Fermentation Chamber Idea, Good or Bad?

[NorthMoonBrewing]

So Ive been home brewing for about 2 years now, and I think it is past time that I get some kind of chamber built. I currently use a buddies chamber and keg at his house and bring it home but that's only when we split a 12 gallon batch. My current personal setup is basement floor in the dark. The average temp down there is around the 70 degree mark which does alright, but Ive spent the money on good equipment and mastering the process, now to finalize it with a chamber.

My Guidelines for this build
1. Must be able to hold at least 2 6.5 gallon buckets, the more the better.
2. If possible, have the ability to ferment at 2 different temps in case of brewing a Lager and an Ale back to back.
3. If possible, be able to siphon from where the fermentor sits instead of moving it before kegging.

So here are a few ideas I have come up with due to research, other peoples builds, and google searches.

1. Standard Chest Freezer, must be 7cf or more due to wanting to fit 2 buckets
2. Upright Freezer-Needs to be tall enough to fit 2, but also can't have the coils built in
3. A Mini Fridge build- The popular setup with a mini fridge chilling a small box for the buckets
4. Getting a small chest freezer and building a box that sits on top. Similar to the mini fridge build just vertical not horizontal.
5. Tearing apart 2 mini fridges and building two separate boxes and using two different temp controllers.

Alright guys, Give me some feedback please, post photos of personal chambers. Just need help deciding which way so I can start planning as I want this to be my winter build project so I'm ready to hammer spring brewing.
Thank you!!!

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

A chest 7 cf freezer holds 2 buckets. Get an Inkbird temp controller and your all set...simple.

Your not going to get separate temps at the same time in the same chamber if that's what you mean.
If your fermenting 2 different beers at the same time get another chest freezer off craigslist
The Inkbird will adjust the temp to whatever you want...one beer at a time.
Siphoning without moving it will be an issue as it will be sitting lower than the keg....just put the bucket on a countertop or something with the keg on the floor

 

[Sadu]

I use a standard fridge freezer, containing a fermentor plus a bucket of glycol. Lagers ferment in the fridge and ales outside in a swamp cooler which gets chilled by the glycol. It sounds way more complex than it is. You just need to be able to drill a hole in your fridge and wire up a stc-1000.

 

[Sadu]

Also having 2 separate compartments for ales and lagers isn't really a big deal. Its nice to have, but you can just arrange your schedule to brew the lager at 50f, then after a week bring it up to 62 for the diacetyl rest and put in the ale. After another week bring the ale to room temps and crash cool the lager. You'll find that the first week temps are important, after that you have lots of flexibility in the schedule.

 

[AkTom]

I have a upright fridge. I just built a full extension pull out shelf. I vacuum rack to bottling bucket. My shelf allows me to gently pull it ou without disturbing the hops or trub.

 

[NorthMoonBrewing]

I'm going to attach some of the photos here that gave me some of these ideas. Just to clarify what I'm thinking.

 

[Jtk78]

I bought a chest freezer. I'm not sure of the cu ft, but there is no hump, and it can hold four 7 gallon fermenters. While I'm not able to ferment an ale and a lager at the same time, I have devised a way to have 2 vessels at different temps within reason. I have two ferm wraps, an Inkbird, and a second temp controller that is a single stage. If I set it up right, I can get a difference of almost 10F between the two ferm temps according to the probe tapped and insulated to the vessels. I have under $150 invested in all of it.

 

[BrunDog]

Upright freezer, with automatic defrost off CL!

 

[NorthMoonBrewing]

Upright freezer, with automatic defrost off CL!

That's what I wanted to begin with, but the uprights I find all have the built in shelves with coils that can't be removed, which causes me issues

 

[mongoose33]

It *is* possible to ferment two different batches at different temps. You have to stagger them, and add heat to one of them if the temps are radically different.

Here's a thread I did demonstrating that. Trying to do both a lager (50 degrees) and an ale (64 degrees) would be a little challenging, but it could be done if the ale had insulation around it and a heat mat inside the insulation.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=631776


And FWIW: If it were me, I'd use a refrigerator. I'd not want to have to keep lifting buckets into and out of a chest freezer. You can see how I use a refrigerator for two fermenters in the thread above.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Before you go trying to DIY a chamber, jet.com had a special a week or so ago for a 7cu ft freezer with 30% discount code it was $104 with FREE SHIPPING. I can't see beating that. The discount code iirc was WAREHOUSE30

Edit: It was an Arctic King 7cu ft, but it's sold out. I had one in my shopping cart and didn't pull the trigger. Been kicking myself.

