Fermentatiob temperature control.

[trephor]

Hey, all! I am a rookie home brewer. I need some fermentation control going. I am wondering what I should invest in. Your advice would be much appreciated.

I am only brewing 5 gallon batches, no more than two a month. I would also like to try brewing some lagers in the future. I was looking at the Brewjacket Immersion Pro, one or two 5 cubic ft chest freezers with a temp controller, or a 7 cubic ft chest freezer. I like the idea of having total control over one fermentation at a time, and not tying up anything too long for lagers.

I am also looking for something easy to accomplish.

Thanks.

 

[jmark]

You've got lots of options... I usually have a couple of batches going at once so I use a couple of beverage cooler fridges connected to brewpi controllers. There's a big thread on here about setting up a brewpi controller and it really is quite easy and inexpensive to do. I'd recommend this approach to anyone.

Another option would be a big chest freezer and wrap your fermenters with something like fermwrap. Then you can keep the freezer cooler than your lowest needed temp and control the fermwrapped fermenters individually. That might be fine, but I would think you might run into issues if you wanted to do a lager and an ale fermentation at the same time.

 

[trephor]

Thanks for the reply. I think the two 5 ft chest freezers could work for me. I would like to put them in my basement, so a dual stage controller for each might be the best idea. I have zero experience with this, so I'm looking for advanced opinions. There sure is a lot of great information here.

 

[PADave]

I love my chest freezer fermentation chamber. About as easy and hands off option once you get things set up. To change the temp, all it takes is the push of a button.

 

[trephor]

Cool. Would having two smaller ones be a bad idea?

 

[PADave]

Cool. Would having two smaller ones be a bad idea?

If you got the room, go for it. I wish I had a second one, that way two different brews can be fermented at different temps if needed. Just going to cost double for all the equipment.

 

[RM-MN]

Whoa! You are just getting into the brewing and you want to spend a bunch of money on a fermentation chamber that will only be needed for about 6 days out of a month. Since there is no guarantee that you will continue brewing for more than a couple months, why not start really cheap and after a few months you will have a better idea if you will stick with this hobby.

Get a cheap plastic tub. Set your fermenter in it. Fill the tub with water up to the level of the beer. Use frozen bottles of water to bring the temperature of the water down to the fermentation temperature and hold it there by adding more frozen bottles as needed. When the fermentation slows down, take the fermenter out and let the temperature of the beer come to room temp for the remainder of the time until it is ready to bottle. The beer only needs temperature control for 3 to 5 days.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

 

[Vedexent]

Whoa! You are just getting into the brewing and you want to spend a bunch of money on a fermentation chamber that will only be needed for about 6 days out of a month. Since there is no guarantee that you will continue brewing for more than a couple months, why not start really cheap and after a few months you will have a better idea if you will stick with this hobby.

Get a cheap plastic tub. Set your fermenter in it. Fill the tub with water up to the level of the beer. Use frozen bottles of water to bring the temperature of the water down to the fermentation temperature and hold it there by adding more frozen bottles as needed. When the fermentation slows down, take the fermenter out and let the temperature of the beer come to room temp for the remainder of the time until it is ready to bottle. The beer only needs temperature control for 3 to 5 days.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

This is similar to what I'm doing, and it worked too well - so it's got plenty of cooling power.

I've got a fairly warm condo, so I put my 6.5gal fermenter bucket in a pan of water, dressed it in t-shirt as a light cover and a "wick" to draw up water around the bucket, and set up a box fan to blow over everything.

It actually lowered the temperature below optimum for the ale yeast I'm using, so I've ended up having to turn off the fan, and even occasionally pull the bucket out of the pan.

I don't know - yet - if I can get enough cooling for lager yeasts, however.

 

[Jim311]

Do what I did - buy a college keg party style kegerator and make it dual purpose. Use it for fermentation temp control for the week that you're fermenting, and then use it as a kegerator the rest of the time. You can always buy the gear to keg down the road. Plus it's handy as a second refrigerator when it's not in use.

 

[kh54s10]

Two fermentation chambers is a really great option, especially if you do ales and lagers. You can do ales in one and lagers in the other. I made a chamber with a mini fridge in one end. It will hold 3 Better Bottles at one time. It will not cool enough for lagers so I got a 7 cu.ft. freezer for the lagers. It will hold 2 at a time. Once, I had both filled.

 

[mongoose33]

Here's something else to consider: it's somewhat difficult to lift full kegs--or fermenters!--over the lip of a freezer. You might find it easier to use a small refrigerator instead. I lucked into one that will hold two full-size 5-gallon fermenters. It's easy to lift the fermenter up the 5 inches into the refrigerator, easy to pass the temp probe and warming mat lines through the side of the door by the hinges.

What size will work for you depends on what kind and size of fermenters you have. When sizing--whether freezer or anything else--make sure you take into account the height of the fermenter PLUS the airlock. Friend of mine uses a freezer for fermentation temp control, and he can only barely get that fermenter in there, and then only if he jams the stopper in as far as he possibly can.

Related to this--freezer lids often have a section that extends down into the freezer compartment. It's extra space used for insulation. If you do a freezer, make sure to account for whatever part of the lid extends into the freezer compartment.

Couple of pics showing my refrigerator ferm chamber, and the issue with the freezer lid (I have a keezer). You have to look at the lower left of the freezer lid pic to see the protrusion; it sticks down about 1".

 

[sanders1]

Looks very nice!

 

[trephor]

Thanks for all of the info. I am using the 30L Speidel for my primary and the 20L for a secondary when I need it. I also have a brew belt for heating. Someone told me me the 30L will fit in the Haier 5 cubic ft chest freezer. Maybe I will start with one and see how my rotation of brews will work with that.

 

[trephor]

Also, do you guys think it really is possible to lager with the brewjacket immersion chiller? My basement is probably between 60-65 degrees in the summer and cooler in the winter. There are not many user review on those yet.

 

[mongoose33]

Also, do you guys think it really is possible to lager with the brewjacket immersion chiller? My basement is probably between 60-65 degrees in the summer and cooler in the winter. There are not many user review on those yet.

That's already a pretty cool ambient temp, so I'd think if it will lower temps by 20 degrees that should be more than enough. There is heat generated by the yeast, but not quite as much at 50 degrees as lower temps slow the process of fermentation.