Homemade Ferm Chamber

Just got my new temperature controlled fermentation chamber up and running. Wanted to see what everyone thought and if anyone had any thoughts on it.

I took a 60qt Igloo cooler and made a platform to raise the carboy so it can sit evenly and installed a Jager 50watt aquarium heater.


Then I took insulation foam and shaped it to fit snuggly on the cooler acting as a new lid and cut out an opening for the top of the carboy and then gorilla glued it together.


And finally I filled with 5 gallons of water and used a thermowell with a Johnson Digital Temp Controller which the aquarium heater is hooked up to. Since its winter the aquarium heater will keep the temp from dropping and in the warmer seasons I can just add frozen water bottles to drop the temp.


It's only been up and running 4 hours and seems to be working well with a Founder's Breakfast Stout Clone in there.
Anyone have any suggestions for upgrading this system?

That is nice. For me, my swamp cooler is in my den where I spend most of my time so I have to cool even now in February. It is easier now though than it was mid summer.

nice! I'm using this solution for every belgian beers I make!
You also need an aquarium pump! you have to create some water movements to uniform the temperature and also to reach the temperature you want. otherwise you'll notice by using a termometer that the water temp is some degrees below the set temp on the aquarium heater

I was definitely thinking about adding an aquarium pump.
It is only 5 gallons of water and seems to be working well though, I'll have to give it more time and see if it is needed.
Also, the temperature controller that is hooked up to the aquarium heater is in a thermowell so the temperature that it is reading is the core temperature of the beer and not the surrounding water in the cooler. so the heater is only turned on when core temp drops and not the water temp.

HopHead73 said:

I was definitely thinking about adding an aquarium pump.
It is only 5 gallons of water and seems to be working well though, I'll have to give it more time and see if it is needed.
Also, the temperature controller that is hooked up to the aquarium heater is in a thermowell so the temperature that it is reading is the core temperature of the beer and not the surrounding water in the cooler. so the heater is only turned on when core temp drops and not the water temp.

Click to expand...

that's the best solution to have control of the real fermentation temperature. good job

i have a question for this. I have a very long cooler at my moms house that i wanted to use for something like this.

I make 2 gallons batches and ferment in a 3 gallon car boy and then can rack to two sanitized 1 gallon growlers.

Do I need a lid on it? i want to keep temps around 65 for my apartment for doing ales. suggestions? i already have an aquarium thermometer. and i could make a lid from wood and insulation so i can reuse the cooler for other purposes.

thoughts?

AWKBrewing13 said:

i have a question for this. I have a very long cooler at my moms house that i wanted to use for something like this.

I make 2 gallons batches and ferment in a 3 gallon car boy and then can rack to two sanitized 1 gallon growlers.

Do I need a lid on it? i want to keep temps around 65 for my apartment for doing ales. suggestions? i already have an aquarium thermometer. and i could make a lid from wood and insulation so i can reuse the cooler for other purposes.

thoughts?

Click to expand...

I would definitely make a lid for it. My lid helps keep the core temp of my carboy during fermentation within 1-2degrees of my target temperature.
Without a lid the water around the carboys will warm up quicker and in return will let the carboys get too warm.

Fermentation temperature control is one of the biggest things anyone can do to help improve their homebrew.

I'm not sure that aquarium heater should be hanging out in the open air. They are desiged to heat water so it's expected to be in water. The glass tube may crack unless you stick it in a jug of water or something like that.

EDIT: I think I'm now readng that the heater is in water inside the cooler.. If so, cool!

Nagorg said:

I'm not sure that aquarium heater should be hanging out in the open air. They are desiged to heat water so it's expected to be in water. The glass tube may crack unless you stick it in a jug of water or something like that.

EDIT: I think I'm now readng that the heater is in water inside the cooler.. If so, cool!

Click to expand...

Yeah, put your carboy in the cooler, Fill it with Water so the carboy is submerged and then put your aquarium heater in there hooked up to the digital temp controller and put the lid on.
If you need to warm up your fermentation the heater will warm the water around the carboy and in return will warm up your fermentation. If you need to cool down your fermentation then just throw a frozen water bottle in the cooler and it will cool down the water and cool down your carboy core temp.

I have found with this chamber, or any other chamber you may build from an old fridge or chest freezer, that you will notice a great increase in the overall outcome of your beer.

You don't know if you don't need the water circulator unless you measure the temp at at least 2 vertically spaced spots. Believe me, thermal stratification is a big issue. Get a small aquarium powerhead to get some movement in the thermal bath.