Originally, I thought about doing a whole build thread outlining my trials to make a fermenter for my FastFerment conical. After seeing the onslaught of posts already existing, and being eager to work and not snap pictures, I decided against it. But, after doing the work and having a nearly final product that I'm nearly satisfied with, I decided to share anyway.
The first picture shows the original idea. I built this cabinet to go next to our front-load stacked washer and dryer. My wife decided that she'd prefer them side by side in the new house, so I had this cabinet free and clear. I wanted to keep everything contained vertically, so I built the shelf to contain the mini-fridge on the top half, and the FastFerment on the bottom half. A door would be put over the entire front.
Knowing that the fridge works as a heat pump, I cut louvers in the sides of the cabinet and in the back. Well, on a quick test run, this was obviously not sufficient. I would be able to get to about 68 degrees before stalling out and creating a great deal of condensation inside the fridge. It became clear that either I wasn't dissipating enough heat, or something else was going on.
So, round two. I decided to side load the fridge on the cabinet. I made the cuts, and a new front door for the cabinet. I plugged the controller in, and within minutes, I came down to 62.5 degrees.
Being happy with these results, I am moving onto insulating the cabinet, adding a circulation fan and making things pretty. Scrap plywood just isn't that attractive.
I've ordered an Eva-Dry passive dehumidifier to take care of the minor amount of condensation that exists while running the fridge. I suspect insulation will reduce the run-time on each cycle and hopefully cut down on the condensation. I have a second set of the FastFerment wall mounts that I plan on mounting them near the top of the left side of the cabinet above the mini-fridge. I'm thinking this would make a good work area and allow for easy racking to a keg.
Any ideas/suggestions? I'd love to hear them!
The first picture shows the original idea. I built this cabinet to go next to our front-load stacked washer and dryer. My wife decided that she'd prefer them side by side in the new house, so I had this cabinet free and clear. I wanted to keep everything contained vertically, so I built the shelf to contain the mini-fridge on the top half, and the FastFerment on the bottom half. A door would be put over the entire front.
Knowing that the fridge works as a heat pump, I cut louvers in the sides of the cabinet and in the back. Well, on a quick test run, this was obviously not sufficient. I would be able to get to about 68 degrees before stalling out and creating a great deal of condensation inside the fridge. It became clear that either I wasn't dissipating enough heat, or something else was going on.
So, round two. I decided to side load the fridge on the cabinet. I made the cuts, and a new front door for the cabinet. I plugged the controller in, and within minutes, I came down to 62.5 degrees.
Being happy with these results, I am moving onto insulating the cabinet, adding a circulation fan and making things pretty. Scrap plywood just isn't that attractive.
I've ordered an Eva-Dry passive dehumidifier to take care of the minor amount of condensation that exists while running the fridge. I suspect insulation will reduce the run-time on each cycle and hopefully cut down on the condensation. I have a second set of the FastFerment wall mounts that I plan on mounting them near the top of the left side of the cabinet above the mini-fridge. I'm thinking this would make a good work area and allow for easy racking to a keg.
Any ideas/suggestions? I'd love to hear them!
