fermentation cooling fail, maybe

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burntchef

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So I schlepped on down to lowes and bought the mini fridge for 79.00. plugged it into my ferm chamber and no joy. I did not put a fan in, it is on it's way. It will not cool. As fermentation increased so did the temp. Not horrible but hovering around 70 now. I squireld my hand into the bottom of the chamber and it felt good and cold. Sensor from inkbird taped to side of vessel with a bit of foam and tape. I am hoping the fan gets it done. Thoughts?

My fall back idea is to remove the fridge if fan does not improve cooling and use a mini freezer I already have. Anyone tried that or have thoughts on that notion?

chamber is prolly 1.5 times bigger than fridge. 2 inch rigid foam, inside plywood. seal between box and fridge were taped inside and outside. 15 gallon ss ferm tank, on a stand inside the box 1/2 the height of the fridge, to allow gravity feed to kegs direct from ferm vessel.

Any thoughts or help greatly appreciated.

Eric
 
Is this a compressor or a solid state (peltier cooler) fridge? If it's a compressor, it might need some time unplugged until the refrigerant has collected again, after being shaken around during schlepping the fridge.
If it's a solid state refrigerator, it might just be a bit weak (I once bought one with a single 50W peltier element). Can you measure how much current it draws, or what the power consumption is, when it is running? (Some WiFi/remote controlled outlets provide that info, and they are cheaper than power meters.)
 
It is really small. It has a compressor. I pulled the temp sensor off the fermenter yesterday as it was registering 80. The temp in the bottom of the box is a cool 65. My mini fan shipped yesterday, hoping the fan fixes things. This batch should have random flavor.......
Eric
 
A update of sorts. Yesterday when I pulled the temp probe off the side of the fermenter and dropped in the bottom of the box it showed 65. I left in the bottom until this morning. The fridge had cycled on and off through the night. I re attached the probe to the fermenter this a.m. When I got home today the fermenter was showing 75. There is hope. Maybe the schlepping as referred to above was the culprit. Gas settling? I do not know. With that temp decrease there is still hope for the fan. If not the I am going to R&R the mini fridge and step up to the bigger size.

I had no Idea that the yeast produced that much heat. Splains why the heater in the box this past winter had no problem keeping the fermenter at 70. Recently learned here that 65 is a better target. Live and learn, will keep this post updated for those who may follow.
Eric
 
I put old milk jugs full of water in mine, as many fit really. It acts as a tempature ballast. It takes a couple days to even out but once it does things stay very stable.
 
So today I spit canned the 1.5 cubic fridge and replaced with a 2.7. Its hooked up now, we will see. Meanwhile my fan is a holding Q somewhere between everywhere and nowhere.
Eric
 
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