Temp Control for minibrew conical

Hi,

Not sure if this has been discussed on here before...

I have an 8 gallon Minibrew conical fermenter in which I'd like to ferment a lager, and down the road a few ales.

I was wondering if anyone has the 8 gal Minibrew and if you've had any luck controlling fermentation temperatures? I'm particularly interested in knowing if any one has tried, and succeeded, to fit this conical into a fridge(if so which one)?

Thanks!!

I have one of the 15 gallon MiniBrew fermenters and have been considering the same question. One option I read about was pumping cold water through plastic tubing wrapped around the outside. I haven't had a chance to test it yet though.

I have an 8 gallon mini brew. I stuck my IC in the fermeter and used a couple of stoppers to seal up the threaded fittings on the lid, then pumped ice water from a cooler through the coils with a submessible aquarium pump. Work pretty well. Was fairly easy to maintain 55 degrees in my 68 degree basement. Its not a set and forget kind of system used about 6-8#s of ice a every 36 hours. ran the whole set up with a ranco controller, and a thremowell through the lid. (drilled another hole). I have a pic of the set up but cant load it up so email me if you want to see.

you could do the same thing alot of guys do with their conicals is use a window ac unit and some glycol on a cooler... i have never done it but i have seen it before. their is a link to someones build... i cant find it

snwmnhntr said:

I have an 8 gallon mini brew. I stuck my IC in the fermeter and used a couple of stoppers to seal up the threaded fittings on the lid, then pumped ice water from a cooler through the coils with a submessible aquarium pump. Work pretty well. Was fairly easy to maintain 55 degrees in my 68 degree basement. Its not a set and forget kind of system used about 6-8#s of ice a every 36 hours. ran the whole set up with a ranco controller, and a thremowell through the lid. (drilled another hole). I have a pic of the set up but cant load it up so email me if you want to see.

Click to expand...

This is a good technique bit you might want to think about a stainless coil. Copper reacts with CO2.

Disclaimer: I have not yet done this project.


I've been considering a stainless steel coil attached to the lid of the conical. Water is pumped from a resevoir in a nearby fridge/keggerator through the coil via insulated tuning. A small pump is controlled via thermostat.

For lagering the reservoir would need to be in the freezer and glycol would be added to the water.

Sounds simple right?

I have considered using this IceProbe Thermoelectric Aquarium Chiller, Nova Tec Inc but have yet to go for it.

samc said:

I have considered using this IceProbe Thermoelectric Aquarium Chiller, Nova Tec Inc but have yet to go for it.

Click to expand...

Looks interesting. From what I can find via web search, they go for about $100 each, and each unit has the capacity to lower the temperature of 10 gallons of water by 6-8 degrees, with a lower limit of about 45 degrees.

They also have a proportional temp controller that goes for about $50.

This might just do the trick!!!

wow thats a great find! im all over that.

it has a bulkhead so it can be removed and cleaned between batches!! sweet

That looks like it may work. But how well will it work with wort that's not moving? In a fish tank the water is being constantly filtered and thus it's moving.

FSR402 said:

That looks like it may work. But how well will it work with wort that's not moving? In a fish tank the water is being constantly filtered and thus it's moving.

Click to expand...

I had the same concern... The temp around the IceProbe might get pretty cold. Definitely worth looking into!!! :rockin:

samc said:

I have considered using this IceProbe Thermoelectric Aquarium Chiller, Nova Tec Inc but have yet to go for it.

Click to expand...

They have very a low thermal exchange capacity. You'd need two or three of them to maintain high 60s with an ambient temperature of ~80F. And, that assumes the conical is insulated.

So, unless you live in a very moderate climate and/or keep the conical in a climate controlled environment, those things are a waste of time and money.

Get an aquarium chiller with a compressor and you'll be much happier.

lamarguy said:

They have very a low thermal exchange capacity. You'd need two or three of them to maintain high 60s with an ambient temperature of ~80F. And, that assumes the conical is insulated.

So, unless you live in a very moderate climate and/or keep the conical in a climate controlled environment, those things are a waste of time and money.

Click to expand...

+1

Three units with the controller = $350. You can get a used fridge for much less than that.

One unit, insulated 15 degree drop from this guy,

How to Install a Coolworks Ice Probe on a Conical Homebrewing Fermenter

samc said:

One unit, insulated 15 degree drop from this guy,

How to Install a Coolworks Ice Probe on a Conical Homebrewing Fermenter

Click to expand...

I'd like to believe the guy in the article, but the physics just don't work out...

He noted a 10F differential at 78F during active fermentation. According to the ICE Probe manual, these devices are designed to cool steady-state aquariums 6 - 8F, not 10F. He was cooling an exothermic fermentation which, by itself, will raise the temperature another 10F above ambient.

So, he managed to achieve a ~20F drop during active fermentation with no insulation and a 30F with insulation. That by itself is amazing. Plus he was able to glean an additional 20% cooling capacity...

The manual states two ICE Probes will cool 10 gallons of steady-state water 10 - 12F with no insulation. I call bullsh*t on the article.

Yuri tried something very similar with a 5 gallon corny keg. His results were not promising.

Thanks for all of the suggestions! The SS coil circulating a coolant, controlled by a Ranco seems simple enough.

The other thing I am considering is just picking up an upright freezer(around 60 inches in height) on craigslist, similar to this...
UP RIGHT FREEZER FOR SALE

There are a few of them available where I am, however, many have shelves that are not removable. If I can find one where this is not the case, it would be easy to use a ranco to control the temp, as one would do fermenting with a carboy in a chest freezer.