Fermentation Chamber build, witty title coming soon.

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CU_tony

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So this week I decided that Ive maxed out my fermentation capacity at 4x 1 gallon carboys in a mini fridge from college... And I also decided it was time to do something about that!

My main concerns are having a small footprint, and at least meeting my near future demands/goal of being able to rotate 3 5-6 gallon fermentors through the unit while maintaining some automation to accommodate my work schedule.

My idea is based on one I saw in the DIY ferm chamber thread, which takes a minifridge vertical and builds a space under/in front of it.

But enough chat, here are the raw mats I got yesterday and the sketchup I drew last night (a little backwards I suppose)

truck.jpg


Fermenation Chamber 2.jpg
 
After a weekend of market research (beer festivals) and family time, followed by a long week at work, im glad to be making progress on the chamber.
Ill be bottling the last of my batches currently fermenting this weekend, so its imperative to finish this so I can brew again!



I started with a general sanding and trimming of any wonky edges.



Then I followed with my first coat of paint, which admittedly looks like a blind drunk monkey was painting today in some places. Luckily however most of the wood will get covered by another material in the near future, so all the important edges have a decent coat (and ill be doing a 2nd coat on the outside once I have the insulation stuffed and the outside panels attached.
I also really just wanted to use as much of this "oops" paint I got for like $2 a gallon.
 
Where is the mini-fridge going? How will you make that connection? You will likely need fans to cycle that cold air in/around that inside space. I hope you can get at least ale temp fermentation out of that rig; you have increased volume that the fridge needs to cool by at least a factor of 3-4x.
 
Below you can see the general idea a little clearer. There will be foam weatherseal lining the opening between the mini fridge and the chamber. Im already thinking I will use some strapping solution to hold the fridge tightly in place.

I already have a few fans that will be placed within the enclosure and Im going to test a few options before making it permanent.

My mini fridge with temp controller now only cycles about 10 min out of the hour so Im hoping that with enough insulation (as well as moving the whole rig to an air conditioned part of the house) the fridge will be able to keep temps at a setpoint in the 60s.
Ideally I will keep the fridge full of liquids to help create a large thermal mass. Given that wort only generates intense amounts of heat during peak fermentation Im hoping that two stable carboys will help to offset the heat change of an active one, but we will find out!

Fermenation Chamber Fridge.jpg
 
I've got two sides cut, the back installed tightly and caulked. Laying out the rest of the 1" pieces for the body I pleasantly found that I bought too much insulation (it seems) and may be able to return 30$ of materials when I'm done!

View attachment 1466798963733.jpg
 
I'm using the simplest of methods to cut the insulation, a straight edge and a razor. The 3/4 sheets are easier to cut through, however the 1" sheets were easier to score and snap since they don't have a film layer on the outside of the sheets.

View attachment 1466814512383.jpg
 
I'm happy with today's progress, it was a nice slow pace all day which was fortunate overcast for some of the day.
I ended up getting one side insulated and attached the outer panel.
That means tomorrow all I need to do is glue the insulation panels (already cut) and attach the last pieces of plywood.
Then sand and paint.
Then I still need to figure out what I want to do for the door...
Also I need to bottle 7 gallons of beer, but that's another thread!

View attachment 1466822187426.jpg
 
And a close up after one coat, after I get back from errands I may apply a second coat, but we will see how it looks when it's a little drier
 
Much better, I replaced the runner that I botched up on the first attempt and have all these set with a screw in the back and a patina'd old nail in the front, I think that a few more detail pieces like this will help tie the chamber together.

View attachment 1466966733333.jpg
 
Progress has been slow this week, largely because it's been hot out here in the Carolina's and working in an open warehouse this week hasn't left much desire to work in my outdoor shop/deck.

I have finished the main body and prepped it for painting.
I also finished the last cuts of materials and have started making the door.
I am making a laminate of two layers of 1" foamboard and 1/4" plywood sheet. That is setting now and hopefully I'll be able to frame in the foam with 1X3's tonight so I can prep the door for staining tomorrow.

