Garage fermentation temp control

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abbysdad2006

abbysdad2006

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Cheers all! I have a question, I've searched and decided to ask this instead. I just moved to a smaller place with no room to ferment inside and I am forced to do everything in an unattached garage that is not really insulated, brew, ferment and possibly bottle/keg. I have a FastFerment conical fermenter, and a few glass carboys and buckets that I can use to ferment in. What would be the best way, or is there any way to keep either of these at a decent temp to allow fermentation? I had thought of using a tub with an aquarium heater for the carboys and buckets but am at a loss as to what to use for the conical fermenter have. The temps in the winter here in Maine can get pretty damn cold. Any thoughts ad ideas would be greatly appreciated.
 
Any idea how cold is might get in that garage in the winter? I think you might have issue with fridge or frost free freezer if it gets too cold.
http://www.applianceaid.com/garage-refrigerator.php

Other web searching says you might be ok with a freezer but don't try to do it with a refrigerator. Others not sure a freezer really will work well if it gets cold enough in your garage.

How about building a "son of fermentation chamber" http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/images/chiller-plans.pdf and use the terrarium mat or reptile bulb for heat, and in the winter just use ambient air for the cold? Basically just well insulated box with the heater in it and some air circulation fans that get turned on depending on whether you need heat or cold. Mostly you will be calling for heat during the winter I'd guess.

edited to add RM beat me to it
 
I like the chamber idea but money is a bit scarce and I was steering towards the aquarium heater and little pump to circulate the water. seems to be a little bit more cost effective for me. Anyone ever use this setup and how big a heater would be a good size?
 
Keep looking around. Craigslist or the like. Used fridge or freezer for maybe $60 and an Inkbird ITC-308 controller about $35. That will do the chilling. Then a heating source for warming. There are several options including an incandescent lightbulb in a can for heat.
 
kh54s10 said:
Keep looking around. Craigslist or the like. Used fridge or freezer for maybe $60 and an Inkbird ITC-308 controller about $35. That will do the chilling. Then a heating source for warming. There are several options including an incandescent lightbulb in a can for heat.
Click to expand...
A Fermwrap is good for heating. Draws very little current and is quite effective at heating the interior of a fridge or freezer.
 
Robert65 said:
A Fermwrap is good for heating. Draws very little current and is quite effective at heating the interior of a fridge or freezer.
Click to expand...

Mentioned the lightbulb in a can because of the budget comment. You could do the light in the can for just a couple dollars. Or pounds or Euros if you are on the wrong side of the pond.
 
kh54s10 said:
Mentioned the lightbulb in a can because of the budget comment. You could do the light in the can for just a couple dollars. Or pounds or Euros if you are on the wrong side of the pond.
Click to expand...

So , with this idea, all I'd have to do is build a box big enough to house my fermenter and the light bulb and I'd be good?
 
abbysdad2006 said:
So , with this idea, all I'd have to do is build a box big enough to house my fermenter and the light bulb and I'd be good?
Click to expand...

That would work for warming but do nothing for cooling....

In a detached un-insulated garage in Maine I could see you needing both in the same 24 hour period Spring, parts of the summer and fall.
 
kh54s10 said:
That would work for warming but do nothing for cooling....

In a detached un-insulated garage in Maine I could see you needing both in the same 24 hour period Spring, parts of the summer and fall.
Click to expand...

Ya, it's winter and morning and by noon it's summer and by dinner it's fall. I'll have to look into the Son of a fermenter, I guess.
 
Fermwrap with inkbird 308 is my recommendation also for heat. Just tape to your fermentation vessel and wrap some kind of insulation around it. I often use the strips of bubblewrap that come in my moorbeer orders.

Costs more than a lightbulb, but easier than making a chamber just for heat. If your going to cool also, chamber would be more worth while.

Before I made a glycol rig, I made lagers in the cold season, easy enough to warm them with fermwrap. Then ales in the summer, when temp control is not as necessary.
 
Ok, so a chamber with heating and cooling is needed. On to doing searches, research and over thinking things, LOL. Do you guys recommend any good designs besides the Son of a fermenter?
 
Dland said:
Fermwrap with inkbird 308 is my recommendation also for heat. Just tape to your fermentation vessel and wrap some kind of insulation around it. I often use the strips of bubblewrap that come in my moorbeer orders.

Costs more than a lightbulb, but easier than making a chamber just for heat. If your going to cool also, chamber would be more worth while.

Before I made a glycol rig, I made lagers in the cold season, easy enough to warm them with fermwrap. Then ales in the summer, when temp control is not as necessary.
Click to expand...

I like the fermwrap idea also, I'm also probably going to need a chamber or box of some sort to store it as I won't be able to leave the carboy out in the open in my garage, due to the temps outside in the winter here in the Northeast.
 
I think you might have difficulty designing a system that will be good at providing cooling and heating in a location with huge ambient temperature range. Any compressor based cooling system is going to struggle when ambient is too low and cooling with ambient air won’t work in summer.

Adding heat is easier...those ferm wraps work well I hear. Perhaps you could just go with heat only system in a well insulated box. In winter you will probably need a really well insulated box to maintain ale temps, perhaps in coldest part of winter you make a lager. In spring and fall you can probably maintain ale temps with pretty good insulation even if garage temps get up into 80s at mid day. Might put a fan in garage to keep it from overheating. Then in summer brew with kveik yeast. Use the ferm wrap and insulation to keep the beer in the 80s or 90s...
 
eric19312 said:
I think you might have difficulty designing a system that will be good at providing cooling and heating in a location with huge ambient temperature range. Any compressor based cooling system is going to struggle when ambient is too low and cooling with ambient air won’t work in summer.

