Fermentation chamber

[thejuanald]

So I was really thinking it is time to try and work out a fermentation chamber for my beers. I'd been scouring craigslist in my area for chest freezers I could convert, then I thought maybe something like a wine cooler would work. I mean, if you get a big enough one that can fit a carboy, why not? They have temperature controllers and have a large enough range of temperatures. I started looking for those as well on craigslist and found they are about the same price on craigslist (about $100) as any chest freezer I could find.

What do you guys think? Would that work out well? My one thought would be I doubt they have a heating element to keep the temperature up during the winter.

 

[Rockn_M]

A wine cooler would work.

I use my chest freezer to also lager, cold crash and keeping my kegs cold when I'm not fermenting. Will a wine cooler be able to get that cold if you wish to do other things.

 

[DevilNuts]

I use a frigidaire 8.8 cu ft chest freezer with an external temp controller. Fits two buckets/carboys at the bottom (up to 6 gal) and a 3 gal carboy on the little shelf.

 

[duboman]

Yes, if the cooler is big enough they work fine. They usually will control temperatures from the lower 50's to the upper 60's. Not sure if they would work for lagering but ales for sure!

 

[beernutz]

A wine cooler, assuming it has a door and not a lid, might have the advantage of being easier to load and unload. I know with my chest freezer sometimes lifting a 5+ gallon glass carboy using straps or even a primary bucket into and out of it can get a little tricky.

 

[Puddlethumper]

I think a lot depends on how much space you have and how many batches you expect to have in the pipeline at any given time.

If you are only brewing occasionally and/or have very limited space, a wine cooler or small freezer will work for you just fine. If, however, you think you'll be brewing pretty frequently and have need for two, three or even 4 batches in various stages of production at any given time, then a much larger chest freezer becomes more important. Available space can also be a major consideration.

I am fortunate in that I have ample space for the large chest freezer I bought on Craigs List. In it I can have as many as 4 fermenter buckets and/or carboys at once along with a little space for cellaring a case or two of last winter's RIS.

In short, bigger is better if you have the space for it and realistically think you may need it.

Cheers and good luck!

 

[thejuanald]

Thanks for the info guys. I want a chest freezer but I don't have room in my apartment right now. I think for now a wine cooler would be good so I can keep the footprint to a minimum and the one I was looking at goes down to the mid forties. I don't really lager though. My question is, would like 45 be decent enough to cold crash? Once we get a house again it will be a different story and I will definitely have the ability to use a chest freezer. Then, I can just use the wine cooler for actual wine!

I wish I could have multiple batches going at a time now, but getting my all grain system going in the apartment was challenging enough after moving from a big house across the country to an apartment haha.

 

[Paradigm]

A big issue with wine coolers is that their minimum temperature is usually pretty pathetic. When I made my ferm chambers I figured that the extra couple bucks to allow me to lager, cold crash and do ales all with the same thing was worth it.

 

[coolharry]

Wine coolers are just that, coolers. They're meant to keep things cold, not make them cold like a fridge or freezer. Its an entirely different cooling system. The temperature they can reach greatly depends on ambient temperature. We had one and it would only go about 5 degrees lower than the temp of the room it was in, even when it was set on 55. I doubt they would be able to keep up with a fermentation and hold an accurate temperature. Id say go for a small (5 cubic feet?) chest freezer if room is an issue.

 

[thejuanald]

Wine coolers are just that, coolers. They're meant to keep things cold, not make them cold like a fridge or freezer. Its an entirely different cooling system. The temperature they can reach greatly depends on ambient temperature. We had one and it would only go about 5 degrees lower than the temp of the room it was in, even when it was set on 55. I doubt they would be able to keep up with a fermentation and hold an accurate temperature. Id say go for a small (5 cubic feet?) chest freezer if room is an issue.

That's good to know, I may just have to try and figure out a way to get a chest freezer in the apartment haha. I really need something to maintain fermentation temps, especially this summer in New Jersey.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

I just bought a chest freezer off of Craigslist that can't be much bigger than a wine cooler, and a 6 gallon carboy will just fit inside it. This is my second freezer - they are very versatile once you add an external temperature control.

 

[thejuanald]

Do you happen to know the size in cubic feet?

 

[beernutz]

I used a 3.5 cf Haier freezer to build my fermentation chamber, putting an 8" insulated collar on it and using a 15 year old analog Johnson Controls controller on it. That is a $12 indoor/outdoor wireless thermometer on top. It holds 2 carboys or 2 primary buckets and doesn't take up too much space. It was less than 6 months old when I bought it for $60 off craigslist.

The problem with a wine cooler may be getting low enough temps. I've owned 2 of them and neither went below 55 degrees. The first one was probably big enough to hold 1 carboy or bucket but it started making god-awful noise after less than two years of use. I replaced that with a more upright 12 bottle dual chamber model which is a lot less noisy but would be impractical for fermentation use. Neither of them got cold enough to lager and the older, bigger one ran constantly and used a lot of electricity, according to my kill-a-watt meter, for something its size.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

http://m.homedepot.com/p/t/2034250...hvu1p&cm_mmc=CJ-_-6147116-_-11210757&cj=true

 

[thejuanald]

Would something like that be big enough to hold a 6.5 gallon carboy with airlock? The dimensions seem like it might just barely fit.

Thanks for all the info guys! I talked with my leasing office (they have a ton of ridiculous rules, one of them being no additional appliances like chest freezers) and I convinced them it wouldn't be a big deal so I may just be building a keezer/fermenter in my apartment. Hurray

They did mention the legality of a "beer distillery" in an apartment at first, however haha. Some people.