 

[BrunDog]

That's what I wanted to begin with, but the uprights I find all have the built in shelves with coils that can't be removed, which causes me issues

Yes, those are manual defrost units. Look for one with automatic defrost. Sometimes need to be patient looking at CL.

 

[NorthMoonBrewing]

Yeah, the first time I saw a ferm chamber was my buddies and his is just a 15cf chest freezer. It fits a ton of buckets but lifting in and lifting out is just a pain I'm trying to avoid. That's why I liked the photo of the box built on top of the freezer allowing the freezer to be the cooling component, and just adding a heater. Also that would put the buckets 3ft or so off the ground which would allow for a straight siphon transfer without much movement.


When I say two different temp chambers, that's basically going back to that photo of the two boxes that are stacked. I thought of doing two of the mini fridge chamber builds on top of each other to get where one will be lager only and one would be ale only.


EDIT: Now don't get me wrong, I'm not out here making a ton of lagers, but I want the resources for when I do want a lager. Mainly when it comes to entering a good amount of beers in different homebrew comps!

 

[RiverSwillBeer]

Yeah, the first time I saw a ferm chamber was my buddies and his is just a 15cf chest freezer. It fits a ton of buckets but lifting in and lifting out is just a pain I'm trying to avoid. That's why I liked the photo of the box built on top of the freezer allowing the freezer to be the cooling component, and just adding a heater. Also that would put the buckets 3ft or so off the ground which would allow for a straight siphon transfer without much movement.


When I say two different temp chambers, that's basically going back to that photo of the two boxes that are stacked. I thought of doing two of the mini fridge chamber builds on top of each other to get where one will be lager only and one would be ale only.

You got me thinking about how I could solve a multitude of issues, space being one of them. Im thinking I may use my chest freezer, put a collar on it so I can penetrate taps faucets through it and keep it at like 38. Rather than put the lid back on, put an insulated lid with holes in it that could fit computer fans in it, and the lid would have to support 2 or 3 full 6 gallon carboys. Obviously all of this would be enclosed and insulated. When the chamber needed to be cooler ....it would draw air from the kegerator below. When it got too cool, it would be heated with a small heater.

You could actually go up another story and have a separate Lager and Ale chamber.

Anyone use a similar scenario with fans moving air from one chamber to cool another?

 

[sasky7777]

Could always try this, it's something I've been thinking of trying you set the freezer to lager temps and use a temp controller on the heat belts for each brew, kinda like a mini cold room
3 Temp Fermentation Controller 1 chamber

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=388549

 

[NorthMoonBrewing]

You got me thinking about how I could solve a multitude of issues, space being one of them. Im thinking I may use my chest freezer, put a collar on it so I can penetrate taps faucets through it and keep it at like 38. Rather than put the lid back on, put an insulated lid with holes in it that could fit computer fans in it, and the lid would have to support 2 or 3 full 6 gallon carboys. Obviously all of this would be enclosed and insulated. When the chamber needed to be cooler ....it would draw air from the kegerator below. When it got too cool, it would be heated with a small heater.

You could actually go up another story and have a separate Lager and Ale chamber.

Anyone use a similar scenario with fans moving air from one chamber to cool another?

This is a whole different idea. I like that idea but how often would you freezer run, and would the heater heat up the cold area too much? That would save space and save money on a second freezer

 

[RiverSwillBeer]

I like that idea but how often would you freezer run

I would think, as long as there are a few kegs in the kegerator part it would keep the temp fairly well. No different than a normal kegerator. Maybe Im wrong.

and would the heater heat up the cold area too much?

Id be shocked if the heater ever kicked on....but if it did it wouldnt be on for long.

I think the real problem would be if you are pulling air into a chamber above the kegerator... you would build up a positive pressure. You would need to be able to push that air out of that chamber somewhere. Perhaps out of the system altogether.

 

[eric19312]

You got me thinking about how I could solve a multitude of issues, space being one of them. Im thinking I may use my chest freezer, put a collar on it so I can penetrate taps faucets through it and keep it at like 38. Rather than put the lid back on, put an insulated lid with holes in it that could fit computer fans in it, and the lid would have to support 2 or 3 full 6 gallon carboys. Obviously all of this would be enclosed and insulated. When the chamber needed to be cooler ....it would draw air from the kegerator below. When it got too cool, it would be heated with a small heater.

You could actually go up another story and have a separate Lager and Ale chamber.

Anyone use a similar scenario with fans moving air from one chamber to cool another?

Maybe I'm not getting the idea but sounds like it might be a PITA to get at the kegs. One of the nice things about collar design is easy access to the kegs, no tower getting in the way when you open the lid. But a big insulated box with 3 full fermenters to have to move to swap out a keg...nah I don't think so.