Fermentation Chiller Idea

[brewkrew]

Alright, so it is finally getting warm here in Iowa... Good for golf, bad for brewing. I don't plan on having my apartments ac set at 65F all the time, so I am looking into some chilling ideas. I've read plenty of ideas for altering a mini fridge and such, but I love my mini fridge, and I'll need that later to chill my home brews.

I think I've devised a plan that should work at least somewhat efficiently. What I think I'm planning to do is build a box out of insulated sheathing and plywood. I haven't finished drawing blue prints and getting prices cause I wanted to get your guys opinions on how well it will work first, but I think it should be fairly low cost/maintenance. So I build the box out of insulation and support it with a hard outside cover of plywood. Then I line the inside with some waterproof material (suggestions for material?? I was thinking about cutting a huge garbage bag in half and trying to fit that??) Then I fill with some water and add water bottles of ice as needed. Obviously there is a lid built in same way.

What do you guys think? Will it work, will it work well? I want to fit two carboys in it, and I'm at work so not sure on exact dimensions of my carboy, but found some online. So I'm thinking my chest would be 36" long, 30" tall, and 20" deep.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Sounds like The Son of Fermentation Chiller to me, check it out.

Here is another helpful site for the DIY inspired.

 

[no_borders]

i use the son of fermentation chiller. its not exactly what the way its described in the article, but all the same concepts. thing is amazing, im telling ya if you got the time and space this is the way to go. i didnt have room for another fridge to devote to beer (already got a full fridge built as a keggerator) and this was the answer. the onlyproblem i have with mine, is that it actually stays too cold. where its not quite warm in new england yet, i have trouble gettin it above 63, but the box is ideal for lagers. i would deff give that article a read through

 

[dorklord]

Sounds like The Son of Fermentation Chiller to me, check it out.

Here is another helpful site for the DIY inspired.

Actually, he's talking about filling it with water...

I'm thinking if you look at your design, line the inside and outside with plastic instead of plywood, you just described a cooler. And with your measurements needing about a sheet of plywood (not including a lid) plus insulation, it might not be that much cheaper than a cooler, plus hard to waterproof.

I've seen pictures of coolers that people have used, where they just took off the lid, then took a piece of foam and cut a couple holes in it for the very tops of the airlocks to stick out of. And it shouldn't be hard to find a cooler with a drain on it, that way you can get the water out easily.

 

[brewkrew]

I'm not at home so I don't have the exact dimensions of my 6.5gal carboy, but if I used a cooler, I would want it at least tall enough to reach the opening of the mouth. I don't know if I would find a cooler that is is roughly 20" tall?

 

[dorklord]

I'm not at home so I don't have the exact dimensions of my 6.5gal carboy, but if I used a cooler, I would want it at least tall enough to reach the opening of the mouth. I don't know if I would find a cooler that is is roughly 20" tall?

I just did a quick search on Walmart's site, the first cooler that came up was a Coleman 70 quart lists as 18 inches tall, and there were tons of other coolers, some much, much bigger.

 

[brewkrew]

The larger sizes don't add height to the cooler though, and that is my main concern right now. With this cooler I'm looking at building I can get it done for around $40-$50 I think. I still think I could water proof it with a one of those epically big garbage bags. I'm considering 1" insulation sheathing which if my uncle doesn't have around the farm I can buy from Lowe's at $12. Then make the outer shell of 1/2" thick OSB Sheathing which can be bought at Lowe's for $15. I would need two of those and one sheet of insulation totaling around $42 dollars.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Actually, he's talking about filling it with water...

My bad I missed that

I use a 70qt coleman cooler, and although the water doesn't reach all the way up to the 5-5.5 gallon mark on my pail fermenters it works really well at keeping the temps stable, you could always throw a wet shirt over waht isn't under the water and aima fan at it to keep it cool.

 

[dorklord]

The larger sizes don't add height to the cooler though, and that is my main concern right now. With this cooler I'm looking at building I can get it done for around $40-$50 I think. I still think I could water proof it with a one of those epically big garbage bags. I'm considering 1" insulation sheathing which if my uncle doesn't have around the farm I can buy from Lowe's at $12. Then make the outer shell of 1/2" thick OSB Sheathing which can be bought at Lowe's for $15. I would need two of those and one sheet of insulation totaling around $42 dollars.

