Active cooling carboy wraps/blankets-how effective are they?

[wasully]

Eyeing the new stasis cooling system(https://thespoon.tech/kickstarter-t...ng-for-more-fermentation-temperature-control/)

(while also wondering why people don't use aquarium coolers at 2/3 the price? What am I missing?)

But I mainly use glass carboys. So I'm wondering-how effective are those wraps/buckets with fluid lines running through them? Gimmick or meaningful?

Here's one: http://www.gotta-brew.com/products/cool-zone-cooling-jacket.html
And apparently craftabrew will have one as well-it's mentioned on their kickstarter.

Same questions for Anvil's carboy cooling coil:
https://www.homebrewing.org/Anvil-C...ojuQN1g9AzQI3SW1Tu_fEv2YVJrkJh-IaArJEEALw_wcB

I'm skeptical of the capacity for both. Surface area for the anvil and conducting through the glass for the wraps.

Are these genuine products, or ways for fools to part with their money? I'd be wanting to keep a couple carboys ~20 degrees below ambient.

I'd rather not permanently cede floor space to a chest freezer-especially since I'll want to put 2 carboys in one-but it's also under consideration.

 

[mongoose33]

Here are a few thoughts on this:

All of the above items will work, provided that ambient temperature isn't too hot. The anvil system, for instance, doesn't have a lot of surface area (compared to the chilling coil in my Spike fermenter, for instance), but as long as you're not using it in a 90-degree garage, it should work. It's a fermentation temp control system, NOT something that will crash you down into the 30s. But then, it's not designed to crash, but to control ferm temps.

Here's the funny thing about space utilization: you're going to need a place to put the stasis (or other chiller), and space for your up to 2 carboys. So adding a freezer or refrigerator isn't going to take up as much space as you think. Further, when you aren't fermenting, you can store your fermenters in the freezer, so it's not like it's going to add huge amounts of space. The exception would be if you're already storing them on a shelf...

I personally like a refrigerator for this task than a chest freezer, for a couple reasons. One is that with a refrigerator, there's no significant lifting of carboys into the freezer. I've had two back surgeries, and while I can do it, it's not comfortable. Much easier to lift the 4" into a refrigerator.

Second, freezers can overshoot, whereas a refrigerator not so much. You'd need a heat mat around the carboy, which you'd want anyway to raise to a rest, etc., but possibly ping-ponging back and forth?

I have a Penguin 1/2 hp chiller, and one thing that it does is if I'm trying to maintain ferm temps at, say, 66 degrees, I have to set the Penguin to about 50 degrees. If I set it to 28, which is as low as I set it, it'll overshoot on the downside, then the heat mat turns on, then back and forth. It's a feature, not a bug, because the system is so powerful there's little more than a 3 degree rise in the glycol solution as it cools.

Ever since I've had the Penguin--and make no mistake, it does what it says it does--I've wished for a refrigerator arrangement for my conical. It's not possible because it's large, I need to roll it around, etc. So the Penguin. But I still wish for a refrigerator for cooling.

The most space-saving refrigerator is a tall dorm-style refrigerator. You can get them used in the $50-60 range, and they'll accommodate a carboy (you may need to remove the plastic molding on the door).

I also have a smaller basic refrigerator that will handle two bigmouth bubblers at the same time. Even though I now have the Spike and the Penguin, I keep it because I use the freezer above for various things. I can keep a keg of beer in there and force carb it, and when I have more kegs than I have faucets on my keezer, I can serve from it using a picnic tap.

So--if I had a way, I'd be using a refrigerator for my Spike conical.

Take all of that as something else to consider, which might or might not apply in your case.

Here are a few pics showing the refrigerators I use as ferm chambers: