3 Chamber Fermentation Cabinet Build

[Josh1275]

Alright, After way too much research and way too much consideration it was time to get back into hardware mode.

First off I want to say I'm just standing on the shoulders of those who have come before.

Packet's DIY plastic conical glycol chiller set up really started this ball rolling, (Thanks TrickyDick for saving the info from that website).

The entire BrewPi crew (Elco, et al) is simply inspiring, FuzzeWuzze's guide helped get my trial system up and running in no time (well not no time, but a reasonable amount of time for what it accomplishes!).

rlefevre's cabinet keezer build (the glycol chiller fan set up) really helped me make a leap to a quiet indoor capable set up by removing the stock A/C fan and replacing it with something more manageable.

With that now onto the show...

 

[Josh1275]

Ok, So i'm tackling this build as three separate areas:

1. Cabinet Construction: Building the cabinet, loading it with insulation, getting it into place in the basement, etc.

2. Plumbing: Building the glycol chiller, figuring out the plumbing to get into the individual chambers, etc.

3. Electrical: Setting up a multi-Arduino brewpi (3 chambers + the chiller), wiring up the cabinets, both 12 v for fans, valves, etc, and 120v for heating and other accessories.

This is gonna take a minute...

I'm going to try and organize the titles by these areas so that it's easy to look for bits and pieces.

 

[Josh1275]

Alright, well getting underway is easy getting it done is the hard part. For the cabinet i'm a huge fan of pocket hole screw construction. It's fast, strong and while not the cheapest thing out there (hammer and nails) still very reasonably priced for something that'll hold several hundred pounds of equipment and beer.

I'm building the cabinet in two major components. A base which will house the chiller and plumbing and will effectively be the "wet" area and the actual chambers with electronics above all of the liquids (well as much as possible).

The actual case panels were all cut at Home Depot on their panel saw, it's just easier then breaking out the track saw for something like this where, let's be honest, if it's off by a 16th of an inch, i'll let it slide.

For those interested in figuring out their own, I highly recommend Taunton Press's book on building cabinets and built ins...

This part of the build took 2 sheets of 3/4" plywood and 1 sheet of 1/2" plywood for the backing.

The first picture is after about 2 hours of work with nothing but a drill and screw gun.

The second picture is what 3 sheets of plywood after meeting the panel saw... Thanks to the guy at home depot who saw my cut list and didn't flinch.

 

[Josh1275]

Alrighty next step, trying to figure out how to insulate this thing. After looking around it sure seemed like the 2" XPS foam was the way to go. A fresh blade in a razor knife, tape measure and framing square make short work of breaking down 2 sheets of foam into manageable pieces. In the end i'm one piece short to put this entire thing together. I have some foam in a temporary set up that i used to test out the ideas for this that i'll probably just chop up.

The first picture below is the main pieces loaded into the chamber. I was able to friction fit all of the outside pieces and once i've got everything built, all wired and plumbed and tested i'll go back through and use spray foam to lock everything in and seal up the joints.

The second picture below is with the "doors" (there will be wood doors in front of that for aesthetics.). The insulation doors will be held in place with simple rails. I'm thinking of thumbscrews and tapped anchors (think Ikea) to hold them in place.

 

[Josh1275]

So i'm really catching up on what i've built over the last two weekends. Here's a preview of what one of the chambers looks like with the mechanicals installed.

Chamber fan on the left, $20 heater core hooked up to the chiller with a fan to move the cold air around, multiple temperature sensors (one for the chamber one for the beer), and i'll be using a dual ported big mouth bubbler for the actual fermentation vessels. Velcro is my friend for now, we'll see how it holds up. More to follow on how I got here as i get it loaded.

The second picture is a VERY active fermentation in the prototype (starter + temperature control = very active fermentations). I've learned my lesson about blow off tubes vs airlocks the hard way here...

 

[mxstar21]

Looks great!!!


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[samuryan]

can you show your chiller/pump setup? Also where did you source the heater cores? I have a mini fridge freezer that i am thinking of going this route just to keep the fridge still usable for beverages, hop and yeast storage.