temp. controlled fermentation room.

**Cold_Steel** · 05-24-2009, 01:59 PM

I will have multi. 55 gallon barrels ferementing for 30 day periods of time. Plus I will have 3 79 gallon stainless steel fermenters (right now I only have one).
The place I have to put this is a quasine hut but only in a smaller part of the building. The temps. go extreme like the weather. It has a smooth concrete floor.
So I was thinking a 10x10 room with a roof. 2x4's with foam insulation ( I heard it gets a R-30 rating) and something like this
Frigidaire 9,000 BTU Heat and Cool Air Conditioner 220 Volts 50HZ, 110220Volts.com,
for temp controls. I really want this to be automated. I want to be able to turn it on and know for 6 months nothing is going to happen to the temps. of the room to insure a constant ferment temp. I am not going to make a plan for power outages. I do have generaters for emergency power but would prefer not to use them.

**Cold_Steel** · 05-25-2009, 01:39 AM

wow 45 views and no response. Thats awesome. I feel like I am talking to my wife.

**ChshreCat** · 05-25-2009, 01:46 AM

Well, you did post at 7am on a sunday morning of a three-day holiday weekend (in the states at least).

And if you do a search, or check the stickies at the top of the DIY forum, you'd find this http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-latest-project-walk-cooler-11440/ among other things. Hope that helps.

**Dwain** · 05-25-2009, 02:13 AM

A couple of things. First, a 10X10 room is not going to give you room for a whole lot of 55 gal bbls. plus the 79 gal. fermenters. Especially if you have to move them with a hand truck. But I'm sure you've done your home work on that. Second, does this have to be installed by a professional? I mean, the refrigerant lines have to be run from the inside unit to the compressor. And does this matter. Do you have to switch it from heating to cooling manually or just enter a set point. Finally, that looks like a pretty good price if it is all auto and you don't have to switch it. The window units I've been looking at are a little cheaper, but you have to switch them manually. Let us know what you decide. Luck - Dwain

**Cold_Steel** · 05-25-2009, 02:35 AM

No it doesnt matter if a pro does it or not. however I will say a pro is at hand as far as construction goes. I dont know what you mean by "the refrigerant lines have to be run from the inside uit to the compressor"
I want a heat and cooling unit in one. the unit I highled I believe to do just that. thanks for your help dwain

**Dwain** · 05-25-2009, 04:03 AM

Crystalcabot,
I just realized. I miss spelled "unit" (uit) in the first post. Looking at the bottom of the page you linked to, it shows the outside unit, then the refrigerant lines go to the inside unit. My guess is that after the outside and inside units are installed, the lines will need to be sweated together, a vacuum pulled and the unit charged with refrigerant. I'm not sure, I'm just guessing. That's what I meant by a professional to install. If I'm still not getting my meaning across, let me know and I'll try to explain better. Luck - Dwain

**bikefoolery** · 05-25-2009, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crystalcabot

wow 45 views and no response. Thats awesome. I feel like I am talking to my wife.

My jaw was pretty close to the floor when I read about your batch sizes. Maybe some of us just brew 5 or 10 gallons at a time. 55-79 gallons is a pretty sizable. I thought many commercial operations run glycol cooled systems to each beer an have it's desired temp for that yeast.

**rico567** · 05-25-2009, 11:23 AM

+1 Most people on this forum, from what I've read, only do 5-10 gallon batches (I've never done more than 5, and I ferment in a plastic bucket). I am pretty much aware that the technical issues of brewing aren't necessarily the same as you scale up the process, i.e., cooling a fermenting batch becomes a far bigger problem, due to the decrease in surface area of the container in proportion to the volume of a liquid undergoing an exothermic reaction. I'm thinking you may want consultation from a more professional source.......

**Cold_Steel** · 05-25-2009, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dwain

Crystalcabot,
I just realized. I miss spelled "unit" (uit) in the first post. Looking at the bottom of the page you linked to, it shows the outside unit, then the refrigerant lines go to the inside unit. My guess is that after the outside and inside units are installed, the lines will need to be sweated together, a vacuum pulled and the unit charged with refrigerant. I'm not sure, I'm just guessing. That's what I meant by a professional to install. If I'm still not getting my meaning across, let me know and I'll try to explain better. Luck - Dwain

Ok gotcha now I see what you mean. I was thinking about the framing and such.

**Cold_Steel** · 05-25-2009, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rico567

+1 Most people on this forum, from what I've read, only do 5-10 gallon batches (I've never done more than 5, and I ferment in a plastic bucket). I am pretty much aware that the technical issues of brewing aren't necessarily the same as you scale up the process, i.e., cooling a fermenting batch becomes a far bigger problem, due to the decrease in surface area of the container in proportion to the volume of a liquid undergoing an exothermic reaction. I'm thinking you may want consultation from a more professional source.......

Nawww I love it here.
I am just doing mult batches.