Hoppo's Rustic Fermentation Chambers (Ale & Lager)

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Great point. I may just go the same route as you and switch over to carboys. I have a couple of 5 gallon carboys for secondary, but will need to get my hands on some 6 1/2 gallon ones for primaries. I have had great luck with taping/insulating the probe to my kegs in the keezer, so I wouldn't mind just sticking with that approach. If I were to tape the probe to the outside of an Ale Pale and cover with insulation, would it give me an accurate representation of internal temperature? I just assumed that the plastic may not conduct the temp. to the probe like glass or stainless steel. Am I way off base on this? If that would work, I would prefer to keep using Ale Pales, as I have 5 of them and would rather spend the money on keg conversion components as opposed to carboys. Anyone that would like to chime in....I'm open to suggestions. Thanks!
 
Great point. I may just go the same route as you and switch over to carboys. I have a couple of 5 gallon carboys for secondary, but will need to get my hands on some 6 1/2 gallon ones for primaries. I have had great luck with taping/insulating the probe to my kegs in the keezer, so I wouldn't mind just sticking with that approach. If I were to tape the probe to the outside of an Ale Pale and cover with insulation, would it give me an accurate representation of internal temperature? I just assumed that the plastic may not conduct the temp. to the probe like glass or stainless steel. Am I way off base on this? If that would work, I would prefer to keep using Ale Pales, as I have 5 of them and would rather spend the money on keg conversion components as opposed to carboys. Anyone that would like to chime in....I'm open to suggestions. Thanks!

I haven't tried this, but I bet you could do some experimentation with the ale pails. Measure the temp with an accurate thermometer, while seeing what your temp controller reads. If you checked at several temperature intervals I bet you could dial it in - then just adjust your temp controller (the ebay one many of us use has a calibration feature).
 
Thanks guys. I got some of the insulation done on the ale chamber yesterday, but ran out of insulation and adhesive to laminate the panels together. I will try to finish it up tomorrow, but then I have to focus all of my attention on cleaning the basement. My wife and I went and picked out carpeting and are scheduling the measurement with HD this week. Hopefully we will have the carpeting installed sometime next week and can put that project to rest. I really need to get all of the furniture out of the unfinished side, so I can free up space to finish my projects over there and contain the mess to one room.
 
Finished all of the insulation in the ale chamber yesterday, wired the heat source, and wired in the inductor fan for circulation. I ended up trying the light bulb in a can approach, so we'll see how it does. I think that it won't have a problem raising the temp in the chamber. I will post some pics of the progress this weekend. It's similar to the lager chamber and includes an insulated chamber lid. Now I just need to trim out the corners and build the decorative lids with cedar logs, knotty pine trim boards, and tumbled travertine. I won't be able to make any progress this weekend on the chamber tops, because I have to clean the entire basement. We are getting our formal measurement for carpeting on Tues. and hopefully will have the carpeting installed early the next week. :mug:
 
Here are some pics of the Ale Chamber with insulation installed and insulated chamber lid build. As you can see, I went a little lighter with this chamber compared to the other. With heat generated during fermentation and my heater source with circulating fan, it should be easy to maintain temps with less insulation. Like the lager chamber, I caulked every corner and seam and laminated the insultion panels together with construction adhesive. I taped the seams with tyvek tape as well. For my heat source, I am using the "light in a can technique. I have a single bulk light socket and 4" Inductor fan wired together. The light bulb is below the fan and a large vegetable juice can will slip over the heat source. As the heat raditates up to the fan, it will push it around the chamber. I'm hoping that it doesn't get too warm inside. It will be in the storage side of my basement that stays in the upper 50's in the winter to the low 60's in the summer. If I start to have issues with overheating in the chamber, I will try to connect the two chambers with insulated ducting from the lager chamber over to the ale chamber. I just have to experiment to see what needs to happen. :confused:

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Here's a pic of the two chambers in their final resting position once the brewing room is done. Next I need to build the decorative outer lids with cedar logs, travertine tile, etc. Just incase you were wondering in the prior pics, there is 5 layers of insulation below the subfloor of both chambers, so I did not forget to insulated the bottoms of the chambers, they are insulated from the bottom surface of the chambers. ;) The rest of my day will be spent cleaning the entire basement and getting it ready for carpet installation.

