3 section fermentation chamber with ebay temp controller

[barryfine]

for the top chamber, you could try just putting another hole over your freezer. It's not ideal since the cold air will essentially settle and fall through it once the fan stops running. For this reason you probably wouldn't want it much bigger that your fan hole either. But it should work.

The real test will not only be a hot day, but when you have multiple beers in there bubbling away in primary fermentation. Those tend to heat up a chamber more than you'd think!

Yeah, I really don't want to just put a hole in there. If anything, I'd put in a tube to the top of the chamber with a fan blowing down, but it would take up a lot of space. Eventually the top chamber is just going to be the size of the freezer so space there is going to become pretty tight at that point.

As it is, the hole for the tube that comes up into the chamber isn't air tight, so there is at least some space for the air to escape back into the freezer so it won't become pressurized.

 

[kenc_zymurgy]

I would just turn a fan around then, and take the tube off the freezer side of the one you turn around.
That should cool that chamber down a lot faster and make the whole system more efficient.

That's the kind of fix I like. Nice and easy.

Right, that's all it should take. The main thing is air in = air out.

As far as dumping the cold air into the bottom and drawing warm from the top of the chamber, I do think that is ideal (but maybe not a big difference in practice). Think of it this way:

You want to replace the warm air with the cold air as efficiently as possible, right? Think of a glass half full of oil, which is lighter than water. I tell you I want you to pour water into the glass and replace the most amount of oil while using the least amount of water. If you sprinkle the water in from the top, it's going to mix as you pour, and even as it fills and spills out the top, water and oil will keep mixing. It will take a lot of water to get that last bit of oil out.

Now you try it again with a funnel attached to a tube that goes to the bottom of the glass of oil. As you pour the water in, it goes right to the bottom and the oil just lifts up. There is very little mixing, and as the glass fills, the oil spills out the top, and you can stop just as the water reaches the top. Efficient.

Unfortunately, trying to add circulation to the top chamber may prove to be more difficult. ...

As it is, the hole for the tube that comes up into the chamber isn't air tight, so there is at least some space for the air to escape back into the freezer so it won't become pressurized.

I bet that's all it takes. The top chamber has to stay warmer than the fridge (by definition). Warm air rises, it will all stratify when the fans are off, so it should all be good.

-kenc

 

[barryfine]

Right, that's all it should take. The main thing is air in = air out.

As far as dumping the cold air into the bottom and drawing warm from the top of the chamber, I do think that is ideal (but maybe not a big difference in practice). Think of it this way:

You want to replace the warm air with the cold air as efficiently as possible, right? Think of a glass half full of oil, which is lighter than water. I tell you I want you to pour water into the glass and replace the most amount of oil while using the least amount of water. If you sprinkle the water in from the top, it's going to mix as you pour, and even as it fills and spills out the top, water and oil will keep mixing. It will take a lot of water to get that last bit of oil out.

Now you try it again with a funnel attached to a tube that goes to the bottom of the glass of oil. As you pour the water in, it goes right to the bottom and the oil just lifts up. There is very little mixing, and as the glass fills, the oil spills out the top, and you can stop just as the water reaches the top. Efficient.




I bet that's all it takes. The top chamber has to stay warmer than the fridge (by definition). Warm air rises, it will all stratify when the fans are off, so it should all be good.

-kenc

Yeah, that makes sense. I thought you were saying to have it pull the air from the bottom back into the freezer which is why I was confused. The other way definitely makes sense. Thanks again for your input.

 

[JWS]

Sometimes I love this site......Sometimes I hate it...................

This is an awesome build. Just saying....I'm probably going to steal this idea, only with a few changes, and only if I can pass it with SWMBO. But I'll try to pass it off that my Lagering,, Keggerator, Fermentation, and beer bottle storage can be done in one spot.

Good job thinking this up, which I could have thought of this before I built all the other tools already.

 

[barryfine]

Sometimes I love this site......Sometimes I hate it...................

This is an awesome build. Just saying....I'm probably going to steal this idea, only with a few changes, and only if I can pass it with SWMBO. But I'll try to pass it off that my Lagering,, Keggerator, Fermentation, and beer bottle storage can be done in one spot.

Good job thinking this up, which I could have thought of this before I built all the other tools already.

Thanks! I'm really happy with how it turned out too. Good luck convincing SWMBO!

