Chris Walker
Chr15
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2018
- Messages
- 50
- Reaction score
- 22
First of all, what an amazing forum. I'm a relative newbie to brewing having only done 1/2dozen or so extract kits until now and the wealth of knowledge, experience and opinion here is amazing. No idea how people were able to do such thorough research before an online forum such as this.
That said, I have recently got much more into the hobby and wanted to "up my game" a bit.
I invested in a SS Brewtech bucket (so far so good on that) and wanted a fermentation chamber to put it in. My basement is relatively constant at about 16C so only really need a couple of degrees increase and to even it out a bit.
My plan is to move to a chest freezer when funds become available (opening up the option for large ring etc...) but in the mean time I thought I would try to do something with minimal investment and use up some of the growing pile of "spares/off-cuts" in my garage.
Task 1. Build a control box the I can use in the short term, but easily transfer to the freezer in the future. I decided to go with what most people recommend and use the inboard controller which I got from Amazon. A simple project box, a couple of Indicator lights (not necessary, but aids with a quick glance from across the basement) and some odds and ends of electrical parts to provide 2 outlets.
Task 2. Build the chamber. My local Lowes had a 20% off sale and "no tax" event on sheet insulation so I picked up an 8'x4' of 2" foil front foam board for Can$35. Cut it into 6 pieces to make the biggest size box I could get out of 1 sheet. I had some foil tape and adhesive left over from another project to stick it all together.
Task 3. Create some sort of heater. Probably the most searching on this forum was done on this one task! in the end I went with 2 light bulb fixtures (as I already had them) and a couple of PC fans. The fans (also from Amazon) are great - run from USB outlet which I have numerous left over from old cell phones. They have an inline speed controller built in. I mounted these on an off cut of 3/4" ply and then fixed it to the top of the chamber, screwing through to a second piece of plywood on the outside which doubles as a nice work surface (if careful on how much weight to put on.)
I finished this off with large cookie sheet to place the bucket on and spread the weight so as to not damage the insulation underneath.
To give it's maiden voyage I tried my first BIAB all grain pale ale which is almost a week in. - fingers crossed!
The thing I am still struggling with is the debate over ambient Vs thermowall temp for the controller. During initial ferment where the wort temp was higher I had the probe in the thermo wall with a 0.5C differential. However, I have since move the probe to measure ambient chamber and put the original temp probe back in the thermowall to compare. Since doing this I do see more cycling of the heat (though not too much - maybe a couple times per hour) but significantly more stable wort temps.
Anyway, I include pics for anyone interested.
That said, I have recently got much more into the hobby and wanted to "up my game" a bit.
I invested in a SS Brewtech bucket (so far so good on that) and wanted a fermentation chamber to put it in. My basement is relatively constant at about 16C so only really need a couple of degrees increase and to even it out a bit.
My plan is to move to a chest freezer when funds become available (opening up the option for large ring etc...) but in the mean time I thought I would try to do something with minimal investment and use up some of the growing pile of "spares/off-cuts" in my garage.
Task 1. Build a control box the I can use in the short term, but easily transfer to the freezer in the future. I decided to go with what most people recommend and use the inboard controller which I got from Amazon. A simple project box, a couple of Indicator lights (not necessary, but aids with a quick glance from across the basement) and some odds and ends of electrical parts to provide 2 outlets.
Task 2. Build the chamber. My local Lowes had a 20% off sale and "no tax" event on sheet insulation so I picked up an 8'x4' of 2" foil front foam board for Can$35. Cut it into 6 pieces to make the biggest size box I could get out of 1 sheet. I had some foil tape and adhesive left over from another project to stick it all together.
Task 3. Create some sort of heater. Probably the most searching on this forum was done on this one task! in the end I went with 2 light bulb fixtures (as I already had them) and a couple of PC fans. The fans (also from Amazon) are great - run from USB outlet which I have numerous left over from old cell phones. They have an inline speed controller built in. I mounted these on an off cut of 3/4" ply and then fixed it to the top of the chamber, screwing through to a second piece of plywood on the outside which doubles as a nice work surface (if careful on how much weight to put on.)
I finished this off with large cookie sheet to place the bucket on and spread the weight so as to not damage the insulation underneath.
To give it's maiden voyage I tried my first BIAB all grain pale ale which is almost a week in. - fingers crossed!
The thing I am still struggling with is the debate over ambient Vs thermowall temp for the controller. During initial ferment where the wort temp was higher I had the probe in the thermo wall with a 0.5C differential. However, I have since move the probe to measure ambient chamber and put the original temp probe back in the thermowall to compare. Since doing this I do see more cycling of the heat (though not too much - maybe a couple times per hour) but significantly more stable wort temps.
Anyway, I include pics for anyone interested.