View attachment 1467249066857.jpg

View attachment 1467249075928.jpg
 
That looks really good! Not to be a downer but as someone has already posted that is a huge area to cool and since the door opens out all your cold air will fall out. I made a ferm chamber last year Using a small fridge that only added a chest size of about 10 square ft and it takes a really long time to get to 62. I would try to do a test run and see how it goes so you can make some changes if you need to because it would be a shame to finish it and have it not do what you want it too. Good luck.
 
At this point the only thing left to do is dry/weatherstrip and add some hinges. Ive got two temp controllers so I will be able to monitor different areas at least and I hope to try and take regular measurements on performance.
That being said worst case scenario it shouldnt be too hard to modify this design if my minifridge wont work.

Onto a picture! Here i have a before and after of the danish oil treatment. Time for this to dry and then get hinged up.

Stain-DanishOil.jpg
 
The test results last night showed that while the unit wasn't able to cool the large volume of air quickly, once the test volumes reached target temp they stayed there.
I brewed today and below is a pic (pre blow off tube) showing a full carboy in the front at pitching temp and a carboy of water in the back at ~64 to help maintain a thermal mass.
I imagine once I get some bottles in the top for cold conditioning that will help to maintain the system temps.
I may make a graph of the temp values but if not I will keep posting if this works of if it's a bust.
I also added a second fan, and may add a third or add a 12v power supply to drive these a little harder.
Lastly I added a 15" tall removable piece of insulation to sort of prevent some of the "cold" from falling out when I peek at airlock activity.

View attachment 1467598963737.jpg
 
To slow the cold air flowing out when you open the door, you can also just add empty styrofoam coolers or closed cardboard box to fill in empty spaces until/between it isfilled with brews.
 
Whelp, I done ****ed up! I had the fridge plugged into the secondary temp controller on the water jug and since its the new inkbird wifi module (that still hasnt worked on wifi for me) I didnt realize that you set a high and low temp instead of a target and a variance.
Anyways, last night when I went to bed the carboys were 63.9 (water) and 66 (wort)
When I woke up the temps were 67.8 (water) and 68.7 (wort) and after investigation I found that while I set T1 to 64 I had T2 set to 68 on the new controller... a MUCH wider gap that I want and it has since been rectified.
In the last 3.5 hours the temps have dropped back to 66 (water) and 66.2 (wort) so while its a slow beast, it goes to reason that sometime last night the water carboy (which was in control) hit its target of 64 and then turned the fridge off for entirely way too long!

Im working on building the removable "shelf" so that I can place the active carboy halfway into the minifridge which should help keep the active fermentation in check.

I like your idea to fill the volume of the chamber when not in use Lump, I think Ill scab together some foam scraps into blocks to help with this, and Im hoping that once testing is through Ill comfortably be able to move a case or two of beer into long term storage in the 60s and I think that thermal mass will help to maintain (consistent) temps.

Just so yall know Ive never had the intentions of using this chamber for cold crashing or lagering, so even if the chamber can only maintain ~12d less than my house temps Ill consider it a success as I wont be fermenting at 76/room temp
 
Yeah, that is all that I use mine for. Just for fermenting ale, not lagers. I usually fill my extra area up with bottled water just to maintain the mass, so the compressor does not need to work so hard.

Looks great though! Happy fermenting!
 
Here is the chamber after I added a 3gal carboy on the 4th, I still have a carboy of water in the back for stability.
The carboy on top is the controlled one and has stayed within 1 degree of 64, the 3 gal carboy has consistently stayed around 69 which is actually the low end of that kits recommended range. This weekend I'll rotate the upper carboy and add a new one up top. I'm hoping that once the wort stops generating heat from vigorous fermentation that the lower level will stay cooler compared to the current 3gal that is vigorously fermenting below now.

View attachment 1467851132813.jpg
 
The next major steps involve lighting and probably a raspi to control this vs my two inkbirds
 
Another week, another brew! The temperatures for the chamber stabilized as fermentation calmed down. I moved batch 7 down below with batch 8 and now batch 9 is taking the top spot. I'll enjoy seeing how the temperatures change with two stable carboys and one soon to be vigorously fermenting carboy.

View attachment 1468197919042.jpg
 

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