Cool Zone by Inspired Brewing

[BNA3172]

As anyone used one of these yet? http://www.inspiredbrewing.com

I have problems keeping my fermenter at an acceptable temp. during the summer and I have been trying a variety of different techniques to solve the problem. A temp controlled refrigerator is the obvious choice but I saw this Zymurgy this morning and it looked interesting.

Thanks

 

[pdxal]

From looking at the website, including the prices, a mini fridge would probably be cheaper and easier.

 

[Hello]

I think I'd be all over this if it didn't need the cooler. The price is a bit steep for me but if there is really no room for a chamber, this may be a good solution.

 

[Woodbrews]

Any idea how this would work with kegerator? I don't have room for a dedicated fermentation chamber, and I already have a full-sized refrigerator that I use as a kegerator, so could I place the pump in the refrigerator and use it to circulate chilled water through the Cool Zone jacket? Their website has a picture of a similar setup, but no details on how it is configured within the refrigerator.

 

[BigFloyd]

I see a very limited application for this - apartment brewers. If you have a small amount of extra space in your house, a fermenter fridge/freezer regulated by an STC-1000 dual controller outlet box is much cheaper and gives much greater capacity/flexibility.

At $344.95, their 25W Advanced kit (heating + cooling, you have to also buy a $40-45 10 gallon water cooler) costs more than twice the combined total cost of my fermenter fridge, my lagering/crashing upright freezer, the controllers for both and the heater.

 

[Woodbrews]

I received some helpful information from Steve at Inspired Brewing about using an existing kegerator or refrigerator to keep the cooling water at temperature. Basically, you put the submersible pump in a small bucket of water inside the refrigerator and route the water lines out from the refrigerator and into Cool Zone jacket. I can see advantages to this, over a dedicated ferm chamber, for those of us who are space (or SWMBO) limited. I'm thinking of building my own temp controller using the STC-1000 and sourcing my own pump and tubing and then buying cool zone jackets for my fermenters. The fermenters could then live on the storage rack where they usually live when empty, right next to the kegerator, but now they would be completely temperature controlled. By purchasing only the standard kit, and doing the rest as a DIY project, you could keep the costs down to a reasonable amount.