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any updates on these builds? :) love your work - stumbled across one of your builds yesterday and have been trying to read through them all :)
 
Sorry....no real updates on this build. I plan on getting the ball rolling asap on my chambers. I found a source in Ontario for temperature controllers that can auto switch between heating and cooling applications, so I'll order them this week and get moving on the projects again. I own a couple of physical therapy practices and we are short handed at one, so I'm working long hours....not to mention my son's baseball games, my daughters softball games and gymnastics practices, etc., etc. My daughter finished softball last week and my son had his last regular season baseball game on Saturday, so now just playoffs and then done!!! Over the next couple of weeks I plan on getting my chambers going again, as well as my dedicated brewing room. I also need to get the wine racking built in my cold storage wine/beer room, because we have a 6 gallon batch of cabernet that needs bottling in another 2 weeks. Too much to do....too little time. I'll post some updates when I get a chance. :)
 
I finally ordered two temperature controllers through Thermomart and they came in the mail on Monday. One is a simple single channel temperature controller to control the mini-fridge compressor and inductor fans in my lager chamer. The second is a Single Input/Dual Output controller that auto-switches between a heat source and a cooling source to keep precise temps. This will be used in my ale chamber. Unfortunately, I was unable to find these controller in Fahrenheit and had to settle with Celcius. For less than 1/2 of the cost of the Dwyer Love controller that I used with my keezer, I can live with it. I went to HD yesterday and purchased a 6"x6"x4" plastic electrical junction box, all of the conduit/fittings, and the receptacles for my Fermentation Temperature Control Center. I was able to assemble some of the components last night such as the conduit and fittings, receptacle boxes, romex to the receptacles, etc. I still need to cut the r/o's for the temperature controllers in the face (lid) of the junction box and wire in the power sources and the outputs, otherwise everything else is complete. I'll post a few pics of my progress when I get home from work.
 
Here are some pics of my final product for the temperature control center for my chambers. I decided to pipe everything to keep it looking neat. In fact, the power source cords (orange cords in the pic) will likely be piped in conduit as well. I dropped the receptacles just under 3 feet below the control box and they will be behind the chambers to plug into. The top controller is a simple single channel controller that will control the compressor for cooling my lager chamber and an inductor fan that will be used to remove the hot air produced by the cooling coils of the mini-fridge used from behind the chamber. It controls power to the right receptacle. The lower controller is a single input, dual output that auto switches between a heat and a cold source to maintain temps in my ale chamber. The receptacle on the left controls power to my heat source and a circulating fan. The receptacle in the middle provides power for my cold source, which I haven't quite figured out yet. I used water and tamper resistant electrical receptacles. :mug:

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I need some feedback. My "ale" chamber will be used for primary fermentation of both ales and wine. My heat source is very simple and effective (light in a can + inductor fan). I'm still debating about the cooling source. My initial plan was to just install a computer fan to draw cool ambient air into the chamber from the bottom and have another fan exhausting warmer air out of the upper portion of the chamber. My brewing room does not have radiant floor heating like the rest of my basement does, so when I keep the heat registers dampered down in that room, the ambient temperature is consistent in the low to mid 60's. By exhausting warm temperatures created during fermentation out of the top of the chamber and drawing cool ambient air in through the bottom, would that be enough to keep the temperatures down in the chamber during primary fermentation? I have also considered using a thermoelectric cooling unit and heat sink system that I found on ebay for $35 for the whole setup.....2 fans and power source included. Here is the link for that: http://www.ebay.com/itm/refrigerati...793?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a1da08239

What do you guys think.....am I fine with the simple computer fan intake/exhaust approach or should I install an actual cooling source? Any input would be fantastic! :mug:
 
I did the final wiring for the temp. controllers, but it wasn't easy. The wiring diagrams SUCKED that came with the controllers. After a quick HBT search, I found JuanMoore's post containing a wiring diagram for my simple single input/single output controller and I was able to easily apply it to the single input/dual output controller. I did some testing after adjusting the parameters and the controllers are working as advertised! I decided to test my lager chamber with the new control system. I was able to drop the temp. inside of the chamber from 21.8 C to 10.0 C in 25 minutes (down to 50 degrees F), so I'm pleased with the performance of the old mini-fridge compressor and inductor fan set up. The chamber should be fine for primary fermentation for all lagers, but lagering down to mid 30 degree temps. likely won't happen in this chamber. I am keeping my eye out for another chest freezer for secondary lagering.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my ale chamber for cooling if needed. Please read my prior post and give suggestions....I would greatly appreciate the feedback. Once I figure out my method for cooling for that chamber, then I will finish the cosmetic work including decorative lids trimmed out in knotty pine, cedar logs, and tumbled travertine tile. :)
 
Damn dude you got the dream man cave goin on or what!! That is really nice what you've done so far. Jealous as hell, lol. Wish I could help you out with your ale cooling but don't know alot about refridgeration......I'm intrigued by the thermoelectric config you're considering....that would probably work really well for me here in FL in my garage. Good luck with it and hope someone comes on here and gives you good advice.
I wonder if I could build a frame/cabinet around a thermoelectric cooler big enough for a couple of ale buckets to ferment in sort of like you did with your mini fridge for your lager chamber....
 
