Pros/Cons re: fermentation coolers>>

I want to build my own fermentation cooler and was wondering what type I should make. I read a lot of threads on this, most of them making some type of cooler in the mold of the "son of fermentation cooler" using an old fridge, a temp controller and ice compartments/fans. My question is this:

What are the advantages of this type of cooler? If you have access to an old fridge, why would you not just use this as the fermentation chamber and use the temp controller to override the fridge's temp controller? Is it a cost issue or a space issue?

I have no materials yet, and after a quick scan on craigslist, I believe I can get an old chest freezer for around $75 and a digital temp controller from northern brewery (or whomever, maybe cheaper on ebay) for around $80. At a total cost of $155, I can house 1-2 primaries and be satisfied. Or I could try to build one of the son of fermenation coolers but with no materials I would think it would be in the same ball park cost wise. Am I missing something? Is it as easy as finding an old freezer/fridge and plugging it into the temp controller, or is there some hidden cost I am missing?

I like the idea of a DIY project because I always feel an overwhelming sense of gratification when I am finished, but it seems like using the fridge's infrastructure thats already built in would be more efficient and therefore its pros would outweigh the minimal cost increase and my gratification (but then again, better beer would bring me more gratification ). Thoughts?

Gonna take a stab at this as I did a lot of research before building mine.

Fermentation chillers:
Pros: Very Cost effective, collapsible and space saving
Cons: Need to change ice out every couple of days; Ferm temps arent as constant

Fermentation Chambers:
Pros: Very good at keeping constant temps; efficient if built right; set and forget
Cons: More expensive;require some skill to build.

Converted Chest Freezers
Pros: Very efficient, Require minimal DIY (basically adding a temp control and collar)
Cons: Can be the most expensive option; requires a lot of space.

I am using an upright fridge right now for my ferm chamber. I have been offered a free freezer from my wife's Grandfather who is too old to slaughter/process any more calves. I plan to take that huge chest freezer and put my temp controller on it and use it for fermentation.

Awesome, thank both of y'all for the responses. It sounds like the only real issue is cost/space. Luckily, I am not married and so these aren't insurmountable obstacles. I'm leaning towards the chest freezer if I can find a good deal and find a spot for it as it sounds like all I need to do is plug it into the temp. controller and be done with it.

The best ones I have heard of are the Kenmore upright frostless freezers.

You should be able to find them on Craigslist for less than $200 bucks. You just need to make sure the shelves are removable. Some have the coils as shelves and are not good for fermenting.

As i understand it, the reason people install external controllers on refrigerators and freezers converted to fermentation chambers is because the built in controls on these appliances are designed to behave best within their designed range - that being 40ish degrees for refrigerators and -10ish degrees in freezers. Outside of that range, they may drift excessively.

Also, a lot of the time, that dial in the fridge is just a duty cycle adjustment -- you aren't setting the temperature so much as the level of effort. If you've noticed that you have to adjust your fridge in the winter to keep the lettuce from freezing, and then adjust it again in the summer to get the milk cold enough for your cereal, that's why. The duty cycle control is unaware of ambient temperatures - it just controls how frequently the compressor runs.

I'll throw in my two cents.

My fermentation chamber is a commercial beverage cooler. As with a refrigerator, it is designed for fermentation temperatures, has an evaporator with a fan moving air across it for heat exchange and just as importantly moisture removal and air circulation. I believe this is an improvement over a keezer/ferm chamber configuration which isn't really designed to operate at fermentation or even serving temperatures, tends to hold moisture and needs supplementary air circulation.

My GDM-10 ferm chamber holds a 6 1/2 gallon carboy and airlock perfectly.

A keezer has a distinct advantage of having physical dimensions that support corny kegs or multiple carboys, better than refrigerators. My GDM-12 holds only four cornys.

Thanks for all the insight!

I hadn't thought of a freezer not being designed for fermentation temps, that is a good thought. Probably better for my purposes to get something that is better desgined for higher temps than a freezer, as most beers I make only need to be cooled to the mid-60s range or so.

