My DIY fermentation chamber

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impur

Well-Known Member
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May 10, 2010
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Location
Eugene Oregon
I've been getting more esters in my beers than i like, and I know its due to fermentation temps. So in an effort to have consistent temps for fermenting my beers i builit this.

For a temp controller i'm DIYing a hvac thermostat like a few others have done on here, and i'll be adding a small fan to circulate the air inside the chamber.

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Door off and 6gal carboy for measuring

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1" styro insulation

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Since i'm going to put this under one of my workbenches in the garage, and because the access is thru the top, i decided to built a platform and put casters on it to make it easier to move around

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I put a strip of weather stripping on each end of the styro. This is the bottom

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I just continued to add sides and tape

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All done and ready to go, just need to finish up the controller!

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Looks good, but you might want to consider building a frame under the plywood layer. I would expect that plywood to flex in the middle when you drop a loaded carboy into the chamber. Might not be a problem, but the flex may also cause the duct taped joints to loosen/break/etc.

Just a thought...
 
If you took pics while building your controller, please post pics. I'd be curious to see how people are wiring HVAC thermostats up.
 
Thanks for the other threads. I've been wondering if you couldn't just disconnect the thermal switch inside the fridge and wire that to the switch on the digital thermostat - then not have to screw around with additional wiring (not that I'm knocking the concept - love it - just thinking/wondering in other directions).
 
There isn't any wiring inside the thing that i can see. Might be behind the thin wall i guess, but its just the metal cooling U inside and nothing else. I know it doesn't have any settings to it, so it must just have a set temp that tells the compressor to shut off.
 
Ok. I have a full-size fridge with a temp controller knob - no temp settings, just "cold" or "colder" and I wondered if I could just remove that and wire in the leads... I'll do some exploring in the future. In the meantime, still watching.
 
I put one of my 6.5gal carboys in the chamber and filled it up with water. The plywood base does bend. 2 more casters fixed that problem. I left it running overnight with the carboy and a thermometer in the top of the carboy. Started out around 7:30pm at 55 degrees. This morning at 8am it was 50. I don't know that it will get much cooler. I'm going to check again when i get home from work today. I'll also wire up a small cpu fan to a spare cpu power supply or walwart wall adaptor tonight and add that to see what kind of help it gives. I might not have to use a temp controller at all, depending on what i'm fermenting.
 
I put one of my 6.5gal carboys in the chamber and filled it up with water. The plywood base does bend. 2 more casters fixed that problem. I left it running overnight with the carboy and a thermometer in the top of the carboy. Started out around 7:30pm at 55 degrees. This morning at 8am it was 50. I don't know that it will get much cooler. I'm going to check again when i get home from work today. I'll also wire up a small cpu fan to a spare cpu power supply or walwart wall adaptor tonight and add that to see what kind of help it gives. I might not have to use a temp controller at all, depending on what i'm fermenting.

How colder do you need it? Also, are you measuring the temp of the air inside the chamber or the temp of the water in the fermenter?
 
Well i'd like to be able to try lagers, so i'm going to need it to get down to at least 40 i think right?

I tested the air temp after 2 hrs sunday night and got 40 degrees, granted thats at the bottom of the enclosure furthest away from the cooling unit i could get.

Then i ran the carboy with water overnight and have the thermometer monitoring the water temp in the carboy. Thats where it went from 55 to 50 overnight.

At the very least now i can get consistant temps for my ales.
 
That looks a lot like one I built recently. Lots of duct tape in mine too :)
 
I built mine exactly like that. But I ran into trouble with the duct tape holding together at the joints where it meets the fridge. I wound up building a frame out of 1X2s and tacking the foam to it. This was attached to the fridge opening with self tapping screws and a strip of insulating tape between the frame and the fridge. a fan was needed to get the temp to regulate.
 
I'll keep an eye on the duct tape joints then, thanks for the tip. They seem to be holding well so far, maybe the metal tape is helping.

Got home and the temp in the carboy was 48.

I wired up a small fan to a wall wart last night and let it run in there for an hour. That brought the temp in the carboy down to 46. I also found the controls for the the fridge temp, they are way in the back at the top left. I pointed the fan at the control so it wouldn't have any stagnant cold air around it causing it to turn off.

I was a little worried about running a 160mA fan with a 100mA wall wart so i didn't leave it running overnight. But this morning the temp in the carboy is 40. So 48 hours for the water in the carboy to go from 55 to 40. Keep in mind the fridge was not running prior to adding the carboy, so i think it works pretty well for what it is.

