Fermentation Chamber Foam Insulation ??

[Pancitboy]

I'm building a fermentation chamber this weekend. I noticed that the foam insulation board that I purchased had one side white and other other side silver. Which side do I install it in?

I've searched the threads but I couldn't find any answers.

 

[day_trippr]

If it was used on a domicile, the foil/reflective coating side would be "inside".
I imagine that would apply to a chamber as well...

Cheers!

 

[mattrox]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1454121625.860237.jpg

This is what I did.

Works really, really well.

 

[Pancitboy]

It's in the garage. My neighbor said to put the foil side away (outside part) of the chamber. During the summer it gets really hot inside the garage. Apparently, the foil would "reflect" the heat away.

 

[mattrox]

I don't know about the best way to do it. But mine is working really well in a hot Aussie summer.

 

[madscientist451]

I agree with day trippr, above, foil goes on the inside of the chamber. I made one of these and it works pretty good. You have to experiment with different size frozen water bottles and how many to put in to maintain the desired temperature.

 

[brewstarke]

I think the foil primarily acts as a moisture barrier. I put the foil inside too, but mostly for easy cleaning if I have a spill or a gushing ferment.

 

[Pancitboy]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1454213229.133500.jpg

Hopefully this works.

 

[mattrox]

The reason to put the silver on the inside is to reflect the heat from your heat source when heating is required. Trap the heat in when you want it.

The thickness of the foam insulates against "hot air" in the garage. Silver is good for reflecting direct radiative heat sources.

 

[Pancitboy]

Did I waste time and money on this build?

 

[brewstarke]

Definitely not. Insulation is insulation. You've still moderated any temp swings you would see in an uninsulated area.

 

[mattrox]

Did I waste time and money on this build?

No way.

 

[mattrox]

Did I waste time and money on this build?

No way.

All of that is "in theory". In practice yours will be awesome.

 

[Pancitboy]

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I did a test run and still have some more tweaks since it's not holding temp long enough.

 

[mattrox]

How did you run the test? It will be hard to hold an air-space at a particular temp. Did you have sufficient thermal mass in your test?


If you find you need shiny on the inside, there will have to be a way to retrofit something cheaply.

 

[Pancitboy]

I left it empty with prob hanging close to the middle. I ran it until it was 10 degrees lower. Once the target temp hit, it turned off. However, it turned back on again 15-20 minutes.

 

[mattrox]

Test it with water in it. You'll get way better performance when the water has cooled.

 

[brewstarke]

Looking back at your op pic it looks like you have a mini fridge element in there. Is that correct? Are you running that to keep temps down? I had the same set up for a few years and the only issue I had, which you may find to, was during hot humid periods if I was running the fridge a lot I'd get ice build up on the coil/fins and it would end up losing the ability to cool so much so that it would continuously run and provide no cold output (basically the cold stayed inside the brick of ice around the fins). I fixed the issue with a small fan blowing on the chiller element/fridge fins (the part that gets cold) which keeps the condensation from settling there. With that set up I was able to lager in the chamber with temps in the 70s outside. Though my chamber was a bit smaller than yours appears. Either way it definitely improved my beer a lot.

 

[sd_brewbie]

I built a Son of a fermenter chamber and glued two one inch thick pieces together so I had foil on both sides... Problem solved!

But I quickly upgraded to using a chest freezer with temperature control... To hot in my garage and changing ice out got old

 

[Pancitboy]

Looking back at your op pic it looks like you have a mini fridge element in there. Is that correct? Are you running that to keep temps down? I had the same set up for a few years and the only issue I had, which you may find to, was during hot humid periods if I was running the fridge a lot I'd get ice build up on the coil/fins and it would end up losing the ability to cool so much so that it would continuously run and provide no cold output (basically the cold stayed inside the brick of ice around the fins). I fixed the issue with a small fan blowing on the chiller element/fridge fins (the part that gets cold) which keeps the condensation from settling there. With that set up I was able to lager in the chamber with temps in the 70s outside. Though my chamber was a bit smaller than yours appears. Either way it definitely improved my beer a lot.

I live in Southern California. Humidity is not a n issue. I did install a hair dryer as a heating element. Will that be a problem?

 

[crane]

I live in Southern California. Humidity is not a n issue. I did install a hair dryer as a heating element. Will that be a problem?

I'm in san diego and can attest that it will be a problem, just not as bad as other parts of the country.

A hair dryer is overkill. Too much power. I would go with a light bulb in a paint can.

 

[Pancitboy]

Here's the finished product. I've been running it for a week and it actually turned out great. Still contemplating on switching the hairdryer for the light bulb in a paint can idea.