SoopirV900
Member
Hi All- I successfully converted a an upright fridge (manual defrost, with the coils in the shelves:rockin
to a fermentation chamber, and now that my first batch is literally "chilin", a few ideas have come to me. Does anyone see value or problems with the following?
1) Remove door shelving (about 40 screws behind gasket) to clean up the inside's appearances (have plenty of room already). The question I have is what to replace the shelving with? It needs to be easy to clean and water-resistant. Lowe's sells some coated hardboard, like what clipboards are made out of, but...only the face of it would be water-resistant- the holes and edges would be very susceptible to moisture incursion I think, no? Would be fun to have a dry-erase surface to take notes. What sort of material is best for this?
2) (this is going to be a flame-creator, I'm sure!
) Create a view-port? I'm not using a thermowell yet, so my temp probe for the external thermostat is wedged against the glass carboy under a strap of the Brewhauler. Prior to this, while testing the thermostat, I realized what a shock it was to the system to open the door frequently- it would bump the temp by up to 2 degrees C per opening. The thermal mass of the fermenters will help stabilize this bump, but I like cool stuff, so: put a small (10"x10") double-pane window in the door? obviously, I won't be able to do a real double pane treatment like we have in our houses (no vacuum between panes), but a piece of plexi inside, caulked to the new door liner (see above) and a piece outside, SHOULD create enough insulation to prevent terrible energy losses, right? I am thinking of going a step further (probably too far already) and adding a momentary push button switch on the outside wall that is wired in parallel with the door switch. Push this to turn on the interior light to get a good view, useful if I suspect blowoff is nearing/over, or to be sure everything is kosher.
3) this is probably the most straightforward, but I have a shaker table that I would like to put in the new ferm chamber too (for my starters), but need to build a shelf. How do you guys create shelving inside? I think I need something that will allow ventilation, so plywood is probably not great...what do you guys use?
Thanks!!
to a fermentation chamber, and now that my first batch is literally "chilin", a few ideas have come to me. Does anyone see value or problems with the following?1) Remove door shelving (about 40 screws behind gasket) to clean up the inside's appearances (have plenty of room already). The question I have is what to replace the shelving with? It needs to be easy to clean and water-resistant. Lowe's sells some coated hardboard, like what clipboards are made out of, but...only the face of it would be water-resistant- the holes and edges would be very susceptible to moisture incursion I think, no? Would be fun to have a dry-erase surface to take notes. What sort of material is best for this?
2) (this is going to be a flame-creator, I'm sure!
) Create a view-port? I'm not using a thermowell yet, so my temp probe for the external thermostat is wedged against the glass carboy under a strap of the Brewhauler. Prior to this, while testing the thermostat, I realized what a shock it was to the system to open the door frequently- it would bump the temp by up to 2 degrees C per opening. The thermal mass of the fermenters will help stabilize this bump, but I like cool stuff, so: put a small (10"x10") double-pane window in the door? obviously, I won't be able to do a real double pane treatment like we have in our houses (no vacuum between panes), but a piece of plexi inside, caulked to the new door liner (see above) and a piece outside, SHOULD create enough insulation to prevent terrible energy losses, right? I am thinking of going a step further (probably too far already) and adding a momentary push button switch on the outside wall that is wired in parallel with the door switch. Push this to turn on the interior light to get a good view, useful if I suspect blowoff is nearing/over, or to be sure everything is kosher.3) this is probably the most straightforward, but I have a shaker table that I would like to put in the new ferm chamber too (for my starters), but need to build a shelf. How do you guys create shelving inside? I think I need something that will allow ventilation, so plywood is probably not great...what do you guys use?
Thanks!!
