Son of / Mother of Ferm Chiller Feedback?

There are tons of pics, tons of plans, and tons of people who have built Son of Fermentation or Mother of Fermentation Chillers on here, but I haven't been able to find much feedback from people about their experiences with them.

I've been planning to build a modified 'Mother of...' and post pics. I'm about through with getting the electronics figured out (fan, thermostat, indicator LED) but wanted to see what other people think of theirs before I go too far down the road.

If you built one, what's it like? Have you enjoyed it? Has it made a difference in the quality of your brews?

Or did you end up tossing it out after a few brews and go to a fridge with a temp controller?

I built one, it worked great until I took apart an old dehumidifier and added it.

I just built one about a week ago and plan on using it tomorrow or Friday as I'm planning on brewing. Here's my build thread.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-mother-son-fermentation-build-261067/

AJC16 said:

I built one, it worked great until I took apart an old dehumidifier and added it.

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wow I'm assuming the video is from before you added it? That's some serious cooling...

BIGREDIOWAN said:

I just built one about a week ago and plan on using it tomorrow or Friday as I'm planning on brewing. Here's my build thread.

Click to expand...

Very nice... looks clean. Did you go with any kind of indicator light to tell you when the fan kicks on?

No indicator light, I just was able to hear when the fan was on. I went with the dehumidifier because I was sick of replacing large tubs of ice, now I can set it and forget it.

does the dehumidifier help keep the ice from melting as fast?

flanken said:

wow I'm assuming the video is from before you added it? That's some serious cooling...



Very nice... looks clean. Did you go with any kind of indicator light to tell you when the fan kicks on?

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No, I didn't, but if I wanted to it would be pretty easy to set it up.

I built one last summer. It worked great, I was able to get the temp down in the low 60's in my garage that was running in the 90's. I didn't have to but I change the ice before leaving for work in the morning and again at night, depending on how hot it was outside. After a while and a lot of brewing, changing the ice got a little old so when I got a new job in November I was able to purchase a freezer and temp controller. I still have my mother of a fermentation chamber, but haven't used it in quite a while. A little off topic but if anyone local wants it send me a PM.

flanken said:

does the dehumidifier help keep the ice from melting as fast?

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I do not use ice anymore