Temp Controlled Fermentation Chamber

So ... my first post will be winning the HomeBrewTalk 2013 Giveaway.

Here's my second:

I recently switched to All-Grain Brewing, and there's no going back. Love not using the syrup. And with having a couple beers during the brew day, extending it from a couple hours to 5+ doesn't break my heart at all...

For Christmas I got a Ranco Temp Controller, and my next purchase will be a chest freezer to use as a Fermentation Chamber. I'm thinking a Haier $175 7.1 cu ft from Costco. Holds 2 Carboys, should be good.

Questions:
1. If I put it in a cold room - like my basement, how do I keep it WARM if it's below the Ale Fermentation Temps I'm shooting for? The area I was thinking of putting it in is in the mid 60's.
2. Or do people primarily just use these for lagering? I would think even Ale's would benefit from exact consistent temperatures.
3. Also, How much difference will this temp control really make? I already think my beer is better than store-bought (bias!), will I really see noticeable differences?

I love this site, and the answers the experts here provide!

I just answered this on another thread... I use. 40 watt incandescent bulb in a little lamp. I'm in an upright fridge in an unheated garage and have no issue maintaining 68F for my ales.

Warm is much, much easier than cold from an engineering standpoint. Many use lightbulbs, many use heating pads. If you want to be fancy, you can get a fermwrap (or you can build some out of reptile tape).

I'm getting ready to brew an amber ale this weekend, ideal fermentation temprature should be about 71 degrees. My closet stays about a constant 66 degrees. Going to place the fermenter in a plastic bin with lid on it then into the closet. The fermentation process will generate its own heat and hopefully raise it to the desired temprature. We'll see in a couple of days whether this plays out or not.

A very small space heater works great in my 5.1cu. Freezer.

Just fermented a Saison at 95* for a week with no issues.

I use a seedling mat with excellent results. It gives excellent control, you just place your carboys on it and attach the insulated probe to the side of a carboy.
I don't have experience with a light bulb or anything that relies on heating the air, a mat is simple and it doesn't require any dialing in.

You can purchase a two operation temp control and the heating pads they offer or a heater band. One operation on the control will send powet to turn the fridge on if it gets two hot and the second operation will send power to your heater if it gets too cold. They work off of the same thermocouple which is nice.

hughclapp said:

3. Also, How much difference will this temp control really make? I already think my beer is better than store-bought (bias!), will I really see noticeable differences?

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In Chris whites book 'Yeast' he says that fermentation temperature control is the single best thing a brewer can do for his beer. He also says that a skilled extract brewer with temp control can produce better beer than an AG brewer without

I just set mine up a little while ago. After reading a thread about a heating pad bursting into flames, I decided to steer away from pads and personal heaters. I know a lot of people use them with no problem, but I don't want to have to worry about it. Anyway, I was going to use a reptile heating rock. I figured it would be well sealed and deal with any moisture. However, I ended up finding an aquarium heater n my basement. It's currently rigged up in a growler full of water. Works great.

Like Tagz, I just got mine set up for heating and cooling. My garage hardly gets above 50 for a good 7 months out of the year. I ordered the pre-wired ranco 2 stage controller and a small personal ceramic heater off Amazon ($12). It's a great set up and has been working great so far.

hough77 said:

A very small space heater works great in my 5.1cu. Freezer.

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Small space heaters seem like a good idea but mine caught fire! Fortunately my chamber is built w/ fire retardant plywood, insulation, & even glue. The fact it seals tightly & no oxygen got to the fire kept my house from burning down!
After I resurrect the chamber I'm going to use a ceramic bulb heater. No light, good heat.
GO UNPLUG YOUR HEATER IF YOU HAVE ONE!!

hughclapp said:

So ... my first post will be winning the HomeBrewTalk 2013 Giveaway.

Here's my second:

I recently switched to All-Grain Brewing, and there's no going back. Love not using the syrup. And with having a couple beers during the brew day, extending it from a couple hours to 5+ doesn't break my heart at all...

For Christmas I got a Ranco Temp Controller, and my next purchase will be a chest freezer to use as a Fermentation Chamber. I'm thinking a Haier $175 7.1 cu ft from Costco. Holds 2 Carboys, should be good.

