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04-14-2008, 01:00 AM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Chico, CA
Posts: 3,933
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Mini-Fridge Fermentation Chiller Project
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Around here it gets around and above 100F in the summertime, and even as I speak it is 80F inside my house. Therefore, I needed to build/buy some kind of fermentation chiller. As luck would have it, a good friend offered a mini-fridge he no longer used - score! The only problem was that it was just a wee bit too shallow to fit my 6.5 gallon carboy inside. So I thought perhaps it would be big enough without the plastic door material:
I took the seal off for reuse later, and then cut/ripped off the plastic stuff:
I suppose I could have measured first, before destroying the door...this still was not enough room.
So, I decided to make a collar and door out of plywood, and insulate with 1" styrofoam:
Last edited by TwoHeadsBrewing; 04-14-2008 at 01:05 AM.
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04-14-2008, 01:05 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Chico, CA
Posts: 3,933
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Next I needed to make the door, and insulate everything:
Insulation:
Added some simple hinges and two magnetic door latches:
Seems to work well so far...and doesn't look too bad:
More pics here: Fridge Project
Last edited by TwoHeadsBrewing; 04-14-2008 at 02:13 AM.
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04-14-2008, 01:10 AM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Chico, CA
Posts: 3,933
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Only a few things left to do:
1. Completely seal plywood on the interior. There are a few places that are exposed, so I think I'll seal those places with marine-type paint or varnish.
2. Sand and finish the exterior (maple stain, satin finish).
3. Get a temperature controller.
The temperature in here gets down to 60F in under an hour at the lowest setting. For now, I'm just clicking it on once or twice a day and it holds that temp just fine throughout the day. I don't expect that to work once my garage gets 100-120F in the middle of summer.
All in all it was a very easy project; took about 3 hours of work and under $15 in hardware and insulation. Sweet!
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04-14-2008, 01:48 AM
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#4
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I love lamp!
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Eagan, MN
Posts: 712
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Nice work. I hope it works as well as you hope. Keep us updated through the summer.
__________________
Squirrel House Brewing
Quote:
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Originally Posted by BierMuncher
Don't poop in your fermenter when the lid is off and you'll be fine.
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04-14-2008, 01:55 AM
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#5
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Death by Magumba!
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Melbourne, Fl
Posts: 2,254
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Lookin good man!
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04-14-2008, 02:12 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Chico, CA
Posts: 3,933
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by deathweed
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Love that idea! But, yes this is much simpler...although I like the idea of being able to "hide" the unit inside. Now if I could just figure out a single unit to hold my HDTV, DVD player, home theater setup, my HTPC, AND a couple fermenters I'd be set! |
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04-17-2008, 10:39 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Chico, CA
Posts: 3,933
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UPDATE: Over the past few days we've had some warm weather (88-90F), so it was a great time to test out the new fermentation chiller. I've held off on getting a temperature controller thus far, and have just been fiddling with the analog temp control knob in the fridge. With VERY fine adjustments I am able to keep the temp between 65-68F. Sweet!!! The only bad thing is that it took me a couple days of adjusting it to get it there, and I aint touching it again! I guess that means I'm stuck at that temp unless I want to buy a temp controller.
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05-18-2008, 09:52 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Chico, CA
Posts: 3,933
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Well, it's a bit early here in Northern CA for 100F days...but they are here nonetheless. My garage is about 115-120F right now, and that is where my fermentation fridge is. To my relief the fridge is holding steady at 62F, which is perfect for 65F-68F fermentation temps. It seems to cycle on about 1-2 times per hour...hopefully this isn't to frequent to do any damage to the compressor.
So...operation frankenfridge successful! Just took a sample of my first all grain wheat beer, and it is downright tasty! The sample temp was 65F, which is perfect. Hopefully this fridge will hold up for a long time...works great for a single primary. I've thought about building an entire new box to hold 2 carboys, and using the internals of this fridge...but I don't drink that much beer. Guess I better get to work drinkin!
Last edited by TwoHeadsBrewing; 05-18-2008 at 09:57 PM.
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07-08-2008, 09:53 AM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Portland
Posts: 3,543
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how did you go about attaching the collar to the fridge?
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