Thanks for the compliment....much appreciated. My basement "man cave" is the result of 3+ years of blood, sweat, and lots of beers. :D It was a love/hate relationship, because I love home construction projects and building sh*t, but at times was so damn burned out with it that I considered hiring the rest done. In retrospect, I am glad I did everything on my own from start to finish now that it's done. I took a break from all of my projects for the past few months, but now am back at it. I'm going to build the decorative lids for the chambers to match my keezer build (check it out in my sig. line if you haven't). Then I really have to get the plumbing and electrical ran in my brewing room, so I can drywall and get tile going. I think I'm going to get the room done first and then tackle the rest of my electric HERMS system and control panel.

I don't see any reason why what you are proposing wouldn't work with a thermoelectric cooling system. It may require more than one peltier cooling unit depending on the volume of the chamber that you build. Just make sure that you insulate the hell out of the box and it's sealed tight. On the other hand, you could always just hunt down a little 5 or 7 cu. ft. chest freezer on craigslist for a few bucks and control the temps with a simple $20 ebay temp. controller. I plan on finding another chest freezer for longer term secondary lagering down into the mid 30 degree range. Of course, I'll likely build a cabinet around it and dress it out to match my rustic cabin motif. Let me know if I can help in any way to guide you in the right direction. :mug:
 
I was bored and had a couple of old computer towers laying around, so I canibalized them for their fans. I decided that the peltier cooling approach isn't exactly suited for this project and I have now idea of their cooling capacity without adding multiple units. With the ambient temperature of my basement staying in the low to mid 60's, I'm just going the computer fan cooling route. I used a hole saw to create a "cold air intake" in the floor of the chamber and then created another exhaust portal out of the upper, rear portion of the chamber. The fans were wired together using an old cell phone AC to DC cord. The air flow through the chamber is better than expected. I'm hoping that drawing in ambient air from the bottom and exhausting warmer air out of the top will suffice for cooling purposes. I finished up with my light in a can set up with an inductor fan for my heat source as well. I did a few trial tests with my new single input, dual output control module and the autoswitching between heat and cooling worked just fine. I guess I'm going to have to brew a batch of Ale or wine to try this thing out. More pics. to come.
 
Here are the pics of the computer fans installed, which will hopefully be effective as my cooling source. Since this particular chamber is dedicated to ales and wine, I'm just trying to counteract and dissipate heat generation during fermentation, so I don't think I need a refrigeration source for this one. One of the fans is installed in the floor of the chamber drawing cool air into the chamber from down low. The other is in the rear wall, positioned in the upper portion of the chamber to exhaust warm air in the upper portion of the chamber out. You can also see my heating source in the pics....basically the old fashioned low wattage light bulb in the can trick, with an inductor fan above it to circulate the warm air around the chamber to maintain temps. when my basement gets too cold in the winter for ales/wine.

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I have been working a ton of hours, so I managed to work only a 1/2 day today....and my last patient cancelled, so I got out extra early. I was able to keg a batch of Amarillo Wheat IPA, bottle 6 gallons/30 bottles of Cabernet, and start working on the decorative lids for my chambers. It's unbelievable what I can get accomplished when my kids are away for the week, my wife is at work, and I can get out of work early. I need to retire, so I can devote more time to brewing and brewing projects. :D Here are a couple of pics of the plywood cut to size. Now I need to knife a couple of 1/2 logs, trim the tops out, and apply the cement board.

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Finally found some time to start trimming out the decorative lids for my fermentation chambers today. The goal is to make them look similar to my rustic keezer. Here are a few pics of the tops of both chambers trimmed out and how they fit together in the corner of my brewery. Next I will knife a few logs and try to get this thing to fit together with the log trims in place.

