Richard-SSV
Well-Known Member
Well you guys have inspired me to improve the taste of my beer by taking better control of fermentation temps. My garage is pretty much wall to wall work benches, so to not take up any more room I decided to incorporate a fermentation chamber underneath one of my work benches.
I wanted to keep this project as cheap as possible, so I used an array of scrap wood the sheath the inside of the chamber. Underneath the sheathing is R11 insulation. It's not pretty, but it's doing the job nicely!
I already had a window unit A/C laying around, so the only things I had to buy was the insulation, the STC-1000 temperature controller, and a sheet of plywood for the outside panel and door. For heat I'm using a heat bulb on a keyless socket, so I'm using towels to shield the brew from the light. All said, this little project cost me about $60 in new materials. I still plan to fabricate some type of cover to cover up the exposed wires on the backside of STC-1000, but that can wait a bit for now.
There's room inside for about 6 carboys. Right now I have a couple cases of homebrew bottle conditioning and a carboy fermenting away at a constant 70 degrees. And before anyone comments, yes, I realize that the chamber is not exactly perfectly square..... that's okay... I pride myself on being a half-ass handyman
I wanted to keep this project as cheap as possible, so I used an array of scrap wood the sheath the inside of the chamber. Underneath the sheathing is R11 insulation. It's not pretty, but it's doing the job nicely!
I already had a window unit A/C laying around, so the only things I had to buy was the insulation, the STC-1000 temperature controller, and a sheet of plywood for the outside panel and door. For heat I'm using a heat bulb on a keyless socket, so I'm using towels to shield the brew from the light. All said, this little project cost me about $60 in new materials. I still plan to fabricate some type of cover to cover up the exposed wires on the backside of STC-1000, but that can wait a bit for now.
There's room inside for about 6 carboys. Right now I have a couple cases of homebrew bottle conditioning and a carboy fermenting away at a constant 70 degrees. And before anyone comments, yes, I realize that the chamber is not exactly perfectly square..... that's okay... I pride myself on being a half-ass handyman