My fermentation chamber build

So i started building my fermentation chamber today.


It will hold 3 fermenters on there own slide out drawers and have 2 temp controllers in it. There will be a mini fridge on the platform on the left side and the first section will be insulated off from the other 2 sections. The first section will just be a cold chamber for laggering the other section will be cooled by a one way vent with a fan that is connected to the cooling on the second temp controller.

 

Awesome slide out drawer idea, don't think I've seen that yet.

 

That is a neat idea. I can't wait to see it finished!

 

Holy crap!

Slide out drawers!

That's one of those ideas that noone thinks of until it's done and then you come along and HOLY CRAP, that's awesome!

 

Ya i thought a while on the plans for this one. The drawer slides are rated for 100 lbs.

 

subscribed..

 

i have to echo the genius of the drawer slides and can't wait to see what you come up with for seals around the openings. really cool idea.

 

Great ideas. What are you going to be doing for doors?

 

/Subscribed.

I'm in the middle of a build that may be able to use slides as well.:rockin:

 

The doors are going to be hindged plywood with foam insulation glued on the back to slide snug in the openings. Probably going to have to use 3/4 insulation though i dont think the 1.5 inch will allow the doors to open.

 

Trying to figure out what mini fridge to put in this. Does anybody think a 1.7 cf fridge would work or should I go with a 2.7 cf one?

 

will the mini fridge get you down to a lagering temp (near freezing)? I am wondering because i am figuring out my fermentation build right now. I would rather go this route, but right now i am planning a chest freezer for lagering, and attaching a box like yours for ales. Mine would also use 2 temp contollers, 1 for te chest freezer and 1 to blow air thru a one way vent to cool the ale box.

 

I should rephrase that about the laggering. I have a kezzer with space for a fermenter in it for the cold portion of it. I only plan on using the fermentation chamber for the warmer portion of the lagger that needs to be colder then an ale. So idealy just get it down to the upper 40's.

 

Looks great man. My basement is in the process of being finished but once its done this is my next project! Cheers

 

My thoughts exactly, what a simple but brilliant idea.

 

Sweet, similar to what i've been wanting to do, but I want to be able to lager. Curious to see what temps you can get out of that setup.

 

Seriously blown away by the slide out shelving. Brilliant. One of those face palm moments.

 

do you have a stiffener in the middle of the shelf?

 

Having built one very similar to this, I was never able to get much below 10-12 degrees below ambient. While this was fine for ales, it couldn't get me to lager temps or more importantly cold-crashing temps. Additionally, I was always defrosting it because of the frost build-up.

I ended up scoring a free stand-up freezer that I put a temp control on. I keep it at about 40 degrees most of the time. Inside of it, is about 5 gal of water and 2 pond pumps. A control system toggles the pumps on and off to keep the fermenters at a set-point. I can crank the freezer down to 32 degrees and get my fermenters down to 38 or so, which is plenty cool for me.

This is what it turned out like:




I have since upgraded the coils to be much longer to help things out a bit.

With regard to your drawer-shelf idea, Just make sure it doesn't tip the system over when the carboy is filled and the other shelf is empty!

 

Looks like a great idea but there seems to be a lot of wasted space between the carboys Might be more efficient to make the drawers skinner?

 

The shelf is made of 3/8 plywood and is reinforced with a 2x3 on each side where the bracket screws into. will have to fill an empty fermenter up with water and see if it holds it might have to put a 2x3 across the middle at worse case. The box is going to weigh over 100 lbs. especially with the fridge on the platform so i doubt it will tip even with all 3 drawers out. Also my basement struggles to get past 60 in the heat of the summer right now the room i keep my fermenters in is around 50 - 55 degrees. That little section should be able to get cold enough to do most of the fermentation for a lagger. When i actualy have to lagger it at 30ish degrees i plan on putting it in my keezer.

 

There is only about 2 inches on each side with a 6 gal BB. I only had a 5 gal BB handy at the present time. Thats why it looks like there is more room.

 

Got the walls and the insulation all on it today.

Gonna need to take a trip to Lowes to get the rest of the materials to finish the construction.

 

The slide out idea is great. I'm gonna have to figure out how to incorporate that into the build I was planning on doing in the next month or so.

 

Walls surrounding each fermenter? Am I missing something here? How does the cool air reach the other two fermenters? Im assuming the fridge will be on the left side?

 

Fridge - lager chamber - ale chamber

one way valve with a fan hooked up to it between the lager and ale chambers to move cool air into the ale chamber.

I like it.

 

Pretty "cool" idea - har har. Ugh.

Subscribed!

 

Ahh ok makes some sense now

 

Did some more work on it last night. Got the doors on it, the drawers and fan in. Also started wiring it for the controllers.



All i have left is a little bit of wiring. Need to get the mini fridge and maby a coat of paint.

 

subscribed

 

i actually thought about sliding draws a long as$ time ago when i built mine but mine is just a colar on a mini fridge so I had no way of attaching them to the side withouth destroying the foam insulations on the side. I like the design though but would put the biggest cold plated fridge you can get/afford. If you are lagering the fridge will probably run quite a bit if you are going to get it down to 40F or lower for conditioning on top of cooling another large chamber. Although you said your basement doesnt get above 60F and now im going in circles....

 

subscribed

 

subscribed

 

Due to budget restraints i had to come up with a cheaper way to cool the chambers. I set this up and am testing it now to see how cold i can get it.





I used a 4 inch inline duct fan with a dryer vent damper at the chamber and at the keezer on the return line.

 

So no fridge to cool the FC? Are those 4" ducts insulated? What thickness foam did you use?

 

I have to get insulation for the ducts they didnt have any 4 inch in stock at HD. The entire chamber is insulated in 1.5 inch rigid foam.

 

Keep us posted!

 

Its been holding around 11c without insulation on the pipes feeding the cold air when i get some more funds i am going to buy some 4 inch flex pipe with r6 insulation on it. Hopefully that should get it down a few more degrees.

 

Update:
I found some left over insulation i had from a basement reno. I wraped it on the feed duct and can get down to 9c. It looks possible to get it down a little lower it made it to 9c somewhat quick. Just need to get some insulation on the return line now to reduce the cycling of the keezer.

 

What temperature is your keezer set at? Do you have anything fermenting in the chamber yet that is adding heat (if so, do you happen to know what temp it ferments at normally vs. house temp?)?

I want to do something similar with my keezer and figure I can actually make some calculations so I can have it dialed in.

Thanks.