Fermentation Chamber Build

My chamber is just about finished, it just needs the top on. I wanted to snap some photos of it before I closed her up to get some feedback from you guys. Credit goes to TwoHeadsBrewing and jboehle for the inspiration and material ideas. I swear my garage isn't usually this messy, but projects like this leave little time for cleanup, and Styrofoam is a disaster to work with.

 

Looks pretty good. Tape up all your joints with tyvek or foil tape and you should be good to go. Like the tile in the bottom to add some thermal mass.

 

Nice job!

I second what Randar said about taping all joints. I would also make sure you use silicone caulking to seal all the joints before taping. Especially on the floor. You'll be happy you did when you get your first unexpected blowoff or spill. If the openings are large than just use some spray foam.

How many carboys/buckets can you fit in there?

 

Wow, thanks for the heads up on the taping and caulking. I just finished taping all the joints where insulation meets wood, I'll take some more pics. I caulked all the wood joints before I laid down the insulation, so I'm pretty confident this thing will hold temp well. It'll do three carboys or 6 cornies should I start fermenting in those. I'll caulk and tape the floor when I get back home.

 

She's finished! I caulked/taped all the joints like you guys said. On the first run, there were major temperature differences in parts of the chamber. The carboy closest to the condenser coils sat at around 50 while the thermostat read at 74. I installed a 4" 120V fan from Radio Shack to circulate the air. It is wired into the Johnson controller and comes on when the fridge does. So far, so good. The temps are coming down and staying even within the chamber. Now it's just a matter of keeping an eye on things and making sure it holds temp well after it drops to its set point.

 

Probably want to keep that fan on 100% of the time. It will make the temp in the chamber more consistent (otherwise it will stratify) and will provide heat transfer between air and carboys so they are more uniform.

 

Huh, alright. Good point. I'll go rewire it real quick.

Edit: Given its proximity to the condenser coils inside, another benefit to having it on constantly would be that it is still pulling air across the condenser and sending it through the chamber, keeping the temperature down longer. Good heads up, it's been rewired.

 

The results couldn't be better. With a set point of 65 degrees, a differential range of 5 degrees, and an ambient temperature of 85 degrees, the cycle times are pretty damn good. The compressor stays off for 19:36 and comes on for 12:14. I'm not sure what the standards are, but this seems very acceptable to me.

 

Good job. I'm down in SW Florida and I'm very interested in making a fermentation chamber myself.

 

A 5 degree differential kind of defeats the purpose of a fermentation chamber IMHO since the fermentation temps can range anywhere from 60-70 degrees. I can easy achieve that in my house. I would recommend decreasing your differential to +/- 2 degrees to more closely control fermentation temps.

Otherwise great build. I may have to use my spare mini fridge for something similar.

 

I'm in Florida, there's no such thing as 60-70 degrees in the house without pulling in a $400 electric bill. The purpose of the chamber was to maintain 65-70 degree temps, even in an 85 degree garage. Plus, it keeps the carboys out of the kitchen and the wife happy. I understand that many build them just to maintain tighter temperature control, but my purpose lies on maintaining proper temperature at all.

 

looks good

 

Um, this is extremely nerdy and in poor taste, but what up Reddit! (I saw you post this on reddit earlier. Good to see brewing folks on multiple good sites.)

 

I'd hardly call it in poor taste! I'm all about getting traffic to both sites. Good to see other Redditors on here

 

Amen to that! We usually keep the house temp at 78f in the summer. And, even then, that damn AC runs a LOT. I've got a west facing garage now. It'll easily hit 100f in the summer. Guess that's really not too bad, that's about what the air temp is but that's where I brew and bottle. So, for us, a fermentation chamber is just a way to get summer time basement temperatures enjoyed by the rest of the country.

 

Gotcha. I'm used to living the the Northwest with mild temps and very cheap electricity.

