I think my fermentation chiller works TOO good

Seriously, with one frozen jug in the "Son of Fermentation Chiller" project I built it holds a 59F temp. The fan won't kick in so there must be no air leaks at all. The ambient temp here is 72F.

I really would like it to hold around a 63F for my current batch. Any ideas? I was thinking about "porting" it with 1 1/2" PVC and putting a cap on it when I want cooler temps.

huh??

I think you need to explain the project a bit further. . .

I built a "cooler" with a fan from some plans I found here in the projects section. It is for controlling my ferm temp since I don't have a reliable way to do so. I would like my temp to be around 66/67F. The cooler is made from extruded poly 2" so it has a great R Factor. Plus I sealed everything with silicone. The problem that I am having is that when I put a gallon of frozen water in to the chiller, it keeps the temp down to around 60F. Since it is so well insulated, it hasn't been rising. I am trying to brainstorm to see if there is a way to introduce ambient air to the cooler without ruining the efficency.

You might try using smaller bottles so that you can vary the amount if you need it warmer or cooler. I'm thinking quarts or litres.

I tryed that with small pint and quarts and it still took to the temp pretty low. My concern with that is that it will melt quicker than I can catch it. What do you think about porting a hole in the side? I am wondering if I will regret it.

During fermentation, the carboy or bucket will generate some heat. Is that temp based on an empty chamber or one with a full fermenter in it.

I use one gallon Apple Juice jugs on mine and I can keep a consistent 66-67 degrees with a bucket fermenter in it with ambient temps of 74-77. During the first couple days after fermentation kicked in, I put two 1 gallon jugs in there, rotating one out in the morning and evening. After a few days, things settled down and now I am back to 1 jug every other day. This is on an AG Stone IPA Clone.

Nice cabinet! I like the wood. I was refering to static temp WITHOUT my primary. I wanted to see if I could get the temp stable before I put my primary in. So you are suggesting that I may not need to port it once I have the primary in?

jmjbj_h said:

Nice cabinet! I like the wood. I was refering to static temp WITHOUT my primary. I wanted to see if I could get the temp stable before I put my primary in. So you are suggesting that I may not need to port it once I have the primary in?

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Thanks. It kind blends in (at least I think so, but SWMBO thinks otherwise)



Yep. Fill a primary with room temp water and stick it in there and see what happens. I'd bet the temp won't get that far down.

What temps will it hold on the inside if ambient is around 90 deg. f? SWMBO makes me keep it in the garage.

Pirate Ale said:

What temps will it hold on the inside if ambient is around 90 deg. f? SWMBO makes me keep it in the garage.

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Good question. SWMBO made me take mine to the garage, but now I'm using a chest freezer with a controller as my garage gets into the upper 90s with this texas heat. I'll fill a bucket with water, let it come to room temp and then give it a try with two frozen gallon juice jugs to see what she can handle.

You are the greatest! thanks for the research....

i attach a "in/out" thermometer to my primary...works pretty well, usually reads the same temperature as my fermometer.

my blood ale has been in there for a few days now...maintain 66.6 degrees (ok, really between 65.1 and 66.9)

I've found i had to lower the thermostat to about 62 degrees to maintain this temperature, so the fermentation is definitely adding some heat.

i've been using two of the plastic LME containers. to tell you the truth, i think i'll pull one out. it works great, but it's crowding my freezer and i don't think it's necessary.

it's amazing how efficient those chillers are

I'm certain my nephew is planning on giving me 1 sheet of the pink stuff for my b'day in July. As we discussed the price of the stuff in the winter was about $4 less in the summer. He works at Menard's (like Home Depot).

After that I'll make a Son-of-Fermenter/Chiller. I was thinking of using the 2X2 also to frame it's 2" foam.

I'll be mounting mine on a dolly though...or attaching wheels at least.

One thing I can think of is creating flaps out of soft rubber that would cover the return port and the fan when the fan is not running. This would help keep the cold air in that chamber when it's not needed.

Bobby_M said:

One thing I can think of is creating flaps out of soft rubber that would cover the return port and the fan when the fan is not running. This would help keep the cold air in that chamber when it's not needed.

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that's a good idea...the cold air definitely gets through...i took the lid off mine the other night and took the ice out to let it warm up a bit when it got too cool. let it sit for a while till it got back up to where i wanted and it has been fine since.

another thing that's nice about my in/out thermometer is it gives a 24 hour record of highest/lowest temps

I guess the trick would be to make it light enough to flap out of the way when the fan kicks in but rigid enough to fall back in place when flow stops. Maybe something as simple as a ziplock sandwich bag with a piece of wire through it as a hinge. The wire could just be shoved into the foam to create the pinot points.

DeathBrewer said:

that's a good idea...the cold air definitely gets through...i took the lid off mine the other night and took the ice out to let it warm up a bit when it got too cool. let it sit for a while till it got back up to where i wanted and it has been fine since.

another thing that's nice about my in/out thermometer is it gives a 24 hour record of highest/lowest temps

Click to expand...

I've decided to just use smaller water bottles to try to regulate the temp and forgo the fan. I'm also going to drill a small hole in the side so I can put a temp probe in it to check the temp without removing the lid.

If this works well I'll probably try to make a double chambered one also.

I'm going to have to adjust some of the measurements because I want to be able to leave my carboys in their milk crates when I put them in the box.

80% of the coolness of these chillers is the fact that their relatively automated. Once you start having to manually regulate, you might as well use a large cooler filled with water.