Keezer powered Fermentation Chamber

I'm trying to figure out the best way to ferment in the new house without having to add another appliance. I've got a smallish chest freezer that fits 4 cornies or 2 buckets. What I'm thinking of doing, because my basement stays pretty cool anyway, is piping some of the air from the freezer via computer fan into a insulated box big enough to hold two buckets. My basement never got above 75 during the coolish summer we had so it should take too much. During the winter I'll plug the hole in the freezer and place some sort of heat source in the chest in the event it gets below 60 (it will). Thoughts? I figure a freezer operating at 42ish should be able to spare a little cool air to keep the fermentation side around 68.

 

You should check out this thread over on the Northern Brewer Forums. He had a pretty ingenious way of using a glycol bath w/pump in the freezer and a fan and tranny cooler in the fermentation box. It might be just the ticket.

 

I've seen it done on these forums a few times.

Here's one example.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/show-us-all-your-fermentation-closets-chambers-here-118479/index2.html#post1480626

I can't find the links to the others but it seems pretty straightforward.

 

You'd need to use two flex ducts, one to send air and one to return it. The ferment box would have to be really well sealed otherwise you'd pull a lot of moisture into the system.

 

Hate to dredge up an old thread like this, but I recently got approval from the SWMBO to build a kegging setup, and thought I would also try to incorporate a more advanced fermentation temperature control system than my current swamp cooler at the same time.

I really like that glycol side-by-side system with the radiator. Seems like an easier build than the ducted air setups I've seen, and you don't have as many worries about ice that way. I already have a fountain pump that could probably do the job for the glycol loop as well. And, if you really wanted to, you could build a two-chamber version that could do lager temps in one chamber and ales in the other just by adding another fan and temperature sensor.