DIY fermentation chamber

[Daan Commandeur]

DIY fermentation chamber

Hello!

I'm looking forward to upgrading my small brewing kegs to a 70L brewkeg and two or three Fermzilla 65L fermenters.

For this I want to make a fermentation chamber. Some wood/styrofoam to make it look alright for the wifey.

The idea is a rather tall double door chamber for two or three fermentation kegs and above space to store bottled beer to ferment further, aging.

I want to work with an inkbird and a heating element on the bottom.

What do you all think is the best way to cool it down? Should I take apart a minifridge and use the components or do you think peltier coolers would do the job?

Goal is constant 18°C. Outside temp is usually lower but in the summer could get up to 25°C outside. The garage is insulated but I have no cooling in there.

Cooling even necessary at all?
Let me know

 

[fluketamer]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/show-me-your-diy-fermentation-chamber.147790/

 

[RM-MN]

The idea is a rather tall double door chamber for two or three fermentation kegs and above space to store bottled beer to ferment further, aging.

Controlling fermentation temperature was one of the most important changes I made to my brewing. However, you mention 2 or 3 fermentation kegs. If you ferment 2 or 3 batches at once you are only able to fully control the temperature of one of the 3. Having them in the cool chamber will probably do fine but you aren't actively controlling the fermentation.

 

[fluketamer]

i cant agree more about temp control and brewing. it made the biggest difference for me.


although measuring ambient in a chamber is not nearly as accurate as fv and may cause temp swings, , i imagine it will help more than leaving it at room temp without a chamber .

so i think you could put more than one in a chamber and have reproducible results.

i have made beer without taping the probe to the vessel with bubblewrap and just leaving the probe loose in the chamber. and it definitely improved my beer over ambient temps.

 

[Daan Commandeur]

Controlling fermentation temperature was one of the most important changes I made to my brewing. However, you mention 2 or 3 fermentation kegs. If you ferment 2 or 3 batches at once you are only able to fully control the temperature of one of the 3. Having them in the cool chamber will probably do fine but you aren't actively controlling the fermentation.

Do you think instead of my idea, just get 3 old freezers with an inkbird will improve the beer quality by a lot?

 

[IslandLizard]

Do you think instead of my idea, just get 3 old freezers with an inkbird will improve the beer quality by a lot?

It's the most versatile solution, surely worth considering.

That way you can ferment 3 different style beers each in their yeast's optimal temp range with full control over when and how much to ramp up temps to keep the yeast engaged, and later, soft or cold crash or do a diacetyl rest with Lagers.

For this I want to make a fermentation chamber. [...] to make it look alright for the wifey.

It's never going to look even close to alright to her.

 

[IslandLizard]

just get 3 old freezers [...]

Upright or chest freezers?
Fermenters placed in uprights can be somewhat easier to access than hoisting fermenters out of a chest. But at 70L (~18 gallons) they're going to be heavy and awkward, regardless.

Full size refrigerators can work fine. Used ones with the freezer in the top should be cheap and easy to come by.
Those make excellent kegerators too, holding 6 corny kegs with enough space above for smaller size kegs, bottles or other things.

As @fluketamer said, plenty of inspiration in the DIY forums.

 

[RM-MN]

Will you be brewing all 3 the same day? Most ales only need temperature control for about 3 days. After that they could be taken out and a new one replacing it. If you brewed every 3 days you could have one fermentation chamber with a temperature controller and take the other brews out and let them finish at room temp. Lagers will take longer but the same idea applies. Give them a fermentation period, then take them out for a diacetyl rest before bringing them down for cold crashing.