Sure they do. I'm not 100% sure what size, but I've seen pictures of guys on the forum doing precisely what you are saying with a cooler.

Waterproofing with a trash bag might work fine, although I'd be worried about how easy it would be to tear a hole in it.

 

[brewkrew]

My bad I missed that

I use a 70qt coleman cooler, and although the water doesn't reach all the way up to the 5-5.5 gallon mark on my pail fermenters it works really well at keeping the temps stable, you could always throw a wet shirt over waht isn't under the water and aima fan at it to keep it cool.

I might end up doing something like this. Do you use it in places that have an ambient air temp of like 80F. How cool does it keep the fermentors? Do you use ice water or just regular room temp water?

Waterproofing with a trash bag might work fine, although I'd be worried about how easy it would be to tear a hole in it.

I had thought of this. I might hold off on my build till after I see what I can do with just a cooler and t-shirt. On the other hand, if I can find a solid solution to waterproofing I think my homemade "ice box" will work pretty well. Plus it leaves open the option for later modification. (adding a cooling system and etc)

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

I might end up doing something like this. Do you use it in places that have an ambient air temp of like 80F. How cool does it keep the fermentors? Do you use ice water or just regular room temp water?

Living in AZ our tap water is warm to hot in the summer. I have to recirculate ice water with a pump which I use the cooler for. After I have my wort down to pitching temps, I use the cool/cold water left in the cooler as my starting fermentation water. I have to add a frozen water bottle about once a day for the first 2-3 days depending on how active fermentation is. Afterwards, I might have to add a frozen bottle every 2-3 days to keep temps stable. I try to keep my home around 78F in the summer, having said that we have air conditioning so if you have an evporative cooler then you may have to switch frozen bottles more frequently.

The nice thing is that the 70qt coleman xtreme doubles as a larger MLT for really big beers, I currently use a 52qt coleman xtreme, and I can brew up to 10 gallon batches.

For what it is it does the job really well.

 

[brewkrew]

So you just plop your fermentor right there in the cooler and add water and some ice bottles once in a while? No lid or shirt or anything? Seems fairly easy. How do you gauge the temperature of the beer while it is in the fermentor? I don't know how I would measure the temperature of it without having a thermometer on the inside of the fermentor..

 

[dorklord]

A lot of guys will tape a thermometer of some sort to their carboy, and put bubble wrap over it to insulate it, so it will be at the temperature of the carboy instead of air temp.

However, being in water like that, a thermometer just stuck on the outside of your carboy is going to be at the same temp as the glass, which should be the same temp as the water around it, and the beer inside should be at the same temp as the glass. At least, we're talking about being with a degree or so, probably a smaller difference than the tolerance of an ordinary thermometer!

 

[SweetSounds]

Alright, so it is finally getting warm here in Iowa... Good for golf, bad for brewing. I don't plan on having my apartments ac set at 65F all the time, so I am looking into some chilling ideas. I've read plenty of ideas for altering a mini fridge and such, but I love my mini fridge, and I'll need that later to chill my home brews.

I think I've devised a plan that should work at least somewhat efficiently. What I think I'm planning to do is build a box out of insulated sheathing and plywood. I haven't finished drawing blue prints and getting prices cause I wanted to get your guys opinions on how well it will work first, but I think it should be fairly low cost/maintenance. So I build the box out of insulation and support it with a hard outside cover of plywood. Then I line the inside with some waterproof material (suggestions for material?? I was thinking about cutting a huge garbage bag in half and trying to fit that??) Then I fill with some water and add water bottles of ice as needed. Obviously there is a lid built in same way.

What do you guys think? Will it work, will it work well? I want to fit two carboys in it, and I'm at work so not sure on exact dimensions of my carboy, but found some online. So I'm thinking my chest would be 36" long, 30" tall, and 20" deep.

Hey BrewKrew - I'm in DSM, and work in AMS - There are a TON of mini fridges on CL right now. Just a quick scan found one for $30 in Ankeny and one for $50 in West DSM. If you would have posted before Friday last week, I'd have given you a full size fridge! Just took it to the dump!

I love DIY, and the idea sounds cool, but a trashbag water bath in an apartment sounds like trouble to me.

If you get the $30 mini fridge, you can still get your DIY fix with this idea, and about $30 in parts.