And hey, i may get to do a lager yet!!! :rockin:
 
Temp down to 37 in the carboy yesterday :)

Nice.....

another thought. I see that you keg. In this case you don't need a fermentation chamber to go down to lagering temps....you already have one!

All you need is to keep fermentation temps at 50-55ish in your DIY chamber, then rack to keg and lager in your kegerator. This will free up your DIY chamber sooner for the next batch.
 
Cool thanks for the info i need to read up on lagering before i take the plunge but its good to know i'm ready to do some!!

I got the termister removed and soldered to longer wires, so my temp probe is done. I need to open the thermostat back up and switch it to Fahrenheit is all. I picked up a relay, sire, receptacle, box and cover plate so i just need to do a little more wiring and it'll be ready to go

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Finished up the temp controller and put the fermentation chamber to work over the weekend. I brewed up my first lager, AHS Anniversary Maibock :)

Relay

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Drilled some holes in the cover plate to mount the thermostat and for wires

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I'm just using the cooling part for now

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Power supply

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Power to the relay

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Power to be switched by relay and power for other receptacle socket

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I also wired up a CPU fan that turns on when the fridge turns on to help circulate the air inside the chamber. Seems to be coming on about twice an hour in my garage.
 
Very cool. Explain to me what the 12v relay does. Is it an insulator between the thermostat and 110v power? So the thermostat runs on its own battery, and just tells the relay to open its switch, which delivers 110v? I ask because there's already a switch in the thermostat, but it's probably not rated to handle 110v.
 
Yes thats exactly how it works. The thermostat cannot handle 110v, so when the temp gets above the set temp, it engages the power from the walwart powersupply which powers the electromagnet in the relay. The electromagnet closes the circuit, allowing 110v to flow to the compressor on the fridge.
 
I just came onto one of these little fridges (free). Do you think it would be big enough to do two carboys at once? that is keep the temp? I know i would have to build the chamber bigger for the two carboys, just wondering about the overall output of this fridge
 
I just came onto one of these little fridges (free). Do you think it would be big enough to do two carboys at once? that is keep the temp? I know i would have to build the chamber bigger for the two carboys, just wondering about the overall output of this fridge

Here's mine:
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Holds 6 carboys. Gets down to about 53°F right now, but that's because I didn't insulate the bottom, and the front insulation usually has a 1/4" gap between it and the rest of the box cuz I have yet to build a plywood box around it to hold it all in tight. I bet I can easily hit 40°F if I encase it in plywood and insulate the floor.

Small mini-fridge, door removed, 2 computer fans inside the fridge, (one in the freezer section blowing air out, one at the threshold between fridge and box to circulate air). Ebay aquarium temperature controller ($30) controls temps AND the 10A relay inside of it is enough to run the fridge. Plywood base has castors for easy moving, but I never drag the whole thing out, so the castors are useless. I just reach in and grab the carboy instead. It's got 1.5" styrofoam all around it, clear duct-taped in place, (again, I could definitely improve insulation by doing a better sealing job).
 
Here's mine:
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Holds 6 carboys. Gets down to about 53°F right now, but that's because I didn't insulate the bottom, and the front insulation usually has a 1/4" gap between it and the rest of the box cuz I have yet to build a plywood box around it to hold it all in tight. I bet I can easily hit 40°F if I encase it in plywood and insulate the floor.

Small mini-fridge, door removed, 2 computer fans inside the fridge, (one in the freezer section blowing air out, one at the threshold between fridge and box to circulate air). Ebay aquarium temperature controller ($30) controls temps AND the 10A relay inside of it is enough to run the fridge. Plywood base has castors for easy moving, but I never drag the whole thing out, so the castors are useless. I just reach in and grab the carboy instead. It's got 1.5" styrofoam all around it, clear duct-taped in place, (again, I could definitely improve insulation by doing a better sealing job).

Well this is good to hear/see.... thanks. I picked the fridge up today, my ebay temp contoller is in the mail. looks like i got a project this weekend..
 
Love this idea! I have a couple of these set up in my brew room and was thinking I could do something similar. I already have a small refrigerator ready to go and a bunch of plywood in the garage. All I would really need to pull this off is the insulation and the temp controller! I think I just found my next project. Thanks! :rockin:
 
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