Controlling ferm temps

[DefinitelyJon]

Has anyone found a reliable way of controlling temps without a fridge or swamp cooler? I can't ever seem to get a consistent temperature using a swamp cooler and do not have the space for another fridge dedicated to brewww

 

[Rotor_Head]

I've heard water baths work controlling the temp with varried amounts of ice. I've also heard of canvas ferm chests you can add ice to. Also wet towels can work. I'm not using ferm temp control right now but I'd prob go with the ferm canvas cooler because it encapsulates the ferm and is the least messy.

 

[DefinitelyJon]

Never tried a cooler. I could see how that might work better if you were adding ice to it regularly. Right now it's sitting in a bucket of water with a towel around and a fan blowing on it. The temp can swing pretty bad though

 

[ol-hazza]

I used to freeze some coke bottles filled with water and rotate them through my swap cooler. Then keep the whole lot wrapped up in a duvet.
Worked a treat but in saying that it wasnt overly hot at the time

 

[beardown2489]

Son of Fermentation Chamber.

I plan on building one soon. Hopefully it works as well as people say it does and cost under $100

 

[MisterGreen]

Son of Fermentation Chamber.

I plan on building one soon. Hopefully it works as well as people say it does and cost under $100

It definitely works. My beers have greatly improved since I built mine.

 

[DefinitelyJon]

Never seen that before. Looks like it could work pretty well

 

[alphaomega]

For saving space and still having control, I'd look into something like the cool zone.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Water baths are awesome! Use a large tun for best results. You can lager if you have ice or brew an ale with ease this time of year.

 

[danimalt]

It definitely works. My beers have greatly improved since I built mine.

+1 Works great, I love mine one of the best things i've done to improve the consistent quality of my beer.

 

[DefinitelyJon]

I think I may have to look into that. The water bath does keep it cooler than ambient temps but it seems like the temperature fluctuating that much couldn't be good either

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

if you have a large volume of water it holds even temps for a long while. Last lager I did at 48 only had to add ice a couple times a day and once before bed time. It don't take a lot of ice if ground water is cool.

 

[djt17]

Son of Fermentation Chamber.

I plan on building one soon. Hopefully it works as well as people say it does and cost under $100

I built one of these 2 yrs ago; it is still my best DIY project to date. I am able to control temps much better than I could with a water bath. Here are the plans for the one I built: http://www.ihomebrewsolutions.com.p.../wp-content/uploads/2012/10/chiller-plans.pdf

 

[Dixon9717]

Ice bath works great for me. I just rotate frozen water bottles to maintain tempView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1426693740.325324.jpg

 

[zachattack]

Never tried a cooler. I could see how that might work better if you were adding ice to it regularly. Right now it's sitting in a bucket of water with a towel around and a fan blowing on it. The temp can swing pretty bad though

Your swamp cooler can be controlled with a temperature controller! You can easily do a cheap STC-1000 build and use the "cool" side to control the fan that blows over it. Water temperature gets too warm, fan kicks on, water temperature reaches setpoint, fan kicks off. The same controller build can be used to control an aquarium heater in the same bucket for heating.

 

[DefinitelyJon]

Your swamp cooler can be controlled with a temperature controller! You can easily do a cheap STC-1000 build and use the "cool" side to control the fan that blows over it. Water temperature gets too warm, fan kicks on, water temperature reaches setpoint, fan kicks off. The same controller build can be used to control an aquarium heater in the same bucket for heating.

That is a good idea. I thought about trying to pump cold water in since I do have my kegerator right next to it. I think I may just have to get a temp controller and play around with it a little

 

[zachattack]

That is a good idea. I thought about trying to pump cold water in since I do have my kegerator right next to it. I think I may just have to get a temp controller and play around with it a little

www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/10-off-ink...age-fahrenheit-temp-controller-amazon-520643/

Fahrenheit version of the STC-1000 for $14 and ships via Amazon Prime! I have an STC-1000 for my keezer and a different controller that I use for fermenting, but this was too good to pass up so I just ordered it as a spare. There are lots of great writeups on HBT detailing builds for these controllers, you can grab a few things at Walmart, twist some wires together and be up and running in no time at all.

