Condensation

After spending 1000's on other brewing stuff, I finally get myself a chest freezer to ferment in.

Brewed a beer last night, checked it this morning, and the condensation is pretty bad.

How can I deal with this?

I have the same issue since I keep mine in the garage and it is getting pretty warm out. I would be interested in hearing suggestions.

John

johnodon said:

I have the same issue since I keep mine in the garage and it is getting pretty warm out. I would be interested in hearing suggestions.

John

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Yeah, mine is in the garage as well. I should add that since it's pretty cool at night, I also have a heat belt in there for dual-stage temp control.

Damp Rid or similar product. They also sell rechargeable electronic dehumidifiers. Both work well.

EDIT::: ^^^^ Beat me to it.

Well the issue is the temperature difference between the side's of the chest freezer which get really cold and the air temp in the freezer. Since the freezer is no where near operating like it is suppose to the condensation doesn't freeze (frost) like a regular freezer. So you need something that absorbs the humidity.

I never cared, mine condensates horribly also, but Ive heard "DampRid" works, never tired it so I cannot vouch for it.

samc said:

Damp Rid or similar product. They also sell rechargeable electronic dehumidifiers. Both work well.

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Never heard of damp rid... will have to see if I can find it. Looks like a giant version of those little dessicant packs you get in everything?

Put a bucket of Damp Rid in the freezer & check your seals as well. Condensation usually means that there is outside air leaking in, but if your beer isn't close to the ferment temps when you drop it in the freezer that could certainly cause condensation as well.

emjay said:

Never heard of damp rid... will have to see if I can find it. Looks like a giant version of those little dessicant packs you get in everything?

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Walmart carries it.

Another though...would a fan help?

John

I had the same problem. Damp rid is a very common product, just about every store sells it. I placed a tub of it in my chest freezer and it works perfect, I highly recommend it

teddy4xp said:

I had the same problem. Damp rid is a very common product, just about every store sells it. I placed a tub of it in my chest freezer and it works perfect, I highly recommend it

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How often does it need to be changed for something as small as a chest freezer? It looks like it may also be designed for entire rooms.

John

It was already mentioned, but i dont want this to be glazed over. check for leaks. If you have a near airtight chest freezer, condensation will be minimal. I never have condensation in mine. Its stored in my guest bedroom and is set at 66F.

I put 3 or 4 yellow micro fiber towels from Costco in the lower corners of mine. Every time I change out something I take out the towels to dry and add fresh ones. I also use these in my keezer with great results. They really suck up the moisture and you can re-use them.

Atl300zx said:

It was already mentioned, but i dont this to be glazed over. check for leaks. If you have a near airtight chest freezer, condensation will be minimal. I never (i repeat never) have condensation in mine. Its stored in my guest bedroom and is set at 66F.

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I know mine isn't perfectly airtight because I have two (thin) wires running under the lid.

emjay said:

I know mine isn't perfectly airtight because I have two (thin) wires running under the lid.

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Exactly, I have my thermocouple wires from my PID and cell charger for my muffin fan, I usually put something heavy on the lid to help push it down.

Atl300zx said:

It was already mentioned, but i dont this to be glazed over. check for leaks. If you have a near airtight chest freezer, condensation will be minimal. I never (i repeat never) have condensation in mine. Its stored in my guest bedroom and is set at 66F.

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+1 This is very important. Even a small pinhole leak will allow moist air to enter and casue condensation problems. Check the lid seal and if you are using a collar, make sure that the corners are tight and the collar to freezer interface is well sealed. Wire under the lid gasket for temp probes, thermometers, etc will inevitably cause a leak. I have almost no condensation form in my chest freezer and what little accumulates, I suck out with a small shop vac about every other month or so.

Fwiw, I have two brand new freezers and they both condensate. Damp rid ftw!


_

damp rid helps, but occasionally i just break out the old shop vac and suck out all the water that has accumulated. there's also a drain valve on some freezers, but mine's too damn close to the floor to be of any use.

i had a pretty good build up too as i was putting together my keezer. i insulated my collar and the top not for the condensation really just cuz i put a collar on it. just covering and plugging the leaky areas has cut down on the build up. I don't open mine all that often and that will also cause condensation if your always opening it to look inside. As cat said, i would start with the leaks and go from there. I haven't tried damp rid as of yet but did see it in the RV area at wally mart.
Oh, and mine is outside and it is F-N hot out lately...

I've got something similar to this and it seems to work pretty well...

http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=LcgDTte2FIOosAPx_YD-DQ&ved=0CFkQ8wIwAQ#

AZ_IPA said:

I've got something similar to this and it seems to work pretty well...

http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=LcgDTte2FIOosAPx_YD-DQ&ved=0CFkQ8wIwAQ#

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how often do you have to "recharge" that?

rekoob said:

how often do you have to "recharge" that?

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I don't know. I haven't had to. Though, I've only had it for a month...