 

[broadbill]

any news on how this build is doing, now that we've had some really hot weather, and maybe you've had the chance to ferment in there?

 

[barryfine]

any news on how this build is doing, now that we've had some really hot weather, and maybe you've had the chance to ferment in there?

I've fermented quite a few beers in the chamber now and have learned a lot in the process. The quality of my beers have improved dramatically since I started using this chamber. Fermentation temperature control really is one of the best things you can do to improve the quality of your beer.

The first thing I learned is that it was a mistake to put a skin on the freezer section. I ended up leaving the back off and cut out the right side skin to let it breathe. When I designed it, I didn't realize that the walls of the freezer were used to expel heat. It does do a good job of maintaining steady fermentation temperatures, but it was struggling some during a stretch of 100 degree days since it's located in a detached garage with no insulation. As long as the weather is not hotter than 85-90 degrees it does great, but any higher than that and the compressor is constantly running just to maintain about 70 degrees inside.

I was concerned that I would burn out the compressor if it continued to run 24/7 so I decided that I would shut it down until September.

I then built a second fermentation that can fit in the basement. This one can hold up to 3 carboys and has done a great job so far on it's first brew. I was able to put this one together in two days. One afternoon to put together the controller and another to build the chamber itself. Here are some pics of this build:

The cord dangling in this pic is attached to a ac/dc power supply and I hooked it up to a computer fan that I attached inside in the cold unit in the dorm fridge.

I built a stand-alone temperature control unit for this one. Instead of using power outlets, I attached the cold and hot relays to extension cord ends with 3 outlets. This allowed me to keep the box small and I really like the clean look.

Here is a pic of a white ipa bubbling happily in it's chamber:

 

[broadbill]

So is it safe to say that the first build was a failure? The idea of a chamber being you should be able to ferment through the hottest parts of the year, and it could not keep up...I guess that would be my conclusion. i

Please don't take this as a personal attack, but its more of a warning to those who are planning to do these types of builds...First, I don't thinking DIY ferm chambers save you much (if any) money when you take into account labor and time as compared to finding a used chest freezer off Craigslist. Second, I'd be concerned if after all the time/money spent building doesn't actually result in a workable build!

Alot of these types of builds get posted up on this site, and then we don't hear anything more about regarding their performance. My feeling is that many/most are scrapped about 4-5 months after building. I could be wrong though. I think the key is to have a frig/freezer unit capable of producing the cooling for the increased space (which then brings you back around to the original question of why you didn't go with a cheap chest freezer in the first place).

As for the second build, it looks like you learned some things and have a better design. But I do have you ask, where you really able to build that cheaper than what you could have gotten a used chest freezer for? You basically build a homemade 7cf chest freezer.

Again, apologies for being so critical...just trying to give some food-for-thought to the next person. Personally, I've debated these types of builds over and over (even have a small dorm fridge waiting in the wings) and seem to come to the same conclusions about it.

 

[crane]

So is it safe to say that the first build was a failure? The idea of a chamber being you should be able to ferment through the hottest parts of the year, and it could not keep up...I guess that would be my conclusion. i

Please don't take this as a personal attack, but its more of a warning to those who are planning to do these types of builds...First, I don't thinking DIY ferm chambers save you much (if any) money when you take into account labor and time as compared to finding a used chest freezer off Craigslist. Second, I'd be concerned if after all the time/money spent building doesn't actually result in a workable build!

Alot of these types of builds get posted up on this site, and then we don't hear anything more about regarding their performance. My feeling is that many/most are scrapped about 4-5 months after building. I could be wrong though. I think the key is to have a frig/freezer unit capable of producing the cooling for the increased space (which then brings you back around to the original question of why you didn't go with a cheap chest freezer in the first place).

As for the second build, it looks like you learned some things and have a better design. But I do have you ask, where you really able to build that cheaper than what you could have gotten a used chest freezer for? You basically build a homemade 7cf chest freezer.

Again, apologies for being so critical...just trying to give some food-for-thought to the next person. Personally, I've debated these types of builds over and over (even have a small dorm fridge waiting in the wings) and seem to come to the same conclusions about it.

