stephelton
Well-Known Member
I've been brewing some ideas in my head for a while about making a fermentation chamber/cabinet. I have really liked Jason Smith's ideas which he talks about here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/fermoire-45567/
Quick summary of his project: A large (custom built) armoire is separated into 4 well insulated chambers. In one chamber, a large bucket of ice water is kept very cold by periodically adding ice. Garden pumps pump this water through plastic tubing to each chamber, where a couple fans blow the air over the water to cool the chamber. A micro-controller, using numerous thermometers, activates and deactivates the fans and pumps as necessary to achieve target temperatures.
His craftsmanship is superb. I'd like to do something very similar, but with a couple differences and additions.
1) I'd like to do something MUCH smaller (and lighter.) His fermoire is gorgeous, but is much too large for my needs. I'd like to do something that is one level high, with chambers only as large as they need to be, which brings me to my first concern.
I've been using these 15 gallon plastic containers in which malt extract is served. My LHBS sells these, and they are great. You might ask your LHBS if they'd do the same. Anyway, these containers are just about 14.5" in diameter and 26" in height. A chamber designed solely for these would not need to be very large, but if the cooling design is dependent on adequate airflow, it needs to be larger. Does anyone have any input on how large? I'm sure the angle and placement of the fans makes a big difference. If the air can't flow, the result will be pockets of warm and cool air which will not be effective.
2) Jason uses ice water to cool the air. Unfortunately, this requires busing chunks of ice back and forth. He reports that with two ale fermentations going on, replacing ice once a week is adequate. However, with multiple 15 gallon lager fermentations, I fear the frequency would increase drastically.
I'd therefore like to use an air conditioning system to cool the water. There are a number of compressors available for different purposes, and I'd like to choose one with three main considerations: (1) price, (2) noise, and (3) ease of installation.
The third is particularly important because the construction of the chamber/cabinet will dictate strict requirements on where the compressor and evaporator coils will go.
To anyone with experience using compressors for custom purposes, do you have any input or recommendations?
Thanks a lot!
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/fermoire-45567/
Quick summary of his project: A large (custom built) armoire is separated into 4 well insulated chambers. In one chamber, a large bucket of ice water is kept very cold by periodically adding ice. Garden pumps pump this water through plastic tubing to each chamber, where a couple fans blow the air over the water to cool the chamber. A micro-controller, using numerous thermometers, activates and deactivates the fans and pumps as necessary to achieve target temperatures.
His craftsmanship is superb. I'd like to do something very similar, but with a couple differences and additions.
1) I'd like to do something MUCH smaller (and lighter.) His fermoire is gorgeous, but is much too large for my needs. I'd like to do something that is one level high, with chambers only as large as they need to be, which brings me to my first concern.
I've been using these 15 gallon plastic containers in which malt extract is served. My LHBS sells these, and they are great. You might ask your LHBS if they'd do the same. Anyway, these containers are just about 14.5" in diameter and 26" in height. A chamber designed solely for these would not need to be very large, but if the cooling design is dependent on adequate airflow, it needs to be larger. Does anyone have any input on how large? I'm sure the angle and placement of the fans makes a big difference. If the air can't flow, the result will be pockets of warm and cool air which will not be effective.
2) Jason uses ice water to cool the air. Unfortunately, this requires busing chunks of ice back and forth. He reports that with two ale fermentations going on, replacing ice once a week is adequate. However, with multiple 15 gallon lager fermentations, I fear the frequency would increase drastically.
I'd therefore like to use an air conditioning system to cool the water. There are a number of compressors available for different purposes, and I'd like to choose one with three main considerations: (1) price, (2) noise, and (3) ease of installation.
The third is particularly important because the construction of the chamber/cabinet will dictate strict requirements on where the compressor and evaporator coils will go.
To anyone with experience using compressors for custom purposes, do you have any input or recommendations?
Thanks a lot!