Fermentation Chamber

[Breck09]

Going to be building/making a fermentation chamber here in the short future and wanted to get everyone's opinion. I have access to a used chest freezer in which I would use the dual stage controller that everyone has bought from eBay. My other option would be to use party buckets along with aquarium heater. Both would probably cost me the same so that isn't a factor and I think the dual stage temp controller wouldn't be too hard to wire. My real question is what is going to give me better control of my temperatures? I'm thinking the freezer route but have read that it's still hard to control temps due to the rise in temperature from active fermentation and the water surrounding the fermenter in a party bucket helps displace the heat better. Any insight you guys could provide would be awesome. A freezer setup does have the added advantage of being able to lager so that is a plus right off the bat. Thanks again.

 

[helibrewer]

I would go with the chest freezer. I built this: Restless Cellars - Photos

Even in a chest freezer you could probably put your carboy in a water bath to dampen temp variation but with a little experimentation you could determine a good set point for the freezer temp that gives you proper fermenter temp.

You could even use a thermowell and drive the temp controller using the actual fermenter temp instead of the air temp.

My system uses an STC-1000 that cycles an air conditioner based on air temps. I'm considering using liquid temps instead but I figured after a relatively short time, temperatures will equalize in an insulated space.

 

[Breck09]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure if the freezer will have enough room to do a water bath also but I did think about that. I mostly ferment in buckets so the thermowell wouldn't work unless I ended up buying carboys which I guess I could. It would just be another added expense. Anyone else have any input as well?

 

[wedge421]

Go with a freezer with a dual stage controller. Thats what I use and would never look back. What I usually do if I want to ferment more then one beer in it is to primary the one beer for say a week with the thermowell taped to the bucket with bubble wrap and then after that week brew my next beer similar in style and put the probe on that bucket and base the temperature off of that.

 

[Piratwolf]

Definitely freezer. I use mini-fridges w/ Johnson controller & just tape the probe to the side. Made a HUGE difference in my beer quality!

 

[Breck09]

I think I am going to go with the freezer and dual stage temperature control. Seems like taping the probe to the side of the fermenter and insulating it with some bubble wrap is the way to go. Should get me within a degree or two of the actual beer inside I am guessing.