Chamberless Fermentation Cooling?

[TripelThreat]

Howdy HBT, first post so please go easy on me

I'm new to home brewing, but I'm already seeing how important precise temperature control is. So that's my primary focus at the moment. Most people seem to use some sort of chamber to accomplish this and that seems to do the trick pretty well. I'd rather not waste a perfectly good fridge or have to build an enclosure and deal with chilling it if I can avoid it. The other method that seems to work is to use evaporation cooling. Cheap, easy and effective, but you lose some resolution in your control.

What other options are there? I'd like to settle on a solution that's low-profile, efficient, can easily scale, and has the potential to maintain fermentation temps accurate within 1*F.

I've seen some systems use peltier coolers, but this usually requires a metal fermentor. I'm using buckets and plastic carboys and dont plan on changing for a while Anyone have experience with this technique used in chamberless plastic fermentors? I'd imagine keeping an air-tight seal would be challenging.

One idea I've had is to use the pump and cool plate wort chiller that I'm planning on getting for my all-grain setup, and re-purposing it during fermentation. Thea idea is keep the chiller and a small reservoir of water in a fridge. Build the control circuit to activate the pump when the temperature needs lowered. That way my fridge can continue being a fridge

The concern I have is that I'll be disturbing the wort, which might cause it to not settle as much. Racking to a 2nd carboy after primary fermentation is complete could help this. If my inlet/outlet liens are at least half way up in the fermenter, and if they're aimed to circulate around, rather than vertically, that might help to not disturb the trub as well.

Should this be a major concern, or am I over thinking it? Any other pit-falls I'm overlooking?

Edit - Possible solution! https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/internal-fermentation-chiller-236079/
Never have to disturb the wort. More of an immersion style

Regarding racking to another carboy for farther clarification, how important is temperature control at this point? This idea all stems on NOT applying to the secondary, so that it can settle properly.

Thanks!

 

[brettwasbtd]

So, for me it is all about a combination of the cheapest option and the least amount of "maintenance" to keep the temp where it is at. I tried the swamp cooler and frozen water bottle method for a while and it just didnt produce the results I wanted. I ended up building a chamber from an old mini fridge and building a temp control. I set and forget, and its great!

The internal cooling options are a cool idea, but im not sure what the cost of those are...may be more than just finding a fridge on Craigslist. In the D.C. area, if you are patient and constantly check you can find something cheap. I picked up a full size Refridgerator/freezer (which is actually nicer than the fridge in my rental property)for holding my kegs and keep extra frozens meats for $20! I am sure you can find something cheap. HBT member nostalgia has a similar coil inside his conical fermentor that he uses a pond pump to pump ice water through.

To answer some of your many questions - Temp control is not overly important after primary fermentation is finished (assuming it isn't hitting extremes). and you shouldn't be worried about "distubring" the wort. Active fermentation creates a lot of movement in the fermentor anyways.

 

[TripelThreat]

Being cheap and maintainable are some of my goals, as well. I don't mind putting in a bit of wrench time if it'll pay off in the long run. As far as costs go, the chiller plates run between $50 and $80 depending on how much surface area you want. They can be reused for chilling hot wort, as well, so it's re-using something I already plan on doing No real extra costs there. If I can come up with a way to also use the chiller in a HERMS system without physically moving it, I'd be ecstatic. Only thing that comes to mind is to put the chiller block itself outside the fridge, and just have a reservoir of cold water in there. Might be worth looking into...

My problem with fridge chambers is the scalability issue. If I have 1 5gal batch fermenting, then I'm set. But if I want to ferment 2 batches, I need another fridge. Or buy 1 full-sized fridge and have that as my upper-limit. No matter how you slice it, you're balancing scalability with wasted space. The SWMBO-factor quickly becomes an issue

I really like the internal fermentor chiller option detailed in the link I originally posted. Here's a pic:

I think this combined with my refrigerated chiller block and small reservoir will work nicely. The chilling tubes are the only part I didn't plan on buying already, and they should be cheap and easy to make. I'll be able to scale it over an arbitrary number of fermentors and wont have to worry about purging since only cold water is every running through the system. The wort never gets distributed, and there's no chance for cross-contamination.

To compare scalability, I only need 1 fridge, and I can still use it as a normal fridge! To scale, I only need to make another cooler coil, and add a valve and temperate sensor. All cheap and easy

I'm a fairly active DIY geek, but new to brewing. Am I on the right track here, or is there anything obvious I'm overlooking?

 

[Richardb22]

An old thread I know but did you make the carboy jacket TripelThreat or is it bought?

Thanks Richard