Fermentation Chamber. Critique/Info

This is my inaugural thread.

With summer heat fast approaching I find my basement doesn't keep consistent enough temps to produce consistent results. After looking around on here and other sources I developed a plan for what I think will work for me. The problem is I have no idea if it will work as desired. If anyone can provide criticism good or bad will be greatly appreciated.

Thats a SOF and they work great, i know because i built one last year and use it every month.
Cheap and easy to build, good luck you will like it.

The interior base will be 20"x20". what are your dimensions? Im worried about not having enough room for two Carboys/buckets. Im fermenting currently and I don't want to move it around to do measurements

If you Google "Son of a fermentation chamber" the guy has 2 different plans for it. I used a whole sheet of 2" polystyrene foam board. With very little waste. Mine holds 2 6.5 gal carboys side by side with about 6" on the side and 4" in the front to spare.

I have designed this to have minimal waste from a 4x8 as well. What do you use for temp control? Im a recently graduated college kid that can't afford to go BIG so I'm looking to do a barebones sorta thermostat.

I used the setup from the SOF builder. I cheap Honeywell thermostat($20) and a scavenged cpu fan.
All together i have about $60 in mine.

So i picked up a Honeywell rth221b... and I am clueless on how to hook up the fan.

Pink stinks! you asked...

I wish i could help ya hook it up, but i had a buddy do mine. I showed him the site and he took it from there.

AHH haaaa, I did it. much simpler then I had thought it would be. I built it today and things are running smooth thus far.

BrosephJarclay12 said:

So i picked up a Honeywell rth221b... and I am clueless on how to hook up the fan.

Click to expand...

Hi

Sell off the Honeywell and get a STC-1000 off eBay for $18 (delivered). It will let you both heat and cool the chamber. That's a *very* useful feature for year round use.

Bob

Glad you got it up and running.
How would an SCT work in a ice chamber? From what i understand how they work. It is similar to a ranco of Johnson and are not useful in this type of chamber.

BrosephJarclay12 said:

AHH haaaa, I did it. much simpler then I had thought it would be. I built it today and things are running smooth thus far.

Click to expand...

Pics? Did you reinforce the bottom piece that has the vertical supports resting on it? With 10 gallons of liquid above it, I'd imagine that the foam would need some help if you didn't want it to dig into t.

Billybrewer09 said:

Glad you got it up and running.
How would an SCT work in a ice chamber? From what i understand how they work. It is similar to a ranco of Johnson and are not useful in this type of chamber.

Click to expand...

Hi

All these controllers basically do the same thing: Temperature goes up (or down) and they switch something on. Nothing very complex about it. They don't care if they are running a fan, a pump, a compressor, or a light bulb. If you can do it with a wall thermostat, you can do it with a STC-1000.

Bob

barrooze said:

Pics? Did you reinforce the bottom piece that has the vertical supports resting on it? With 10 gallons of liquid above it, I'd imagine that the foam would need some help if you didn't want it to dig into t.

Click to expand...

No reinforcement on the bottom. But I have only had five gallons on it so far.
I would recommend it though, another sheet of wood on the bottom to distribute the load couldn't hurt. I would also recommend another fan. I have a 120mm in the chamber on the right, I would like to get another one in the back of the middle section blowing air into the third.

OK, some updates on this... Im not happy with it. With some changes I will be happy, I hope.

1)I feel that the wood holding carboy needs to be insulated.
2)I found mold on the wood supports, needs to be sealed with polyurethane. this is due to water pooling from condensation from the ice bottles. so some sort of removable tray will fix that.

You can check mine out based on this same thing, but added upon for my liking if you like. The link is in the bottom of my signature. Mine works great, I can lager in it if I want to. My basement stays between 65 and 70 year round, but I can get this thing down to the upper 30's and low 40's if need be.

cuts for chamber

The only thing that looks problematic about that build is the support for 2 fermenters. You will need to bulk up the supports in order to support that kind of weight... otherwise that bottom level will no longer exist the second you drop 2 fermenters in that bad boy