My homemade fermentation chamber

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shallywag

shallywag

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Trying to get my fermentation temps under control. Ended up utilizing a marine cooler inside my coat closet. First time I tested it without wort in the carboy it cooled down to 62 deg with 1 gallon jug of ice. I have a sweetwater 420 clone in it right now and I am curious to see once fermentation starts if it will get down that low. I have 2, 1 gallon jugs in it right now although the picture only shows 1.

IMG_0625.jpg
 
I'm sure it'll be a lot better than no cooling at all, and I think it's pretty clever.
 
I checked temp this morning and it was 64deg and bubbling away. Now I added a few more ice packs last night before bed. Curious to see how it holds throughout the day.
 
It's an option that I considered. This is my first fermentation using it so I kind of wanted to see what to expect with just the ice blocks. I have several more in the freezer and plan on swapping them this evening. This thing is still an ongoing project for me to see if it will actually work. Well it's not really a project per se, as I only had to add a shelf to an existing cooler. It seemed to hold temp pretty well overnight. It will take some adjusting to see how many blocks of ice I will need to keep it within a certain range and how many will need to be swapped out. The two 1 gallon blocks still had ice in them after 12 hours.
 
A battery powered temperature sensor that has the sensor on a wire would be great. You could drop it down through the drain plug and monitor temps remotely without opening it.
 
Those are some great ideas! I had an electronic meat thermometer in there at first but the wireless ones appear to be the ticket. The less it gets opened the longer the ice blocks will last!
 
I actually already have one monitoring the outside temp. I'm in FL so I know it's hot this time of year. I could just take it off the wall outside during fermentation and use it, simple enough.
 
So I came home yesterday evening and the temp had gone down, on the fermometer from 68-70 to 62. I didn't replace any of the ice blocks the day before as they still had ice in them. So I was expecting just the opposite seeing as I didn't swap out any ice. I removed both ice blocks and only put one fresh one in around 7pm. This morning the temp on the fermometer was hanging at 62. I also put a wireless thermometer inside so I can see the ambient temp and it is hanging @ 60. This cooler seems to hold it's temps well! I might only need to swap ice out every couple of days!
 
I would insulate the ice chamber with a blanket or something to keep if from getting to cold. Then I would get the cheapest digital thermostat you can find. I got one for $14. Make sure to mount the thermostat right next to the carboy. I would drill a hole in the wood and put a small 12VDC fan on it. Power the fan with an old cell phone charger. Wire that fan to the cooling circuit of the thermostat. Set your temp and turn it to cool or auto.

I got carried away with mine and put in two fans. One blowing in from the corner and the other out in the opposite corner. With two ice jugs I could get down in the low 50s.
 
I think this thing could easily get into the 50's! I like the idea of automating it with a thermostat and may eventually do that so I can control the temp a little more consistant. Shouldn't be hard to block off that little section where the ice is contained and only push cool air to the chamber with a fan and thermostat. For now it's doing what I hoped it would, taking my temps down to a good fermenting tempature as my closet during the day stays around 75-78.

LarMoeCur said:
I would insulate the ice chamber with a blanket or something to keep if from getting to cold. Then I would get the cheapest digital thermostat you can find. I got one for $14. Make sure to mount the thermostat right next to the carboy. I would drill a hole in the wood and put a small 12VDC fan on it. Power the fan with an old cell phone charger. Wire that fan to the cooling circuit of the thermostat. Set your temp and turn it to cool or auto.

I got carried away with mine and put in two fans. One blowing in from the corner and the other out in the opposite corner. With two ice jugs I could get down in the low 50s.
Click to expand...
 
skidmark said:
No need to reinvent the wheel, there's plenty of good ideas to steal from the Son of Fermentation Chiller:

www.theelectricbrewery.com/images/chiller-plans.pdf
Click to expand...

Skid,

That was my exact setup only larger. I used it for years until my wife made me move it out of the guest bed room and into the garage. I went from changing out ice every three days to every day! 76F in the house to 110F in the garage...NO BUENO! Well I got real tired of hauling ice jugs. So now, I've got a 5000 BTU Air conditioner doing the heavy lifting. I love me some Sears Scratch and Dent! Got it for 25 bucks! Now all I have to do is look at the temp readout.
 
It held at 60 all night, roughly 10 hours when i checked it this morning before i left for work. Seems to hold it pretty steady depending on the ice block. i put a 1 gallon ice block in it around 7pm last night and it maintained 60 till 5am. I didn't replace the block of ice this morning because it was still frozen and hanging at 60. The sensor is right next to the carboy. The fermometer on the carboy was showing blue at 62, green at 64. Not sure which color is the accurate one.


lump42 said:
If that isn't holding temps steady, you can sit down and fill it with water. I modified my ferm chamber design from Yooper https://www.homebrewtalk.com/photo/4189-dscf0001-9589.html. The only thing I do different is fill the cooler with water to help stabilize the temp. I can get mine down to the high 40's and ferment lagers in it.
Click to expand...
 
Well, it helps that I already had the cooler! All I had to do was cut wood for a shelf to fit nicely within the grooves already in the cooler! I added a wireless thermometer that I had last night and it works great. This thing will even fit my wifes 6 gallon carboy for wine!

eric19312 said:
this is nicely done! bet you are going to be very happy with that first beer!
Click to expand...
 
shallywag said:
The fermometer on the carboy was showing blue at 62, green at 64. Not sure which color is the accurate one.
Click to expand...

My instructions show green is the right one. If none are green, it is between the blue and the brown temps. I think the brands are all the same, but not positive.

Edit: clarification
 
Well, so far so good. Monday is when I started and I have been able to maintain a consistant temp of 61 deg by only rotating 1 gallon block of ice every 24 hours. Average temp in the closet has been 78 deg. Now that I know it's reliable I just need to find better containers for the ice blocks other than milk jugs. They tend to split which has already happened to one of them. I have one two liter soda bottle that i have yet to use. I have also noticed that fermentation tends to be extended a little compared to my previous batches. I am going on 5 days of activity, usually it only lasts max 3 days. i am taking this as a good sign that the yeast are not finishing too quickly!
 
shallywag said:
Well, so far so good. Monday is when I started and I have been able to maintain a consistant temp of 61 deg by only rotating 1 gallon block of ice every 24 hours. Average temp in the closet has been 78 deg. Now that I know it's reliable I just need to find better containers for the ice blocks other than milk jugs. They tend to split which has already happened to one of them. I have one two liter soda bottle that i have yet to use. I have also noticed that fermentation tends to be extended a little compared to my previous batches. I am going on 5 days of activity, usually it only lasts max 3 days. i am taking this as a good sign that the yeast are not finishing too quickly!
Click to expand...

prod_ec_1563084502


I have two of these I keep frozen and swap out in my cool brewing bag. Been using the same ones for three years without any damage to them.
 

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