I planned on changing it once a month or as needed. As the salts absorb the moisture they dissolve. Once they are gone, just dump out the liquid and refill with more crystals.

By the way, DampRid is calcium chloride, which can be purchased much cheaper as ice melter. I get 50 lbs bags of it to use on my driveway, then throw a tub of it in the keezer too.

jaginger said:

By the way, DampRid is calcium chloride, which can be purchased much cheaper as ice melter. I get 50 lbs bags of it to use on my driveway, then throw a tub of it in the keezer too.

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The thing I got (called Damp Check) is also calcium chloride. I'm wondering if this stuff is of good enough quality to use for adjusting water chemistry, or if it possibly contains unwanted impurities (despite the listed contents ONLY mentioning calcium chloride.)

jaginger said:

By the way, DampRid is calcium chloride, which can be purchased much cheaper as ice melter. I get 50 lbs bags of it to use on my driveway, then throw a tub of it in the keezer too.

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Damnit! That explains why the bucket of ice melyt I had in my basement liquified! LMAO

Hmmm... the stuff is helping a bit, but I'm still getting a bunch of water.

I may need to add a fan in there to get the air moving around a bit... that Damp Rid stuff can't work on air it never touches.

emjay said:

The thing I got (called Damp Check) is also calcium chloride. I'm wondering if this stuff is of good enough quality to use for adjusting water chemistry, or if it possibly contains unwanted impurities (despite the listed contents ONLY mentioning calcium chloride.)

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Personally, I wouldn't try it. It may be only CaCl2, but the manufacturing process is probably not controlled to the point where it would be safe for using in something you drink. Especially since it's marketed as an ice melter. It might have something else it in to protect concrete, make it pet safe, etc...

emjay said:

I may need to add a fan in there to get the air moving around a bit... that Damp Rid stuff can't work on air it never touches.

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I agree that it will help to keep the air moving over the Damp Rid stuff. My serving freezer is well sealed and I get only very minor amounts of condensation.

Okay, just put a fan in there. We'll see how it goes.

Even with the fan, more moisture is ending up on the walls than in the Damp Rid :/

emjay said:

Even with the fan, more moisture is ending up on the walls than in the Damp Rid :/

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There is almost certainly an air leak somewhere if the Damp Rid isn't handling the condensation. Condensation normally forms on the walls as that is where the evaporator coils are embedded. Depending on your settings, it will either form ice on the walls or drip to the floor of the freezer. IME, it only requires a very small air leak to cause excessive condensation problems. I think if there is any condensation at al in a closed chamber like this, the relative humidity would always be near 100%. The moisture is coming from somewhere. Some will come from opening and closing the freezer, but if it's excessive, something's not right.

Catt22 said:

There is almost certainly an air leak somewhere if the Damp Rid isn't handling the condensation. Condensation normally forms on the walls as that is where the evaporator coils are embedded. Depending on your settings, it will either form ice on the walls or drip to the floor of the freezer. IME, it only requires a very small air leak to cause escessive condensation problems.

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Yep, just the walls, and pools on the floor. Some people complain about condensation (and subsequent mold) on their fermentor as well, but thankfully I haven't had that problem. And yeah, I'm aware it's due do the condensing coils, because sometimes I even find a tiny bit of ice on the walls, even when it's set to 70°!

I know there's an air leak though - it's created by the wires passing underneath the seal on the lid. Not sure how I can deal with that without making all the wires permanently in there (which I really don't want), or another idea that is way too expensive just to fix water :/

As it stands, I'm just trying to wipe it up every day or two, but I hate having to babysit it.

emjay said:

Yep, just the walls, and pools on the floor. Some people complain about condensation (and subsequent mold) on their fermentor as well, but thankfully I haven't had that problem. And yeah, I'm aware it's due do the condensing coils, because sometimes I even find a tiny bit of ice on the walls, even when it's set to 70°!

I know there's an air leak though - it's created by the wires passing underneath the seal on the lid. Not sure how I can deal with that without making all the wires permanently in there (which I really don't want), or another idea that is way too expensive just to fix water :/

As it stands, I'm just trying to wipe it up every day or two, but I hate having to babysit it.

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I hear ya. Now I am certain it's the probe lead and any other wires that is the source of the problem. Here's a suggested fix. The lid is more or less hollow with some foam insultation behind the plastic liner. No one wants to risk drilling through the sides due to the coils inside and down through the top would look weird. You can, however, drill through the back edge of the lid on a downward angle to penetrate the lid liner. Run the probe and any wiring through that hole. Seal it with some rope type weather strip caulk (it's like modeling clay, but stickier). The caulk is like a wad of gum, but easily removable with no mess at all, so you can insert and remove the probe with little effort. I think you could also drill through the compressor hump as there are no coils in it, but I don't particularly care for that path. The back edge of the lid is out of view and you could easily patch the small hole later if you wanted to.