Questions:
1. If I put it in a cold room - like my basement, how do I keep it WARM if it's below the Ale Fermentation Temps I'm shooting for? The area I was thinking of putting it in is in the mid 60's.
2. Or do people primarily just use these for lagering? I would think even Ale's would benefit from exact consistent temperatures.
3. Also, How much difference will this temp control really make? I already think my beer is better than store-bought (bias!), will I really see noticeable differences?

I love this site, and the answers the experts here provide!

Click to expand...

Not to change the subject, but I just noticed the fermometer location on the carboy in your avatar pic. Just a little curious as to why it's in that spot. Not trying to be critical, I'm just kinda confused.

Wow... great advice! And I even updated my avatar I slapped that temp strip on when i first opened my starter kit...

I think I'll end up doing as suggested and use a heating source in the freezer with a 2-stage temp controller. Guess I'll just save the singe temp controller for my keezer which is definitely going to happen soon.

This site is great - thanks for all the feedback and advice!

I use a lasco 200w "My heat ceramic hearer" and a dual heat/cool temp controller

I have two small 4 to 5 CF upright refrigerators set up as fermenting chambers.

Both use the STC-1000 cooling / heating temp regulator, $20 from Amazon and an All Living Things™ 60 watt Heat Emitter Item: 3876121 from Pet Smart, no light and screws into a standard ceramic light bulb fixture. I mention this item from Pet Smart because the cheaper heaters burn out quickly. Ask me how I know. They are $37 but have had one working two out of three months for a year. Added the second fermentation chamber to brew once a month.

Whatever you do, put the sensor directly on the carboy and tape some foam insulation over it. That way you are measuring the wort temp and not the air temp.

This is not advice, just what works for me and why.

For me, the only way I would want to ferment two carboys in the same fermentation chamber at the same time would be if I was making a 10 gal batch, fermented in two 5 gal carboys. Otherwise fermenting two different beers in the same fermentation chamber at the same time could cause temperature regulation problems. They may have different fermentation schedules and / or have different fermentation starting dates. Two mini fridges, one stacked on top of the other to reduce floor space, is more versatile. They allow you to brew once a month, assuming a 3 to 4 week total fermentation time, and allow you to brew very different brews with different fermentation schedules.

I am working under assumption that first 7 days is most important for active temperature control...with the insulated probe. After that I think the heat being added from fermentation slows down and assuming ambient isn't wildly fluctuating temp will be pretty stable and near ambient.

eric19312 said:

I am working under assumption that first 7 days is most important for active temperature control...with the insulated probe. After that I think the heat being added from fermentation slows down and assuming ambient isn't wildly fluctuating temp will be pretty stable and near ambient.

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Sounds good, if you keep your house at the right temp. I currently ferment in the cold garage, so i leave the stc-1000 hooked up all the time.

Anyone try a water bath? I need to do two at a time, but don't want to buy another fridge or freezer. I was thinking aquarium heater, but how to cool?

Tackleberry said:

Sounds good, if you keep your house at the right temp. I currently ferment in the cold garage, so i leave the stc-1000 hooked up all the time.

Anyone try a water bath? I need to do two at a time, but don't want to buy another fridge or freezer. I was thinking aquarium heater, but how to cool?

Click to expand...

I'm using a water bath/homemade swamp cooler...basically a very large rubbermaid tote about 2/3d full of water (with the fermenter in it). The water stays about 64 while my wort stays about 68 while fermenting. I add a couple of frozen ice packs as needed to cool the water (frozen water bottles work as well). They're reusable, so I don't ever have to bail water out of it.
There are other threads about how to build swamp coolers as well, that's were I started with mine.

I rig my chest freezer to johnson controller set at 42F, which is where I also keep my kegs for serving. I also have an insulated cardboard carboy box (sheet insulation) that I can place inside the chest freezer. I then wrap my carboy with fermwrap hooked up to a johnson control with the probe taped to the side of the carboy, covered by an insulated bag. If my target ferm temp is below ambient temps, I put it in the insulated box in side the chest freezer.

Using this set up I can control the temperature of fermentation to 2 degrees from 42 to 90+ degrees. I brewed a saison up to 82F (FG 1.004) and have a RyeIPA going at 64 all within 2 weeks of each other. If I can take a moment to brag, this set up was a revelation to my beers and has drastically ramped up my brewing, b/c the variety of styles and quality of my beers has improved so much.

Cheers

This method is also entirely hands off after pitching (aside from pushing buttons), but is NOT energy efficient.