Fermentation Temperature Control

Snow day today! (Central Illinois). I have decided to drink up some home brews (sweet potato pie beer) and plan a new project. The biggest problem I have is maintaining a proper temperature during fermentation. My basement is between 50 and 55 degrees in the winter and about 58-60 degrees in the summer. My problem isn't cooling, it is getting the fermentation warm enough. I have looked through quite a few posts and it seems people use either a johnson controller or a love controller. I want the ability to both heat and cool a fermentation chamber. My idea is this. Get an old stereo cabinet and insulate it with the 2 inch thick foam insulation. From there I'm sort of lost. I realize in the summer I might need some cooling ability, and the prospect of lagering is appealing. Also I want to make sure to protect myself from temperature swings. Because I want to be able to heat and cool I think the Love controller is ideal. How do people both heat and cool a fermentation chamber? I like the idea of putting my stereo cabinet fermentation chamber anywhere in the house I want and not having to worry about too hot too cold.

Thanks!
Justin

check this out: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

You can build a 2-stage (both heating and cooling) controller for about $40.

for folks needing the ability to cool their chamber, it is typical for an old fridge or chest freezer to be used. The external temp controller kicks the fridge/freezer on and off to maintain the temp you want.

If you just need to heat, then something as simple as a baseboard thermostat from the hardware store connected to a 40W lightbulb will do the trick just fine.


I need to cool in the summer, but heat in the winter. My fermenters are in an old fridge and I have a lightbulb in it. I use one of those $40 DIY ebay controllers to run the whole thing.

+1 to old fridge w/ controller

I really like this idea. To make sure, the controller in the linked thread is is an STC-1000. It will control both a heater and a cooler. Meaning, I don't have to select if it will cool or heat on a given day, rather the controller decides that at 64 it turns on the easy bake oven device, at 72 it turns on the fridge compressor?
As far as the fridge goes, I have seen a lot of people build fermentation chambers with the guts of a mini fridge, and have misgivings. Have any of these doubts been founded? Namely, was the minifridge compressor able to cool a much larger area, albeit much smaller amount?
Thanks again,
Justin

Sounds like you are leary of a large portion of what is involved with a true diy fermentation controller or even the wiring of a Love. I would suggest buying a 2-stage Ranco controller. It wil hook-up to both a cooling and heating element. You set the cooling and heating set-points on the digital read out, and it turns either element on to keep a constant temperature at the thermistor.

As for a fridge cooling larger spaces; people have good success cooling much larger 'fermentation chambers' with small mini fridges. Many examples are written up on HBT.

The reason I find myself so skittish is because of one word. Programming. The last time I programed anything was in high school. I was programing equations into my calculator to cheat on tests and I took a visual basic programing class. I was *almost* able make a black jack game (I couldn't figure out how to differentiate card suits). But that is where my programing abilities end. When people say they have to program a Love controller I am wondering, what programing language are they using, and what do they use to write code? How do these controllers connect to the computer they use to write their software with? That is what I don't get. That aquarium temperature controller is ideal for me because I can just plug in values, and I don't have to learn any new programing languages. I can figure out the wiring. The dang Ranco costs at least 4x as much, and frankly, I'd rather spend that on wood to build a nice piece of furniture that just so happens to hold fermenting drinkables.

Score an old fridge or chest freezer from Craigslist. For the price ($50-100) you have an insulated box, no construction on your part. If you build a box for a mini fridge and don't have the materials lying around, you've spent $50-80, more if you need to buy the mini fridge.

And yes, both circuits for the ebay controller are active at the same time. You just need to have enough differential so they don't trigger each other.

jstanley2 said:

I really like this idea. To make sure, the controller in the linked thread is is an STC-1000. It will control both a heater and a cooler. Meaning, I don't have to select if it will cool or heat on a given day, rather the controller decides that at 64 it turns on the easy bake oven device, at 72 it turns on the fridge compressor?
As far as the fridge goes, I have seen a lot of people build fermentation chambers with the guts of a mini fridge, and have misgivings. Have any of these doubts been founded? Namely, was the minifridge compressor able to cool a much larger area, albeit much smaller amount?
Thanks again,
Justin

Click to expand...

You can (and probably should) have much tighter tolerances than 64-72. I've got my set up operating on a half degree right now: if I set at 64, I'll gently oscillate between 63.5 and 64.5 whether the temp outside it is 10F or 110F.

A mini-fridge will cool a rather large cabinet if you are smart about insulation. Start reading up on r-values.

Programming it is a matter of making a few settings (when to cool/heat, compressor delay if needed, and temp differential.) It's not like computer programming at all, more like setting a home "programmable" thermostat.

I just finished wiring one of the ebay controllers and it was very easy. I have no other electrical experience. Programming really isnt programming with this..its just configuring the settings.

AnchorBock said:

I just finished wiring one of the ebay controllers and it was very easy. I have no other electrical experience. Programming really isnt programming with this..its just configuring the settings.

Click to expand...

I too have a couple of these ebay controllers. They are pretty easy to wire/set up. The "programing is explained in the ebay temp controller thread. The other thing to note is these only read in Celsius.

I will be using mine to build a ferm cabinet with the guts of a mini fridge just like you are talking about but I do not have the resources or time for this until the summer. This is a fantastic idea.