My DIY Fermentation Chamber

ikonis · 05-18-2009, 04:26 PM

I'm no carpenter by any means... But I thought I'd share what I was working on my lazy-sunday.

Ran out of insulation. But I have to go scavenge a few 120mm fans from my computer hardware stash and cut the holes in the divider wall.

I should be able to finish this thing off in the next few days.

By my eyeball measurements, I should be able to fit 4 carboys in it with room to spare... Not that I ever do that much at a time. So in reality, 2 carboys plus 2 cases of bottles to condition them in the same environment. More pics to come as they are available.

Edit: I'll be sealing everything off with that great stuff in a can... won't look pretty, but I prefer function over form

SowegaBrews · 05-18-2009, 05:40 PM

how are you cooling it?

ikonis · 05-18-2009, 05:41 PM

Plan on a few 120mm fans to circulate air around frozen water bottles

I know it's not the most efficient.... but it is the most cost effective for me.

SowegaBrews · 05-18-2009, 06:14 PM

Nah, I love Son of Fermentation style fermenters. It looks good! How are you planning to circulate the air? Are you splitting the ice chamber?

chumprock · 05-18-2009, 06:25 PM

I'm thinking about doing somethign similar, but using a peltier cooler out of one of those cheapo "car cooler" thingies...

Anyone have exp with peltier for a fermentation cooler?

ikonis · 05-18-2009, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SowegaBrews

Nah, I love Son of Fermentation style fermenters. It looks good! How are you planning to circulate the air? Are you splitting the ice chamber?

Wasn't planning on splitting the ice chamber. Should I?
And I was planning on 4 120mm fans, 2 pushers and 2 pullers.

**DeathBrewer** · 05-18-2009, 07:56 PM

That will work great. The idea of splitting off the ice chamber is that you can maintain very consistent temperatures in the fermentation chamber. Instead of just having fans circulate air around the ice constantly, it would only turn on when the thermostat read above your desired temp in the fermentation chamber. So it would only blow cold air on your fermenters when they are above their ideal temp.

Works very well...I got about a 2-3 degree swing and could maintain about 20° below ambient if I changed out the ice every day with my Son-of-Fermentation Chiller.

**maztec** · 05-18-2009, 08:10 PM

What do you mean by splitting off the ice chamber? Putting it in an entirely separate unit?

And what type of temperature control device and power are you using to drive this? I was thinking of building something similar. Would be even better if I could build something like this that could do warm or cool and could sit in my shed. Except, the shed (a) has rats, (b) has a piss-poor lock, (c) has no electricity. I wonder if there is a way to build the box, on wheels, and make it rat proof, and have self-contained power ... perhaps use some old rechargeable wheelchair batteries or something....

**DeathBrewer** · 05-18-2009, 08:16 PM

Basically, just putting some insulation in between the ice and the fermenters, leaving only space for the fans, and then setting those up to a thermostat.

Here are some examples of the Son-of-Fermentation Chiller:

Pictures of the "Son of Fermentation" chiller in action

http://www.blackcanyonbrewers.com/BCHA-PDF-Files/chiller.pdf

Wort-O-Matic: 38DD Mother of a Fermentation Chiller

All you need to power is some fans, so I'm sure you could rig up a battery power supply.

**DeathBrewer** · 05-18-2009, 08:17 PM

I actually thought that was what you had planned with your "divider" wall.