I typically don't ferment in my corny kegs, although I am thinking about switching and starting to ferment more in them. I would rather set up some type of closed system so they never interact with anything other than C02. This is off topic, but in a closed system when you are fermenting in a corny, how do you keep all the sediment out when transferring to the serving keg? The one time I did it I just let the first pint or two flow into the sink before connecting the line out to the serving corny and transferring the rest, if that makes sense. It was almost entirely sludge as I had used a whirlfloc tablet and cold crashed it before I transferred. But surely there is a better way?

I'd say it's about how many FV's do you want to be able to fit in it at a time (how many do you have fermenting at a time?), how much space you have, and how much do you want to put into either building it or maintaining it?

I have a fridge that I'm doing a temp control for, but I already know I won't be able to fit more than two fermenters in it. If it didn't have a freezer on top and was straight thru, I could probably fit 4. Most of the time I only temp control for the first week anyways, since I haven't lagered yet. After that I pull out and let them gradually warm to room temp for cleanup and final ferm. Of course I'd rather have a beverage cooler with heavy-duty shelves that could hold 6+ fermenters without them having to stack on top of one another...but we don't always get what we want. I AM married, with kids, and the fridge is free (I have two ).

This heat wave has my cool dark corner of the basement up into the 70's. I'm starting to lean toward finding a good deal on a small used window-mount AC unit with a thermostat, so i can just cut a hole in the wall between the closet and the back stairs and set it to 62f.

TimpanogosSlim said:

This heat wave has my cool dark corner of the basement up into the 70's. I'm starting to lean toward finding a good deal on a small used window-mount AC unit with a thermostat, so i can just cut a hole in the wall between the closet and the back stairs and set it to 62f.

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Swamp coolers are also cheap. Keeping the t-shirt wet and with a good fan blowing directly on it from 3' away I had my ambient (exterior of bucket) holding at about 62-64 with water 1/3 of the way up the bucket...with no ice.

tre9er said:

I'd say it's about how many FV's do you want to be able to fit in it at a time (how many do you have fermenting at a time?), how much space you have, and how much do you want to put into either building it or maintaining it?

I have a fridge that I'm doing a temp control for, but I already know I won't be able to fit more than two fermenters in it. If it didn't have a freezer on top and was straight thru, I could probably fit 4. Most of the time I only temp control for the first week anyways, since I haven't lagered yet. After that I pull out and let them gradually warm to room temp for cleanup and final ferm. Of course I'd rather have a beverage cooler with heavy-duty shelves that could hold 6+ fermenters without them having to stack on top of one another...but we don't always get what we want. I AM married, with kids, and the fridge is free (I have two ).

Click to expand...

This was a concern of mine that I would get one that was too small, and not be able to ferment multiple beers at the same time. But then I thought maybe it doesn't matter, 1. because, like you said, I will prob only hold the temp for a week or so 2. I have 3 fermenting right now, but that was sheer luck I had that much time on my hands to be able to brew three, so it will likely only be 1 fermenting at a time and 3. the first two wouldn't matter if I needed to ferment for that first week at two different temperatures?

I like a lot of variety so I think #3 is pretty crucial to my decision. I would really only need to fit 1-2 fermenters in there at one time. But, if I switch from 5 to 10 gallons, or brew two or more similar beers, I would need the extra space...I dunno. What I really need is a money tree so I can buy as much of whatever type of equipment I want that day on a whim. Thoughts on a money tree?

ETA: I was kidding re: marriage also. Glad to hear your wife is more accepting of this hobby than some of the others appear to be!

Well, she's not crazy about 6 hour brew days (with cleanup) and hates the smell and thinks I spend too much money on it...but she hasn't tried to make me stop and she occasionally likes my beers, too. If I could get her to go do something for enough time I could brew without impact on her. She likes being home and unfortunately I don't have the money to send her on shopping sprees or overnight trips, so...

FWIW. I have a 7.0 cu/ft chest freezer. Bought used on CL $75.00, got a digital external temp. control $75.00. Running five years never had a problem. Will hold 2-6.5 gal. glass fermeters with Brew Hauler (a must have).