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A couple of more pics. of the decorative lids open and the insulated tops removed. Still trying to figure out where I am going to place my temperature contoller with this configuration. I also just finshed all of the rough electrical in my brewery last week and will start plugging away on the plumbing, so I can start hanging drywall and cementboard.

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.......and finally, a few pics. ofthe knifed logs installed across the front faces of both chambers and one side of the lager chamber. I was dealing with logs of different diamters and was having a b*tch of a time trying to get an outside mitered corner to fit right. The inside corner isn't perfect, but it will do. I got so frustrated with it that I decided to not do a mitered corner at all and just a 30 degree outside bevel on both logs to create an angled corner and expose some of the heart wood. Looks a little funny, but I can't devote anymore time d*cking around with it. The logs are still in a rough knifed state, so now I have a ton of sand to do and also need to knife down the top surface of the logs flush to the trim boards. After that, I'll do the poly finish and then mortar down the cement board in the 3 open sections on the tops and install the tumbled travertine.

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I appreciate it! :mug: I'm trying to maximize countertop space in my brewery, so I decided to go with this corner unit design with stone tops. Next to this corner unit to the left will be a commerial ss sink, then a 6 ft. heavy duty ss table that my 3 vessel e-HERMS system will be on, then to the left of that will be a grain milling and grain storage bin. The grain mill and grain storage boxes will be trimmed out exactly like the fermentaion chambers with stone tops to offer even more counter top space. I have another 5 ft. ss table that will serve as an island in the brewery. If you are interested, here is a link to my brewery build. No fancy google sketchup diagrams or anything, I tend to just build things on the fly. The beauty of going with a rustic decor is that any imperfections just give it more "character". :mug:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/hoppos-e-brewery-build-283510/
 
Alright, I finished knifing the logs down flush to the knotty pine top trim pieces last night and spent about 3 hours sanding the hell out of the woodwork. I then removed the decorative tops and put the first coat of polyurethane on last night. When I get out of work today, I plan on doing a light sanding and putting on the second coat.....then a third coat on Sunday. After that, on to the tile work! Almost there.....pics this weekend. :mug:
 
Final coats of polyurethane complete. Once it all dries, I will reassemble the tops, vents, hinges, etc. Tomorrow night I plan on installing the cement board in the recessed areas on the tops and then the tumbled travertine when I return from the holiday weekend on Monday. Tuesday will be grout and Thursday will be stone sealing.......then done! I'm going to harvest my 1st year hops crop and whip up a "home grown" IPA hop bomb. That one will occupy the the ale chamber. I will then piggy back another batch on the same day and try my hand at my first lager, which obviously will occupy the lager chamber. Hopefully my chambers will function as expected.....If not, I'll have plenty of countertop space and extra storage in my brewing room. :D

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Just got back from my kids' soccer practice and the last coat of poly was completely dry, so I re-fastened the hinges and decorative tops and put the vents back in. I also nailed up some 2"x4" backing for behind the drywall where I'm hanging the temperature control module. Here are a few pics. reassembled with the temp. controller hanging in the position it will be in once dry wall is complete. Cement board and tumbled travertine to come.

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Coming down the final stretch. Here's a couple pics of the cement board and tumbled travertine mortared down. I'll grout this weekend and do several coats of stone sealer once the grout is dry. I guess I getter get brewing to try these things out.

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Still need to grout the travertine on the tops of the chambers, but I moved onto my motorized grain milling station and grain storage bin, which will compliment my chamber builds with the same materials and balance out the other side of my brewery. I am 80% complete with the milling cabinet and plan on starting the grain storage bin asap. I figured that I might a well knock these projects out first and then grout all of the tops at the same time. I do plan on brewing and testing out the fermentation chambers as soon as I get back from the Caribbean in 2 weeks. I plan on brewing a homegrown hops IPA and doing my first lager, so I should be able to test out both chambers and the temp. control system at the same time. Wish me luck! :mug:
 
I have been bogged down with so many damn brewing projects that I haven't brewed any beer in over 2 months. I am waiting to grout the stone work on the chambers until I do my stone back splash in my brewery. I just finishe my motorized grain mill, which has the same travertine stone, so once all of the projects are complete I will grout them all at the same time. I am however, brewing 3 batches this weekend......2 ales (home grown hop IPA/american amber ale) and my very first lager, so I will get to try out the chambers and temperature control module. Hopefully all goes well. I'll keep you posted! :mug:
 
Fermentation chambers are up and running! I brewed a German Pilsner last night (Late!) and used Bohemian Lager Yeast, which is in the Lager Chamber. Then this morning I brewed two ales, a Home Grown Hop IPA and an American Amber Ale, both of which are in the Ale Chamber. The temp. controller are working flawlessly thus far and I was really shocked at how quickly my lager chamber got down to temp. Not sure how low I can take it, but it's having no problem hovering around 12 degrees C. I also attached an updated pic of the brewery and a pic of my motorized grain mill.

