be lifting a 5 gallon conical that much higher to clear the wall. Again... see b.

e. I'm impatient. It took me over a year to find a soft top for my jeep at the price I wanted.

f. I have a bunch of lumber and was given the fridge. Actual cost to me will probably be about $150 or less.

g. Most of all, I built it. Save for the refridgerator, it's my design and when, not if it works, it gives a deep satisfaction.

delarob said:

That's a good, valid question. I would assume you always get an answer because each persons needs are different. In my case:

a. I want something with plenty of room for my conical, a carboy, and a couple keggs.

b. I'm 6'4" and 44 years old. I ain't getting younger and will be doing this for, well as long as I can. I don't want to keep bending over lifting heavy 5 gallon containers so I want to have something raised up.

c. I don't, but should, use co2 to push the wort into my kegs. Therefore I need gravity. Another plus for b.

d. I had a chest freezer. My conical didn't fit it. Yes, I could have put a collar on it to raise the lid, but now I would be lifting a 5 gallon conical that much higher to clear the wall. Again... see b.

e. I'm impatient. It took me over a year to find a soft top for my jeep at the price I wanted.

f. I have a bunch of lumber and was given the fridge. Actual cost to me will probably be about $150 or less.

g. Most of all, I built it. Save for the refridgerator, it's my design and when, not if it works, it gives a deep satisfaction.

Click to expand...

Yep, that is pretty much the laundry list I usually get.

Some food for thought:
You assume chest freezer is your only option, but what about an upright freezer? That would answer all of your concerns about having to heft carboys in/out (much more accessible in an upright) as well as having the necessary headroom for a conical.

If you want to build something, then build a rack system that allows you to fit all of your fermenters in there.

$150 buck is still an awful chunk of change, considering the going price of freezers on CL...plus what is your time worth? How many weekends will it take for you to get materials and build that box?

Not matter what, your chamber build isn't going to be able to do the temp regulation a dedicated freezer will be able to handle. Want to ferment an ale then cold crash? Try doing that in your chamber set up. Forget about ever doing a lager fermentation with that thing. With a freezer you can dial in a lager temp, a diacetyl rest and then lager all-in-one.

I understand the DIY nature but sometimes downright practicality has to be a factor.

check it out: $100 and 20cu ft upright in north wilmington....http://delaware.craigslist.org/grd/4599336269.html

If you really are an impatient, you can go pick up this freezer and be using it this weekend! No spending many weekends in the garage building a big insulated box with limited functionality.

I'm skeptical that the dorm fridge is going to do all you are asking. It might work, it may not.
I like your idea of the drawer slides.
If you purchase a small upright freezer to use in your chamber, you'll be able to take the temp down low for cold crashing and lagering.
I'd say go ahead and build it with what you have.

madscientist451 said:

If you purchase a small upright freezer to use in your chamber, you'll be able to take the temp down low for cold crashing and lagering.

Click to expand...

You might very well be right about this, but without knowing what size the freezer is compared to the size of the chamber you can't know for sure.

What I do know is that an unmodified upright freezer will take whatever is in its compartment down past past freezing. With a temp control it will hold whatever temp you want up to ambient temps.

All good points. But in my orig post, I never mentioned lagering. I only need 55/60 degrees. I rarely if ever make lagers and if I do, I can use my beermeister. Another thing I can do as switch out the refrigerator for a ac unit should I need to go lower in the future. Thanks for the CL listing though.
Oh, and I can put in a small freezer for my box too. If I buy that monster for $100 and it craps out next month, now I have to get another, truck this one out etc..

Pros and cons both ways.