 

[brewkrew]

Hey BrewKrew - I'm in DSM, and work in AMS - There are a TON of mini fridges on CL right now. Just a quick scan found one for $30 in Ankeny and one for $50 in West DSM. If you would have posted before Friday last week, I'd have given you a full size fridge! Just took it to the dump!

I love DIY, and the idea sounds cool, but a trashbag water bath in an apartment sounds like trouble to me.

If you get the $30 mini fridge, you can still get your DIY fix with this idea, and about $30 in parts.

I've considered something like this, but I don't know if I will have the room in the apt, plus I will be moving in August and am worried about how something like that would travel. I'm considering building the rig I proposed but minus the water bath. Just have ice bottles in there to keep the air temp down... I'm not sure how efficient it will be.

 

[JOHN51277]

Dude, Buy 2 of the ICE CUBE coolers. They are rated to keep the ice frozen for 5 days, so you know they are insulated well. They are the tall blue ones. They run about 25 bucks apiece and you can use it as a cooler when not fermenting. Take a piece of the pink 3/4" insulation foam and cut a hole for the air-lock. Viola!!

Here is a link!

http://www.google.com/products/cata...log_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCQQ8wIwAA#

 

[SweetSounds]

I've considered something like this, but I don't know if I will have the room in the apt, plus I will be moving in August and am worried about how something like that would travel. I'm considering building the rig I proposed but minus the water bath. Just have ice bottles in there to keep the air temp down... I'm not sure how efficient it will be.

A styrofoam box and gallon milk jugs (or something like that) of ice should work fine. You should be able to boost performance with a small computer fan too.
But that won't travel well either.
Regardless, it's $30.00 worth of foam. You can pitch it when you move!

Ice blocks are nothing but thermal batteries... If you don't mind the hassle of re-charging them, they should serve the purpose just fine.

Be sure to let us know how it works out! I'm planning to build a fermenting chamber for the garage here shortly...

 

[weirdboy]

Dude, Buy 2 of the ICE CUBE coolers. They are rated to keep the ice frozen for 5 days, so you know they are insulated well. They are the tall blue ones. They run about 25 bucks apiece and you can use it as a cooler when not fermenting. Take a piece of the pink 3/4" insulation foam and cut a hole for the air-lock. Viola!!

Here is a link!

http://www.google.com/products/cata...log_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCQQ8wIwAA#

I have one of these that I use for my MLT, and I do use it for fermentation temp control as well after I cool down, but neither my better bottle nor any of my fermentation buckets fit in there well enough height-wise that I could just put some styrofoam over the top with a hole cut out for the airlock and be done with it. You'd need to add a collar to get the necessary height. And if you're going to add a collar, you might as well make it high enough that you can just close the top completely over any airlocks or blow-off tubes.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

I check my fermentation temps with a Thermapen.

 

[brewkrew]

Turns out I might be able to come into possession of an old school mini fridge. One of those awesome ones that doesn't have that bs half cut out in the bottom, so it has a completely flat bottom completely capable of housing a carboy. If I can get that then I will have room for 1 carboy and might just build an addon chamber like I've seen many times on here. Not sure where I'll put it in my apt, but like the rest of my beer supplies I will find room... Crossing fingers on making this purchase.

As for the thermapen.... looks completely ba, but maybe out of the my primary price range lol.

 

[cclloyd]

If you do wind up building a ferm chiller I have one suggestion - put it on casters. I did this with one I built out of a travertine tile crate. Makes it much easier to move around. I have since bought a chest freezer and Johnson controller so now it is a storage box but having wheels on it is definitely the way to go.

 

[brewkrew]

If you do wind up building a ferm chiller I have one suggestion - put it on casters. I did this with one I built out of a travertine tile crate. Makes it much easier to move around. I have since bought a chest freezer and Johnson controller so now it is a storage box but having wheels on it is definitely the way to go.

That hadn't occurred to me, but is a great idea. Plus it would help with the move I will have to do in August. Either way I'm still hoping this epically old fridge works out.

 

[brewkrew]

Does anyone else us a 70 qt. coleman cooler? Can you fit two carboys in there? I measured my carboy last night and got approximate measurements of 19" tall (not including stopper and airlock) and 12" in diameter. It's a 6gal. plastic carboy that came with a Morebeer kit. I can find dimensions on the cooler, but assume those are external dimensions...