ToastedPenguin
Well-Known Member
I live about 40 Miles outside of Chicago and my house has a basement which I am in the process of finishing. The basement is well below grade so the ambient temperature down there stays pretty consistent and with the level of insulation and vapour barrier I am installing the temperature and humidity level will be easy to control.
A section of the basement will be my brew room where I intend to install my fermentation cabinet. My plan is to make it two tier with the top being for ales and the bottom for lagering and cold storage, based on what I have read flipping through the mountain of DIY posts on this subject it made sense to ferment ale on the top and lager/cold store on the bottom and my understanding of heat/rising cold/sinking. The cabinet design portion of the build and proper insulation doesn't have me stumped, all in all the cabinet will be ~6ft tall and ~6ft wide with a depth of ~2.5ft. The heating/cooling portion with proper air flow is my main concern.
I would suspect that keeping a chamber warm in my insulated basement in an insulated chamber is easier than keeping it cool, hopefully I am not off base with this assumption. So in order to provide the cooling and from what I have read thus far using an A/C unit is the way to go. Most is not all of the examples I have seen use a window mounted A/C unit that has been hacked to provide lower then normal temps.
From what I understand from the similar posts I have read the A/C unit needs to be mounted at the top of my proposed cabinet. Since I don't need to keep the top chamber below 60 for ales, does it make sense to create a separate insulated chamber just for the cool air from the A/C unit and then pump/fan it to the two other chambers based on temperature needs?
Since most window A/C units are mounted in a window with exposure to the outside has anyone who has used a similar setup indoors/basement had any issues with the A/C unit blowing air into the the room it is in? These units, as with any A/C need to drain the moisture they pull from the air, I suppose just providing a drain for this would satisfy this need, yes/no?
What about a fresh air intake the the cabinet/chambers, is this needed or is this something that a window A/C provides? In comparing to my home A/C, most rooms have a vent that allows air to circulate out of the room so no pressure builds up (the mystery door shutting on its own issue), so I assumed its needed...?
Any advice/suggestions on how to properly maintain two individual chambers inside a cabinet that is inside a basement/room would be great!!
Thanks!
David
A section of the basement will be my brew room where I intend to install my fermentation cabinet. My plan is to make it two tier with the top being for ales and the bottom for lagering and cold storage, based on what I have read flipping through the mountain of DIY posts on this subject it made sense to ferment ale on the top and lager/cold store on the bottom and my understanding of heat/rising cold/sinking. The cabinet design portion of the build and proper insulation doesn't have me stumped, all in all the cabinet will be ~6ft tall and ~6ft wide with a depth of ~2.5ft. The heating/cooling portion with proper air flow is my main concern.
I would suspect that keeping a chamber warm in my insulated basement in an insulated chamber is easier than keeping it cool, hopefully I am not off base with this assumption. So in order to provide the cooling and from what I have read thus far using an A/C unit is the way to go. Most is not all of the examples I have seen use a window mounted A/C unit that has been hacked to provide lower then normal temps.
From what I understand from the similar posts I have read the A/C unit needs to be mounted at the top of my proposed cabinet. Since I don't need to keep the top chamber below 60 for ales, does it make sense to create a separate insulated chamber just for the cool air from the A/C unit and then pump/fan it to the two other chambers based on temperature needs?
Since most window A/C units are mounted in a window with exposure to the outside has anyone who has used a similar setup indoors/basement had any issues with the A/C unit blowing air into the the room it is in? These units, as with any A/C need to drain the moisture they pull from the air, I suppose just providing a drain for this would satisfy this need, yes/no?
What about a fresh air intake the the cabinet/chambers, is this needed or is this something that a window A/C provides? In comparing to my home A/C, most rooms have a vent that allows air to circulate out of the room so no pressure builds up (the mystery door shutting on its own issue), so I assumed its needed...?
Any advice/suggestions on how to properly maintain two individual chambers inside a cabinet that is inside a basement/room would be great!!
Thanks!
David