 

[DefinitelyJon]

Think I may just have to do that zachattack. I'll prolly try hookin it to the fan first and playing around to see what'll work out the best with keeping everything consistent. It's staying below 70 right now but it can jump down pretty low at night with how it's setup now

 

[zachattack]

Definitely give it a shot, it really takes the guesswork out of it.

 

[youngdh]

I put my 3G Brewdemon.com plastic conical in an 18G Rubbermaid container water bath. In the photo below the orange round cooler is an ice bath with an old homemade immersion chiller I had lying around which provides the cooling via a small pond pump submersed in the fermentor's water bath recirculating bath water through chiller. You need approx 300G/hour pump to handle the back pressure caused by the resistant of the immersion chiller. For heating I've got a 100w fully submersible aquarium heater in the water bath and a second small pond pump (150G/hr) to recirculate the water bath during heat cycle to distribute heat evenly. All of this is controlled via an Ohmbrew controller (second photo) from ohmbrewautomations.com. This config works great and with the Ohmbrew can have very precise fermentation temp schedules.

 

[youngdh]

Here is second photo referenced in my previous post.

 

[PinzonCachondo]

If you've got room for all of that or are considering a son of a fermentation chamber, consider a minibar fridge hooked up to a STC-1000. I use a fridge with a STC1000 and a reptile heating plate as heat source.

Before the fridge I used a water bath with aquarium heater and it worked better in winter than in summer. In summer ambient temps got too high so I had to stay on top of the icepacks and even so, it was hard to keep the temperature steady.

 

[DefinitelyJon]

Finally figured something out that works for me. I have a stc 1000 hooked to the cool zone brew belt with some water in my fridge. Works pretty goodView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431012941.563928.jpg

 

[hezagenius]

Can an aquarium heater rest on the bottom of a plastic tub without melting the tub? Or does the heater need to be resting on something to keep it from being in contact with the tub wall?

 

[DefinitelyJon]

Can an aquarium heater rest on the bottom of a plastic tub without melting the tub? Or does the heater need to be resting on something to keep it from being in contact with the tub wall?

I'm not sure I have a heater belt but haven't really had to use it with it being so hot out lately

 

[kyle187]

Can an aquarium heater rest on the bottom of a plastic tub without melting the tub? Or does the heater need to be resting on something to keep it from being in contact with the tub wall?

I have a small aquarium heater like this

and a small pump like this

In a plastic tote i put my fermentation bucket in, and it works perfect. temp its always within 0.2°C on my STC-1000.

The heater i have is exactly like one linked above, so between the suction cup and the plastic cap on the tip, the heating element doesn't actually touch the plastic tote.

 

[hezagenius]

I have a small aquarium heater like this

and a small pump like this

In a plastic tote i put my fermentation bucket in, and it works perfect. temp its always within 0.2°C on my STC-1000.

The heater i have is exactly like one linked above, so between the suction cup and the plastic cap on the tip, the heating element doesn't actually touch the plastic tote.

Is the point of the pump to circulate the water to get an even temp distribution?

 

[kyle187]

Is the point of the pump to circulate the water to get an even temp distribution?

Yep. The first time i didn't have the pump there was some pretty noticeable temp differences at different points in the water as i moved the probe around. I figured for 7 bucks it was pretty cheap assurance that the water temp was uniform and actually at my set point.

 

[ArcLight]

I built one of these 2 yrs ago; it is still my best DIY project to date. I am able to control temps much better than I could with a water bath. Here are the plans for the one I built: http://www.ihomebrewsolutions.com.p.../wp-content/uploads/2012/10/chiller-plans.pdf

I have one of these too, and it works great.
In the winter, in a basement bathroom, I fermented at 50F, and lagered at 37F with it, by swapping in frozen milk containers once or twice a day.