temporary Bottle carbonation chamber ideas

[Sparkncode]

Due to heading towards winter down here the cooler temperatures are slowing down the carbonation of my belgium tripel and will do the same for other brews.

My house is pretty well insulated so i haven't used a heater yet this year but the room temp probably gets a little too low for efficient bottle carbing over night. Its ment to get down to 5C / 41f tonight but the house doesn't get that cold. Two fridges and a PC thats on 24/7 provide a little heat.

I'm thinking I might put a tarp down in one small wardrobe in case of explosions ( aiming for 3 vol ) and sit the beer on it and them put a small heater in there.

I have used my last stc1000 for my fermentation chamber so i might have to use a spare PID and SSR which would be overkill but its in my parts box although it will need a box of its own.

A slightly warm cupboard to replace the hot water cupboard that isn't hot due to better insulated cylinder that replaced the leaking origional would also be useful for keeping my 3d printer filiment dry too.

Oops i think i just came up with another weekend project...

New well insulated cylinders are nice but the leaking heat from the old one was actually quite useful.

 

[kh54s10]

How cold do you let your house get? I have never had any problems with bottle conditioning. In winter in New England, it took a couple days longer. 19C is about as cold as my house ever got.

 

[ncbrewer]

This video shows one way to warm the bottles:
Edit: I haven't tried this, so can't say from experience how well it works.

 

[Smellyglove]

I had troubles with my Hefes when it was colder (it's only warm "enough"a few months pr year here, and placing the cases with the bottles in the bathroom on top of the heat cables in the floor gave me unconsistent esters within the same batch. So I built this huge souse-vide thing where I took a 150L plastic box, fitted it with two 200W aquarium heaters, a thermostat and a pump, and filled it with water. Keeps the temperatures right where they are suppsed to be for the carbonation. Yes, I carbonate my bottles submerged in water.

 

[Sparkncode]

I don't let the place get too cold but no sense heating if i don't have to so i don't mind if it gets down to 10C overnight. It heats up during the day while I'm at work. It hasnt been that cold since i improved the insulation though.
I grew up in a pre 1920 house with no insulation in a colder area so i do have a tollerance for the cold.
The average temp over a day must be lower than i would like for carbonation based on my co2 bottle preassure sitting just above the get gas segment rather than well above it in summer.

More of I just want to speed up the process a little bit without a big power bill. Smaller power bill equals more money brewing and saving for a bigger internal access garage with brewing area etc.

The yeast as working so will probably be done in 3 weeks but sub 1 week is easy if a little warmer. I do have a small convection heater that can run in a 700W mode but its thermostat is not very good so an external thermostat or pid should keep a wardrobe just right while using minimal energy. Probably double as an extra fermentation chamber for winter use only.

 

[kh54s10]

Well, if you keep your house 10C, your bottles may never carbonate. You will have to find a cost effective way to warm them.

If they are carbonating in 3 weeks you are OK as is. They may get some carbonation earlier, but IMO, ALL of my beers have tasted better at 3 weeks conditioning or longer.

At 10C in your house, make sure you protect yourself from hypothermia.

 

[Sparkncode]

At 10C in your house, make sure you protect yourself from hypothermia.

Usually its warmer or i just warm one room if it gets cold enough. At the moment its probably over 20C during the day so slowly cools off over night but average is just a bit low. The tripel tastes great now but most bottles will be left to age a month or two. I kind of want to get any potential ex ploding ones out the way early so i can put them away. I dont think my place hasnt been quite down to 10C since i insulated all the walls and double glazed. Last year i was running heaters a month ago but not this year so the insulation has helped.

Once my current house renovations are done a heat pump is on the list but the current heat source is electric heater so expensive.

The bottles are carbing from one i checked but slowly. I might rig up something on the weekend as i think we are in for a run of cold weather.

 

[Sparkncode]

Just decided I will put my 700W convection heater in my small laundry that is pretty small and has insulated outside walls and fiberglass sound batts to the bathroom so well insulated.
The benefit is the floor in vynal so any accidental release of beer is contained and its a pretty small room so wont take much heating, probably better insulated than my wardrobes etc.

I might rig up a pid for more precise temperature control if I find a suitable spare box in my junk pile but i can probably myck arround and find a 24C ish setting on thr heaters crude thermostat.

lt won't take much to keep the temp in there stable. Should speed up the carbonation. I haven't measured the indoor temp for a while do should do that but this evening it dropped to 5C outside and the insulation upgrade on the house must be working as i didn't notice it inside, just when i went out to fill my HLT up so hopefully my place stays warmer this winter. Its still just a little on the cool side for the yeast taking into account the temperature drop over night.