any thoughts on how to get cold air from kegerator into separate fermentation chamber

[2ellas]

I have a fermentation chamber with a heat source because my basement was generally 60 or below. I recently put together a kegerator so that and my being down there more often have raised the temp. Any good ideas on how to get some of the cold air from the fridge/freezer (it's a side by side) into the fermentation chamber? I don't want the kegerator constantly trying to cool or the ferm chamber trying to always heat!

Thanks folks!

 

[conan71]

I have a fermentation chamber with a heat source because my basement was generally 60 or below. I recently put together a kegerator so that and my being down there more often have raised the temp. Any good ideas on how to get some of the cold air from the fridge/freezer (it's a side by side) into the fermentation chamber? I don't want the kegerator constantly trying to cool or the ferm chamber trying to always heat!

Thanks folks!

The only thing I could suggest is doing what others have done for a poor man’s glycol chiller. Set a 3-5 gal reservoir of water in the kegerator. Put in a small pond or fountain pump, run supply and return lines through the side of the kegerator to a coil in your ferm chamber. It might be as simple putting an unused wort immersion chiller in the ferm chamber. You can control the pump with a standard temp controller.

 

[bschot]

I've seen where people have use ducts to move cool air to and from the fermentation chamber. Both ducts are rigged with fans to move air in opposing directions and temp controlled. I would think that water cooling would be a better choice. It requires much smaller holes in your fridge. In the fermentation chamber I would think you would need some kind of radiator to absorb as much heat as possible. I was thinking of something along the lines of this: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2..._Version_2_-_Full_Copper_.html?tl=g30c95s1586. Unfortunately, it's a $160 and they want $6 for 1/2 fittings. I also thought of a turbo intercooler but you'd need to rig a fan and figure out how to connect it. But they are only a $100 on Ebay.

Good luck



-Brian

 

[spittybug]

Timely question. I just today threw out my converted refrigerator since I hated the space limitations (4 kegs) and the logistics of the upright. I did however have 2 2" pvc pipes coming out of the freezer and into a wooden, insulated box next to the fridge. In one of the pipes I had a computer fan attached to a temp controller. All the piping was expanding foam insulated. I was able to get down to the 20's (F) in that cabinet if I wanted to.

I've just replaced this setup with a keezer. I can get 6 or 7 kegs in it and it is materially easier to manage. I keep it at 5* C. I'm in the process of testing my fermenter chilling system. I took a corny, wrapped it in 50' of vinyl tubing and run that into the keezer and into a car radiator overflow tank with a small pump continuously running. I use an iodophor solution as the coolant. The whole keg is wrapped in insulation. My hope is that I can maintain temps in the 60's (F) in my 95* Houston garage. I'm not worried about lager temps at this point. I intend to turn the pump on and off with an STC-100 to maintain constant fermentation temps. I just built my spunding valve blow off and intend to pressure ferment @12 psi in the corny.

Stay tuned for the test results.

 

[KartRacer54]

I was planning on using the fountain pump system but I am working on a Peltier cooler at the moment. I believe I can drop ambient temps by at least 10 degrees with a 9 amp Peltier. I let you know if it works!

 

[spittybug]

Progress is slow. I'm +12 hours on the chill test and am only barely under 70*F. Thinking it was a case of insufficient heat transfer through the vinyl tubing, I checked the temp on the reservoir of coolant. It was only about a degree cooler! To me, this indicates that the heat transfer through the vinyl wall from the corny to the transfer liquid is not the limiting factor, rather it is a slow process to cool the 5 gallons in the corny + the volume of the coolant. The coolant bottle in the keezer is only about a half gallon or so and with the small pump running continuously, I don't think it dwells in the cold long enough. I may need to slow the pump and/or increase the reservoir size. If my theory is right, it should continue to drop in temp, albeit slowly. Since I'm always above freezing, I've just been using iodophor/water. I'm not sufficiently thermodynamically knowledgeable to know if using an antifreeze type product would more efficiently heat/cool or not.

Before anyone asks, the reasons for using vinyl were cost and easy of application. That much copper would be $$ and a pita to roll, add fittings and attach to tank in keezer.

 

[spittybug]

I consider the test a failure. Couldn't get below ~68*. The heat transfer of the fluid in the chest was insufficient to get rid of the heat fast enough. I think the tubing around the corny will work, but I need to get a radiator for the chest side of things.

 

[jleiii]

I tried using ducts and fans from a cooler to an insulated chamber, and the end result was that the cooler filled with condensate water, and 20+ temp difference was the best I could do.

I converted a dehumidifier to a glycol chiller, used big pond pumps (500+gph needed to get enough lift), then expanded the chiller reservoir from 2 to 4 gal, and now it looks like it's working well.

I have mini radiators attached to muffin fans for general ale cooling control in 2 chambers, and roof flashing with tubing attached for carboy wraps for lagers in the other 2. That plus my STC1000+ ramp & step control, and aside from primary to secondary transfer for lagering, it's pretty much been hands off.

To avoid slushing of the glycol (general marine/RV type), I have 1 pump doing recirc all the time (need to connect to compressor so it cycles), and only holding it at about 28F. The cool down to lagering (34F) got pretty slow once the carboy was under 40, but I expect it to be there tonight.

 

[NeoBrew]

Here's my journey on what you are trying to do.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=432191

I would suggest you ditch the coil inside the kegerator. just put the pond pump into the liquid there. I just left the lid of the corny open enough the snake the chord and tubes through the opening. This led to some condensation in my keezer though.

This method worked pretty well. I used it for the better part of a year. I didn't like being locked down to fermenting next to my keezer though. I then used a peltier cooler setup for about a year. That worked well too. It was limited to about 10 degrees delta from ambient. It consisted of a small low volume 12v pump, pvc tube resevoir, and a copper coil wrapped around my carboy. I then insulated it with a few thick blankets.

I eventually abandoned that system as it was just too much work to keep it from leaking and running correctly. Also, in the heat of summer it was barely able to get down to ale temps in my basement.

I finally bit the bullet and picked up another chest freezer from Craig's List. $50 and it works like a charm.