I have to agree for the most part with this statement. I too have seen a number of threads that fail to get updated once the chamber is complete and I have also concluded that it's because it failed to work properly. I have only seen one or two where the builder was able to admit failure. The common theme that I have seen is that people are trying to increase the cooling area way too much. It looks like the total area between the different compartments is at least 4x larger that the original freezer. I too have gone down this path but I only made my chamber 2x larger than the original mini fridge I started with and I have not had any problems with it so far. For those of you out there that are considering something like this take in mind that if the compressor in your mini fridge or freezer could cool an area 4x the size of the original device then they would have built it with a smaller compressor to save money. You just can't increase the size that much.

 

[barryfine]

No, this was project was definitely not a failure. If it was located in a basement or anywhere that was even somewhat temperature controlled it would be have been perfect. It did work even on the hottest days, but I didn't feel comfortable with the compressor running 24/7 so I shut it down for the summer. This chamber will still give me a huge amount of space for fermentation for 10 months out of the year. I'm usually busy in the summer so I don't need as much fermentation capacity over those months anyway.

This project was a ton of fun and I learned a bunch. I didn't start building brewing equipment because I wanted to do something the cheapest or easiest way. I came up with a concept and put it together and I'm happy with the results. If I were to build another one, i would get a larger chest freezer and then build the chamber just on top of it so that all of the wall of the freezer were uncovered. The reason I used the freezer I did, was because it was sitting in my basement gathering dust.

The second chamber I built for about $100 total. I had the dorm fridge sitting in my basement and had some left over lumber sitting around. It was a quick and easy build and I will probably end up building more for a few friends of mine.

I apologize, but it sounds to me that you are just looking or excuses to not start your fermentation chamber build. I would encourage you to try the second design I put together. It was cheap and quick and easy.

So is it safe to say that the first build was a failure? The idea of a chamber being you should be able to ferment through the hottest parts of the year, and it could not keep up...I guess that would be my conclusion. i

Please don't take this as a personal attack, but its more of a warning to those who are planning to do these types of builds...First, I don't thinking DIY ferm chambers save you much (if any) money when you take into account labor and time as compared to finding a used chest freezer off Craigslist. Second, I'd be concerned if after all the time/money spent building doesn't actually result in a workable build!

Alot of these types of builds get posted up on this site, and then we don't hear anything more about regarding their performance. My feeling is that many/most are scrapped about 4-5 months after building. I could be wrong though. I think the key is to have a frig/freezer unit capable of producing the cooling for the increased space (which then brings you back around to the original question of why you didn't go with a cheap chest freezer in the first place).

As for the second build, it looks like you learned some things and have a better design. But I do have you ask, where you really able to build that cheaper than what you could have gotten a used chest freezer for? You basically build a homemade 7cf chest freezer.

Again, apologies for being so critical...just trying to give some food-for-thought to the next person. Personally, I've debated these types of builds over and over (even have a small dorm fridge waiting in the wings) and seem to come to the same conclusions about it.

 

[broadbill]

I apologize, but it sounds to me that you are just looking or excuses to not start your fermentation chamber build. I would encourage you to try the second design I put together. It was cheap and quick and easy.

No apologies, but I use a 5cf chest freezer with Ranco as a ferm. chamber. It was double the price of your build (but was it really when you take into account labor it took for you to build?), but I know it works. Also, I got the chest freezer new....if I bought used I'm sure my method would have come it at equivalent price to yours (cheaper when you count the labor that went into yours)

Hey, I'm all for DIY stuff if for no other reason than to do it. It's just that I at the end of it all I want to have a workable product. My point was that I'm not sure that these DIY large-capacity ferm. chambers fit that bill most of the time, and I wanted to point that out to other folks considering this build.

 

[vinper]

Mine works great and its in a steel shop no a/c in Houston. I lager and I can take it down to freezing if needed. I was having a problem with the coil starting to freeze up over time and had to extend the compressor time delay to 7 min.. Was definatly not cheap and lot of man hrs ,but i like to create things. When you do stuff like this there is a learning curve and you dont forget your lessons, and they apply to the next project or other equipment in your household...

 

[broadbill]

Mine works great and its in a steel shop no a/c in Houston. I lager and I can take it down to freezing if needed. I was having a problem with the coil starting to freeze up over time and had to extend the compressor time delay to 7 min.. Was definatly not cheap and lot of man hrs ,but i like to create things. When you do stuff like this there is a learning curve and you dont forget your lessons, and they apply to the next project or other equipment in your household...

what is your refrigeration source for it?

 

[vinper]

See that fridge behind it,here's the build https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/icebox-315476/