Fermenter Cold Chest

[thedaler]

Well, I replied to a thread where pldoolittle talked about a cold box, with was basically an insulated box that kept the fermenting temperatures around 66 degrees, but I fear that it may be left by the way side. As a brewer who lives in Georgia, this held my interest. Basically, room temperature liquid in my apartment stay at around 81 degrees. I've tried the wet towel/fan, but could only get it down to about 71, which really isn't the ideal temperature for what I'm brewing. Pldoolittle outlined a simple cold box, which was insulated and used those frozen blue packs. I'm thinking about making something similar, maybe with a styrofoam box. Any ideas how to make this, or how effective it will be? I'm basically shooting for a temperature of about 68 in an 81 ambient temperature environment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[WBC]

Get a medium sized freexer and a Ranco controller is the best. Next choice would be to build a foam box with a chamber for ice and a fan that would move air to the carboy side. a controller would switch on the fan to cool the carboy chamber. Search for fermentation chamber.

 

[Brew-boy]

I seen and tried using a igloo square coolers with frozen 2liter soda bottles in them. I can get it into the 50'sF with this method. I bought all the stuff to do it and did a sample run to confirm it would work and it did, then I got a free fridge from someone so I gave up on it.

 

[desertbronze]

Here's a link with some pictures.

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?p=426916&highlight=#426916

 

[desertbronze]

Here's a link with some pictures.

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?p=426916&highlight=#426916

 

[thedaler]

The igloo looks good, but I really was looking for a cheaper option. Do you think a styrofoam box would work for this?

 

[WBC]

Yes, just buy foam board from a building supply like Home depot. They sell it in 1, 1.5 inch thickness.

 

[Funkenjaeger]

http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/chiller/chiller.PDF

 

[thedaler]

Thanks everyone, I'll probably try building it soon....if it turns out well I'll post a step by step way to do it.

 

[McKBrew]

I took a carboard box and added some cheap 1/4 inch foam that my new kitchen table was packed in. I also wired a computer fan to a 12v power supply and suspended it in the box along with a half-gallon size container of ice. I was able to keep my temps at around 64-67 deg even on the couple of 80 deg days we had.

Switch the ice out every day.

If you went with thicker foam and a bit more ice, you'd be able to keep your temps well within range.

 

[thedaler]

Well I'm trying to do this without a fan, pretty much would just be an ice box. pldoolittle seemed to use this method with success.

 

[McKBrew]

It'll probably work just fine. I honestly don't think my little 12v fan is making that much of a difference.

 

[jeff]

Here are a couple of pics of my fermentation cooler I made out of an 60qt Ice Cube cooler that I got at Wal Mart for $24. It even has wheels and a retractable luggage handle. The lid is hollow. I used my dremel to cut a hole that would fit around the shoulder of a 6.5 gallow carboy on the inside, and a smaller hole for the mouth and airlock on the outside. Using frozen 1L water bottles I can acieve and maintain temps as low as 50df. This box has made a huge difference in my summer brewing.

 

[TheJadedDog]

That looks awesome Jeff; I may have to invest in a dremel to do the same thing and ditch the polystyrene lids I made.

 

[uniconfis]

Here are a couple of pic of my fermentation cooler I made out of an 60qt Ice Cube cooler that I got at Wal Mart for $24. It even has wheels and a retractable luggage handle. The lid is hollow. I used my dremel to cut a hole that would fit around the shoulder of a 6.5 gallow carboy on the inside, and a smaller hole for the mouth and airlock on the outside. Using frozen 1L water bottles I can acieve and maintain temps as low as 50df. This box has made a huge difference in my summer brewing.

I use a similar cooler. Mine is the a 70qt from Target. I'm able to keep my temps at a steady 68 by switching out two 16oz frozen bottles daily.

 

[the_Roqk]

I use a similar cooler. Mine is the a 70qt from Target. I'm able to keep my temps at a steady 68 by switching out two 16oz frozen bottles daily.

Just curious if you put water in the cooler, and using that along with the frozen bottles of water as a bath to help keep temps down. Or do you just place those frozen bottles of water next to the fermenter and use the air inside the cooler as a medium to keep temps down.

Let us know!

 

[jeff]

Just curious if you put water in the cooler, and using that along with the frozen bottles of water as a bath to help keep temps down. Or do you just place those frozen bottles of water next to the fermenter and use the air inside the cooler as a medium to keep temps down.

Let us know!

I simply use frozen water bottles to cool the air around the carboy. Seems to work pretty well that way and less mess. I also use a battery operated probe thermometer that sits inside the cooler to measure the air temp and gives me a reading on a remote display that I sit on the outside of the lid, so I don't have to open it.

 

[Rico6115]

im an a/c tech. i will shake the hand of a man who has that at a house im at. very clever idea and i have seen a lot. i guess the premium package to that is it having its own auto damper t-stat control from the unit. but with me not even having a/c the igloo cooler is my fav for the time being.