 

I might be heading back out there, to the microbrew capital of the world, I think. If not microbrews, then coffee certainly. I used to live up there, and we're really missing it. I'm not sure if I'd need a chamber out there, or not. Have to see what it's like when we get there. Could be quite while yet.

 

Great build. I've been thinking about building a fermentation chamber myself and very much like your design. You mentioned a fan. Where exactly did you place it within the chamber? Also, what make and model temp control device did you use? I have been looking at the Ranco and Johnson digital controllers. Is there any advantage to one over the other? Thanks.

 

The fan is at the bottom of the fridge sitting on the compressor hump with about 4" of space behind it. I liked this position because it will be pulling air over the condenser coils and pushing cold air through the chamber even when the compressor is shut off.

I use a Johnson A419 for all my applications, but for no other reason than I'm familiar with them. I've heard great things about the Rancos, but I think someone else who is more familiar with them might be able to give you better feedback. I'll post some pictures of the fan placement here in a bit.

 

Here's a photo of the fan placement.

 

And here it is stained and complete with a new name thanks to DenialGene from Reddit:

 

Totally sweet. And the chamber looks good too.

 

Looks really good. I'm working on a fermentation chamber build too. Do you think the amount of insulation you used will be enough? I know a garage in FL can get pretty hot in the summer. I was thinking of using regular fiberglass insulation covered with styrofoam. Do you think that might be overkill? My garage fluctuates pretty wildly in temperature throughout the year.

 

I guess I won't know until Summer rolls around next year. Temps have been sitting at 60-70 degrees (ambient) the past month or so, so it's hard to tell if it'll hold up in the heat. I got the insulation idea from some other guys on HBT, and their's have worked thus far, so I hold high hopes for it.

 

I thought you guys might enjoy the new sign.

 

Looks great. Love the sign. Thanks for the picture of the fan. Really helps a lot.

 

Love the sign. I'll be making one of these probably in the spring. Buying a wine fridge for the new bar build and am claiming the current mini fridge for a ferm chamber for the garage.

 

Now you can do some lagers if it will go down to 45-55

 

Looks good. Mine is very similar, but I put a counter on top so I could have a place to work off of. And so it looked enough like a piece of furniture that SWMBO wouldn't mind it being in the house as much.

 

Oh wow, I love the counter. Looks a lot better than the regular old stained plywood top I've got. As far as lagering, I've got a chest freezer for that. There's just not enough coil surface area to bring that down to lagering temps without seriously compromising the compressor. It's great for 10-20 degrees below room temp though

 

I'll take mine down to 39ish when I cold crash, but it takes a couple of days to get that low and I don't leave it there for more than another few days. But I will say I've got 2 inches of rigid foam all around in there, all the seams are caulked and taped up and a gasket around the door, so once it cools off it stays cold. It does not, however, work well for chilling hot wort. The last time I tried taking a carboy from 90 down to the 65 range it too damned near 8 hours.

 

AngryMage,

Loved the project! Gives me ideas for the mini-fridge my son just returned since he's almost done with college. Question though, how did you get the freezer tray to bend without crimping any of the coolant tubes?

 

To put it easiest, I did it very carefully. This particular fridge was pretty compliant when it came to that. The freezer compartment was bolted to the top, so it was just a matter of unscrewing it, carefully bending the compressor pipes down, and bolting it to the back of the fridge.

 

Angry Mage, great build! This looks just like mine! One suggestion I might make for your fan would be to do something similar to what I did. Grab an extra piece of the rigid foam and make a mount which will hold the fan right in front of the cooling coil. It will get your fan up off the floor which should provide a little better air circulation as well as give you a little space on the ledge where it's currently sitting. Check out my pics below.

 

Very nice!! I thought about doing the same thing...

 

Nice work.
Is your fridge contained within the chamber or do you have the compressor open to allow airflow?

 

It's inside the box. The fridge is an old style with the cooling coils on the back, so I didn't have to worry about heat build up.

 

Nice. That would be ideal of course. Looking to do this and put together my keezer before Spring gets here. I will unfortunately need my compressor to be open.