A different fermentation chiller

Hey!
I'm Jake, I just signed up for the forum here at Homebrewtalk. I haven't been brewing much over the last few years, because I live in a studio apartment and the temperature in here (even in winter) isn't suitable for brewing. Its currently 76 degrees in here and the sun just set. In the winter it averages 72. I recently started building a fermentation chiller inside an existing cabinet in my kitchen, and figured I'd post it on here and see what people think. It's different than the typical ones I've researched online, but I think (hope!) it should work! I'm yet to install any fan(s) or thermostat, but that's next. Thanks for reading, and any advice is appreciated!! -Jake
[ame="http://youtu.be/3DUNH507GCo"]http://youtu.be/3DUNH507GCo[/ame]

Very cool...if you had success with putting an ice pack down below, why put it up top with a fan? Also it would be interesting to see a fermenter with a thermometer in the center...to see how it temps out.

But very creative usage of your space! Happy Brewing!

I wondered that myself, honestly. You think I should just fill a fermenter with water and place a long thermometer in it, and test it out??

...by the way....I guess I should say, I don't 'think' it's good for brewing....I've tried two basic ales since I've lived here and both I couldn't get the ambient temperature down below 72 degrees, tops.

Looks like the stove is right next to it. Have you tested it with the stove/oven on?

Nope....another thing I didn't even think of. I hardly ever use the oven, but use the stovetop daily....

whiskeyfoot said:

I wondered that myself, honestly. You think I should just fill a fermenter with water and place a long thermometer in it, and test it out??

Click to expand...

Yeah I would just feel a carboy up with 5 gallons of water, put a fresh ice pack in and check the temp in 4 hour increments...I would go with 4 hours because it will take a while for the internal temp of the water to change one way or the other.

The reason you'd want to store the ice in a separate compartment is so that you can control the temperature inside the fermentation chamber. Without the fan wired to some sort of thermostat, though, you may as well just pack the fermentation chamber with ice.

Well, I found this setup researching the chillers, and it comes with everything you need to wire it up.

http://www.coolerguys.com/840556082491.html

I'm and hands on guy, but being in an apartment, and soldering and etc, I'd rather just pay a few extra dollars and know that when I leave home, that it's safe. So, considering the small size of the holes, do you think that by having the ice up top, that with a fan intermittently blowing down from up above, that it should work like the son of a ferm chiller? I understand their design, as it pulls the air across the jugs and back into the main chamber, but being in my little 400 sq ft studio, I didn't want to add anything to my already small sq footage, so I figured using a cupboard would be awesome and out of the way.

I also figured that it being a solid structure, that the combination of my 2" insulation, and the wood i'm building it within would be great at keeping the temps in control. I wish I had a fan I could use to experiment with the temperatures.

It should work great. A 120mm fan is approximately 5"x5"; what size are the holes shown in the video? Is there a reason you wouldn't wanna make them a little larger?

Well, besides the fact that I don't own a handsaw? hahaaa

Yeah, I cut those with a hack saw. I'm more of a car guy, and only own car-related tools so I cut those as far as the upper support of the hacksaw would allow. Pretty funny....

So....yeah I can cut them much more, just going to have to borrow a real saw. I'd guess the holes are currently a 2" triangle each +/-.

I ordered the fan assy tonite and decided my first attempt is going to be building a mount in the icebox above one of the holes, and fire the fan down towards the lower box. The seal on the lower box should cause an air exchange that will cool the lower box.

All that matters is that I can brew some (expletives) beer.

I'd love to find out that before refrigeration that southern brewers kept the fermenters cool in a similar way.

So, I got my coolerguys setup installed and had to make some changes to the chiller box. Instead of using the upper box for ice, I eliminated it all together for now. I added a baffle and now the box is very similar to the Son of a Fermentation chiller, where the fermenter is on one side and the ice is on the other, and the fan exchanges air between the two and over the ice. Its been going now for 4 hours. Its 90 degrees outside (1:30pm) and my apartment temperature is currently 76. The digital readout (mounted outside of the chiller) is reading a steady 64, and I don't think it's even cycling anymore, it's just evened out i guess. The temp probe is mounted midway up alongside the fermenter.

All in all, if I get consistent readings inside the chiller of 64, is it safe to say I'll be good for doing some basic pale ales, etc? I plan to brew a Sierra Nevada clone this sunday with family and, while I know I'm going to want to tweak this thing as time goes on, I am hoping it will be good to go for this Sunday to kick brewing back into gear. Thanks for reading!! -J