Adding heat is easier...those ferm wraps work well I hear. Perhaps you could just go with heat only system in a well insulated box. In winter you will probably need a really well insulated box to maintain ale temps, perhaps in coldest part of winter you make a lager. In spring and fall you can probably maintain ale temps with pretty good insulation even if garage temps get up into 80s at mid day. Might put a fan in garage to keep it from overheating. Then in summer brew with kveik yeast. Use the ferm wrap and insulation to keep the beer in the 80s or 90s...
Click to expand...

Ya, that's the issue I'm running into. Temp swings.
 
I would go for an old refrigerator. It has to be a runner, but should be big enough to hold your conical.

A freezer would be even better if you can find one that doesn't have coils in the shelves as a lot of them do.

Or plywood and 2 inch pink foam insulation. I did that, it worked but was somewhat of a PITA. It had a minifridge in one end for cooling. It could not cool enough even from 70 ambient to do a lager.
 
Ok so I think I'll look into and old dorm fridge, carboy heat wrap with a temp controller for now. Should be all I would need?
 
Make sure that you don't have cooling lines in the way inside and that it is big enough for your conical. You might check how cold it will get. If you want to do lagers in the summer it will have to get close to freezing. At least as low as 40F.
 
abbysdad2006 said:
Ok so I think I'll look into and old dorm fridge, carboy heat wrap with a temp controller for now. Should be all I would need?
Click to expand...

I think this would be your least complicated, least expensive route.
Several years ago I got a full sized fridge (no freezer) off Craigslist for $75. Still going strong.
Don't forget to get a two stage controller like the Inkbird ITC-308
 
kh54s10 said:
I would go for an old refrigerator. It has to be a runner, but should be big enough to hold your conical.

A freezer would be even better if you can find one that doesn't have coils in the shelves as a lot of them do.

Or plywood and 2 inch pink foam insulation. I did that, it worked but was somewhat of a PITA. It had a minifridge in one end for cooling. It could not cool enough even from 70 ambient to do a lager.
Click to expand...

Honestly I think a fridge is a poor choice unless someone shows up here successfully using one in similar conditions. The compressor will freeze at low temps and the unit will not behave as expected.
 
eric19312 said:
Honestly I think a fridge is a poor choice unless someone shows up here successfully using one in similar conditions. The compressor will freeze at low temps and the unit will not behave as expected.
Click to expand...

I've been fermenting in my garage for years with the fridge. The compressor is not operating at low temps.
Although I did add a heater to the garage two years ago simply for comfort in brewing in these MN winters.
 
eric19312 said:
Honestly I think a fridge is a poor choice unless someone shows up here successfully using one in similar conditions. The compressor will freeze at low temps and the unit will not behave as expected.
Click to expand...

It depends on how you are using it. If you aren't lagering your temperature in there would usually be higher than normal...... I could see a problem lagering.
 
When the house pipes freeze, beer will be least of problems, lol, as they. Some of us have wood burners and generators for that.
 
kh54s10 said:
It depends on how you are using it. If you aren't lagering your temperature in there would usually be higher than normal...... I could see a problem lagering.
Click to expand...

True. But if the garage was likely to be very cold (not sure about how low, maybe 40F would be safe enough) I would not have the refrigerator plugged in at all. You would just be using it as your insulated box and the inkbird would really only control the heat source. For cold crashing perhaps you could open the door for a while but be careful not to let it freeze.
 
eric19312 said:
True. But if the garage was likely to be very cold (not sure about how low, maybe 40F would be safe enough) I would not have the refrigerator plugged in at all. You would just be using it as your insulated box and the inkbird would really only control the heat source. For cold crashing perhaps you could open the door for a while but be careful not to let it freeze.
Click to expand...

That was the idea I had, just use the controller to heat it up.
 
eric19312 said:
True. But if the garage was likely to be very cold (not sure about how low, maybe 40F would be safe enough) I would not have the refrigerator plugged in at all. You would just be using it as your insulated box and the inkbird would really only control the heat source. For cold crashing perhaps you could open the door for a while but be careful not to let it freeze.
Click to expand...

abbysdad2006 said:
That was the idea I had, just use the controller to heat it up.
Click to expand...

That will work in the winter, what about the rest of the year?????
 
abbysdad2006 said:
Not sure yet, I was going to cross that bridge when I got to it
Click to expand...

For the colder part of the year you can use ambient if it is below your fermentation temperature and use heat to control it. In the summer you can close the door and use the fridge/freezer. In your un-heated garage, during part of the year you will probably want both cooling and heating.
 
Ok, so I'm getting this unit from a friend of mine, it works, I know, I've used it. :mug: It has a Inkbird controller, which has a plug for heating and cooling, along with it. It holds up to 3 kegs and a Co2 tank. Up to this point, it's only been used for a keezer. My question is, what do I use for the heating part of the fermentation process?
output.jpg
 
Could you use a reptile heating pad? Maybe not if it gets really cold.

I'm curious as I live in Florida and have never had to heat for brewing but I've used freezers as incubators for mushroom mycelium.

You could make a heat bomb.

Basically take a submersible aquarium heater (like $10 on amazon) and insert it in a bottle of water. Seal it up. Works really good in small spaces. Not sure how well it would work in freezing temps though.
 

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