Fermentation Chamber - buy it or build it

[doornumber3]

SO i'm looking to do a "fermentation chamber" and not sure what to do. I'm not super handy but can hold my own so building it from an old college fridge might be an option....or I can buy a freezer chest. What's the advantages/disadvantages of both. I'm leaning towards just buying one and be done with it....

 

[E_Marquez]

Buying a used freezer of a size that fits your needs, adding a collar for height if needed and STC-1000 temp controller is pretty simple and cheap.

Tons of building ideas here in the forums.

 

[BigFloyd]

I ferment in a used (Craigslist) upright freezer precisely regulated with an STC-1000 dual temp controller ($19 on Amazon).

Love it.

 

[jgroesbeck]

I took a small chest freezer, drilled and widened hole through the back, and then ran wires through the hole before sealing it up with expanding insulation foam. I ran wires for a 2 stage temp controller, small ceramic heater, and 110 extension cord. Pretty easy if you ask me, you just need to go very slow to make sure you don't puncture a coolant line.

 

[LovesIPA]

Chest freezer from a friend: $60
STC-1000 from ebay: $20
10 minutes of wiring.

Done!

 

[DocDriza]

I understand this is somewhat of an old thread, but it appears that this solves a cooling problem, but what if you have yeast like the one in the link below? How would you use a warmer temp?

http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp550-belgian-ale-yeast

 

[brew_ny]

I understand this is somewhat of an old thread, but it appears that this solves a cooling problem, but what if you have yeast like the one in the link below? How would you use a warmer temp?

http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp550-belgian-ale-yeast

it does if you are looking to get the flavor of a Belgian ale

might not work out so great if you looking for a cleaner ale flavor

all the best

S_M

 

[rodwha]

I was going to build a fermentation chamber using a small fridge. Buying all of the wood, insulation, etc. would make a used fridge seem like a poor choice as you know it's not going to last as long as a new one likely would, and if it goes out you may have to rebuild the whole thing.

Once I looked at it from that perspective the cost would have been too high, and so I bought a 7 cu ft GE chest freezer and called it done. It all cost under $220, and a new mini fridge would cost about $200 all by itself.

To get a used freezer or fridge that won't need reconstruction would be nice as you can always reuse the STC-1000.

 

[chewse]

Buy - $200 tops. $120-150 for a chest freezer from Home Depot or Walmart and $50 for a Johnson Controls A19 thermostat from ebay. No wiring hookup. As simple as making peanut dog biscuits from your spent grains.

 

[chezhed]

http://www.avantiproducts.com/superconductor/id/364

I use these....one slight cut out on the door shelf and I can fit a 6 gallon carboy or bucket in them and a blow-off receptacle. I add my one STC-1000 controller and bingo. I prefer the individual chambers over one large freezer because I can control temps differently for different beers. I have stacked them on top of each other and that works well also. No freezer compartment makes them nice and no compressor (shame on me...I manufacture refrigerant compressors ) makes them quiet.

 

[soccerdad]

If you are doing non-power, Build It ... some plywood with insulation board lining it. Ice blocks daily to keep it cool during the 3 to 5 day critical ferm time. Ale only - can't really lager in one. If you are going power, I'd Buy It .. new motor, new controller and able to lager in it. Just my opinion.

 

[b-boy]

I understand this is somewhat of an old thread, but it appears that this solves a cooling problem, but what if you have yeast like the one in the link below? How would you use a warmer temp?

http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp550-belgian-ale-yeast

You need a heating element of some kind. The STC1000 can be wired up to heat and cool.

Most people wire up an outlet with one plug set to heat and the other to cool.

Get yourself a small heating device like a lighbulb, a reptile heater, or even a heating pad and you can generate enough heat to get your temperatures up in the freezer to hi 70s-80s for Beligans. It works well.

I live in a cold climate, and my freezer is in my garage. My heater actually keeps my freezer at fermentation temps duing the winter as well. My freezer never kicks on from Nov-Mar.

 

[chezhed]

The Avanti inside! Heating pad on the side is the black thing....I think it kicks on twice a year now

 

[DocDriza]

I may end up building it. I'm building a wine rack and I've already built 4 beer cases. I kind of like all this...(ahem)...wood working.

 

[balrog]

If you are going power, I'd Buy It .. new motor, new controller and able to lager in it. Just my opinion.

I vote this, if you have space.

If you don't, like me (but I don't brew constantly either--another consideration) you can use 2" foamboard to fit around little dorm cube fridge. Can take down and store elsewhere. Will hold 45-50 easy. Put little Lasko heater in and PC fan on wall wart running constantly, STC1000+ and it's great.

