Fermentation chamber ideas

Everyone was very helpful with ideas for my keezer, now that I finished that build its time for the fermentor. I will use the keezer for now until its ready for kegging. But while I am waiting for that to finish, I want to build a fermentor. I am think it should fit at least 2 carboys. I would love to see or hear about your ideas, pics, and experience. I live in Hawaii so its always warm in my garage.

fatman said:

Everyone was very helpful with ideas for my keezer, now that I finished that build its time for the fermentor. I will use the keezer for now until its ready for kegging. But while I am waiting for that to finish, I want to build a fermentor. I am think it should fit at least 2 carboys. I would love to see or hear about your ideas, pics, and experience. I live in Hawaii so its always warm in my garage.

Click to expand...

I was on the fence on what to do-- I was going to build a chamber, cool it with a refrigerator. Then I decided an air conditioner would work. After going back and forth for four months, instead I bought a new 16.7 cu ft Kenmore freezerless refrigerator. It'll fit four carboys or possibly six cornies. It was a bit more expensive (~$600 including tax) than building a chamber, but a helluva lot easier.

Oh... and I used a previously-purchased Love controller to control the temperature. Bypassed the existing thermostat.

My only advice is to make it at least a batch or two larger then you think you need. Mine fits 4 buckets. I brewed yesterday and I had to move one outside to fit the new batches.

mosquitocontrol said:

My only advice is to make it at least a batch or two larger then you think you need. Mine fits 4 buckets. I brewed yesterday and I had to move one outside to fit the new batches.

Click to expand...

Yeah I can see myself having the need for the extra space too I am thinking about using another chest freezer conversion. However, not sure if I want to lift it out. Also I saw a few mini fridge extended chambers which looks great, although I am not sure if i want to do all that work. Boy do I sound lazy. Does anyone have a link that has lots of pics like the Keezer mega thread, that was very helpful for my last project.

Here's the one I built. I've only brewed once since finishing it, but it worked well.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/another-fermentation-chamber-143443/

I'm working on the design for mine. I still have a Holiday 7cf that was going to be my keezer before I found a Kenmore that had more space.

Picture a hutch sort of setup, or a 4' tall collar with doors

3' deep, 5' wide, 6' tall (It'll live in the garage)

I'll post drawings when I have them a little more polished...

As I have it drawn, it'll hold:
2 15 Gallon Sanke's, 6 Cornys, and 1 6 Gallon Better Bottle,
Or 1 15 Gallon Sanke, 4 Cornys, and 4 6 Gallon Better Bottles,
Or 14 Corny's
Or some combination of them all. :rockin:

here's a simple sketch of what I'm workin' on...

This is what I'm thinking right now.
It's a fermentation chamber 36" High, 50" Wide, 27" Deep, sitting on top of a Holiday 7cf chest freezer with the lid removed. It's hard to tell from the drawings, but the freezer will be wide open into the bottom of the chamber VIA the 15 1/4" x 31 1/2" opening of the freezer. The rest of the cabinet will be built over the freezer, much like a hutch with a collar-like hole in the bottom of it.



The top view shows 4 cornys directly in the freezer, and a variety of other fermenters in the top section.



By rearranging the virtual "cutouts" I see that I'll be able to fit up to 13 Cornys!
Or 2 Sankes and 7 Cornys,
Or 1 Sanke, 6 Cornys, and 3 6 Gallon Better Bottles

Now I just gotta build it...

haha that's a swerious champer SweetSounds!!

I really need to get something put together to help me manage the temperatures. my apartment fluctuates as high as 80 during the day sometimes. i'm afraid thats negatively impacting my beer. room is big issue though! maybe i can just use a minifridge for now and build it up later when i have more room

Both of these layouts are simply amazing. I would love to give em a go but I dont think I have the time for it right now. I am surfing CG looking for a fridge right now. Slim pickin though. I like the idea of having a 2 tier shelf system so I wont have to do burden my back. However there is a nice looking 15 CF chest freezer that is up for grabs.... Decisions, decisions....

The thing I like about the freezer based fermentation chamber is the flexibility and huge amount of space in a small footprint. It's 7 cubic ft in the freezer compartment itself, and another 29.5 cubic feet in the top chamber. All with a 3' deep, 5' wide footprint.

For lagering I'm planning to make a sort of cap that goes over the freezer opening, sealing it off from the rest of the upper chamber. This will effectively create an "ale" chamber and a "lager" chamber (freezer). The main temperature controller will keep the freezer at 35 (or whatever), and a second controller will turn on fans to push the 45 degree air into the top "ale" chamber to keep it at 60 (Or whatever temperature I set them at)