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Just a quick update on the fermentation chambers. I couldn't be happier with the performance of these things.

Ale Chamber: The ambient temperature in the room is 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 ish Celcius). I have never been concerned with my heat source (bulb in a can with an inductor fan) being able to keep it warm enough, but my cooling source is very simplistic and I wasn't sure if it would keep it cool enough during the initial primary fermentation. I'm basically pulling cool air off of the floor through the bottom of the chamber with a computer fan and exhausting higher out of the back with another computer fan. It is working much better than expected at keeping the temp. down. With the dual output temp. controller, I have been able to hold any ale temps. with really good precision.

Lager Chamber: I was concerned about the old Absocold mini fridge being able to control the cooling temps for my lagers. No problems holding the temps whatsoever. I guess the extra insulation really paid of because I was afraid that the compressor for the fridge would be cycling too frequently, but it doesn't. My first lager was fermented at 54 degrees Fahrenheit until FG, then I racked to a secondary and have been doing the step down method for lagering. I have been dropping the temp. by one degree per day until I get down into the upper 30's (4 C). I wasn't sure if the chamber would handle it, but so far so good. I'm currently at 44 degrees (7 C) and the chamber is holding the temp. well. When I get to the point that the compressor is cycling too often, I'll rack to a keg and pop it in the keezer, but for now I'm going to ride is out and see what it's capable of.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the performance thus far! :mug:
 
Every time I click your thread, I get more jealous of your brewing space... I wish I could get a set up like that in my basement! I do have a fermentation chamber that I finished last weekend, and put my first ever all-grain pale ale into last Sunday. Its working flawlessly with one of the same temp controllers.

Congrats on the beautiful brewing space!
 
Thanks man....much appreciated. :mug: I'm slowly making progress, but it's going to be a while before it's done. I plan on tackling the drywall, cement board, and tile work in the brewery next. I have a "keggle fund" that I have been filtering money into on a weekly basis to cover all of the fittings for my keg conversions, so I'm almost ready to place an order with Bobby. My biggest obstacle by far will be the control panel for the HERMS system. We are having a boiler installed to complete our hydronics radiant floor heating in the finished side of the basement, which is a large expense, so dropping $1500 on Kal's unassembled panel probably isn't going to happen for a while. I really wish I knew more about the Arduino controlled systems, but computers are not my thing. :confused:
 
An update on the chambers. The ale chamber is able to hold any temperature in the mid 60's to mid 70's very accurately, so it's great for ales and wine. The lager chamber can make it down to 41 degrees (5 degrees C), but when I attempt to take it down to 39.2 (4 degrees C), the compressor runs too much for my liking to maintain the temp, so at that point I'm going to have to move my lagers to the keezer to get them down into the mid to upper 30's. That or I may try to find another chest freezer to be used strictly for secondary lagering.

Regardless, both chambers have exceeded my expectations and I have 20 gallons of beer ready to be kegged tomorrow. Already kegged 5 gallons last week, so all set for the holidays. :ban:
 
This picture is just a thing of beauty:

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Well done on all your efforts, most of the brewing related stuff I build falls into the "ugly junk" category, fun to see stuff like this.
 
Thanks man....I appreciate it. I'm working a ton of hours right now, but want to get moving on the brewery again asap. I finally went down to visit my parents, so I went out to the cedar swamp and harvested a downed red cedar log to trim the front and sides of the exhaust hood. I need to get the drywall up asap in the brewing room, because I am having my high efficiency boiler installed for my hydronics floor heating system over the holidays. The boiler, and all of it's components hang on the wall on the other side of the room from the brewery. I at least need to have the drywall up, so that I can proceed with that project, plus it will put a spark under my a$$ to keep plowing forward with the brewery. Thanks again! :mug:
 
...most of the brewing related stuff I build falls into the "ugly junk" category, fun to see stuff like this.

This is exactly how I feel about my builds, and why I drool over the amazing builds on this forum, Hoppo's builds are definitely way up on the list! :fro:
 
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