 

[DaNewf]

I understand this is somewhat of an old thread, but it appears that this solves a cooling problem, but what if you have yeast like the one in the link below? How would you use a warmer temp?

http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp550-belgian-ale-yeast

I have a chest freezer and an STC-1000 temp controller. To this I've added a heat belt (use ferm wrap on glass carboys, heat belts may cause failure). I put the heat belt directly on the fermenter and attach the temp probe from the STC-1000 directly on the fermenter with some insulation over it. Plug the freezer into the cold side of the STC-1000 and the heat belt into the hot side. After you set you set your temp and temp differential (compressor delay as well) the temperature should hold where you want it regardless of ambient temperature in the room/garage/brew shed.

 

[redshift76]

My ferm rig less than $170. Works great:

 

[DocDriza]

My ferm rig less than $170. Works great:

This looks awesome, but I may need room for 2 or three fermenters. I currently have 2 thinking about getting a third.

 

[popquizkid]

http://www.avantiproducts.com/superconductor/id/364

I use these....one slight cut out on the door shelf and I can fit a 6 gallon carboy or bucket in them and a blow-off receptacle. I add my one STC-1000 controller and bingo. I prefer the individual chambers over one large freezer because I can control temps differently for different beers. I have stacked them on top of each other and that works well also. No freezer compartment makes them nice and no compressor (shame on me...I manufacture refrigerant compressors ) makes them quiet.

I like this idea as it also takes up less space than a chest freezer.

How cold will it get (for cold crashing purposes)?

 

[mattdee1]

Those little fridges are pretty sweet!

I use an upright fridge that I picked up at a second-hand appliance shop for $80 or so. It's newish and in really good shape, but it was missing all of its shelves so the guy just wanted to get rid of it. Not like I need the shelves.

I can just fit two buckets side-by-side in the fridge. Of course, I have to pick one or the other to attach the probe for the temperature controller, which I'm sure would make the diehards cringe ("oh my! how are you going to ensure exact control on the other bucket?!") but it has worked just fine so far. I did a blonde and a stout side by side using different yeast, and both came out great with no weird flavors.

I do think it's important that you have more or less equal volumes of beer in both fermenters, though, so that they have similar thermal mass. One time I purposely made a little extra beer (8 gal), so that I could fill up a standard bucket plus a mini experimental "side batch" in my old Mr. Beer LBK. Both the bucket and LBK were put into my temperature controlled fridge, and the fridge was controlled based on the bucket temperature. When I pulled my FG samples, the bucket beer tasted exactly as it was supposed to, but the side batch tasted kind of weird--my best guess was acetaldehyde, because it was green apple-ish. Both used the same yeast and were essentially the same beer up until that point, so I'm certain it was because the temperature of the small batch was swinging all over the place due to its smaller mass--probably at times chilling down to the point where the yeast went to sleep--so when I tasted the LBK beer it wasn't done yet. I just let that mini batch sit in there on its own for about 5 more days, and it actually came out really nice. Kind of a cool learning experience, anyway.

 

[chezhed]

I like this idea as it also takes up less space than a chest freezer.

How cold will it get (for cold crashing purposes)?

Cold enough...I don't monitor the temp when doing that as I just disconnect the controller and let it go. I suspect it is about 38-40 after a few days. It does take some time to get cold as they are not as quick to cool as compressor based fridges.

Since the original post, I have had to replace one board on one of these...about $40. Pretty easy repair. These have been in service for three years running every day.

 

[NCSU_Brewer]

I built one for ~$110

Wine fridge - $75
STC-1000 + project box - $25
Wood +spray paint for collar - $10

I can get this thing down to 35°F for cold crashing.

 

[popquizkid]

So I did end up going with the avanti superconduxtor fridge. Worked great for a few ferments and then quit cooling. Since I had modified the door didn't want to deal with avanti warranty support so fixed it myself.

The peltier TEC unit was defective. Cheap fix (but had to basically take the whole thing apart so that took some time). Not sure why it failed in such a short period of time. Will see how the replacement will hold up.

 

[EcuPirate07]

I built one for ~$110

Wine fridge - $75
STC-1000 + project box - $25
Wood +spray paint for collar - $10

I can get this thing down to 35°F for cold crashing.

Fermentation chamber.....Priceless, sorry could t help myself.

 

[ViciousFishes]

Was gifted a Red Bull merchandising fridge by my bro-in-law who is a beer distributor. Took out the backlit Red Bull sign and ordered a replacement with my brewery's branding. It sits in my basement utility area. My "Depths of Helles" is the first brew through the chamber, currently at a diacetyl rest at 65*. This is my first time actually lagering at temperature.

$0 - Free fridge
$22 - brewery sign
$15 - Lasko MyHeat personal heater
$86 - Black Box STC-1000+ (discovered on Brulosophy)
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$123