Hoppo's Rustic Fermentation Chambers (Ale & Lager)

[Hoppopotomus]

At times I wish I did! I'm opening my 3rd Physical Therapy clinic along with my business partner, so any/all spare time has been devoted to that practice startup. They started the buildout today and I have initiated all orders to equip/furnish the clinic. Grand opening is June 3rd, so its crunch time. We just handed the baton off to our medical billing staff, IT guy, director who will run the practice for us, our regional director, and CPA to finish the fine details. I have spent hundreds of hours over the past couple of months planning and preparing for this new venture, but now I should be able to step back. My time should soon be freed up to resume brewing, building brewing stuff, and hanging out more on HBT! On a good note, my 2nd year hop vines have between 4 and 6 bines each popping thru the ground, so all 8 of them survived their first winter!

 

[Hoppopotomus]

So once it gets warm up there, I hope you'll post some summer data.

I'm about to build one in my garage based on a 5000BTU window AC unit. I'm going to try it using the STC1000 controllers an Eva-Dry E500 or DampRid to keep condensation and AC coil freezing controlled. I may have to buy a CoolBot if I have coil freezing issues. I picked up a GE 5000BTU unit at BrandsMart for $99.

I found an online BTU calculator. Based on an 8' x 4' x 4' chamber, the 5000BTU will still reduce temp by 50F in a poorly insulated chamber. It only requires ~2500 BTU for normal insulation and 1500 BTU for good insulation (no leaks or windows). If I can keep it from freezing, I think it will work. The temp in my garage will definitely get over 90F in July/Aug.

My fermentation chambers should perform the same in the summer as they do in the winter. They are located next to the mechanical room in my basement. I have radiant floor heating throughout 85% of the rest of the basement, but not in there. This was the first winter with my boiler system and I tracked ambient temperatures in my brewing room, which where consistently around 66 degrees. Incidently, since my brewery is located in the furtherest corner away from my walkout portions of the basement (it's a 2 sided walkout), it stays nice and cool. With a combination of the sinking cool air from my A/C in the main levels of my house and the cool earth on the other side of the poured walls in that corner, my temperature last summer in the brewery was consistently 66 degrees.

 

[limulus]

At times I wish I did! I'm opening my 3rd Physical Therapy clinic along with my business partner, so any/all spare time has been devoted to that practice startup. They started the buildout today and I have initiated all orders to equip/furnish the clinic. Grand opening is June 3rd, so its crunch time. We just handed the baton off to our medical billing staff, IT guy, director who will run the practice for us, our regional director, and CPA to finish the fine details. I have spent hundreds of hours over the past couple of months planning and preparing for this new venture, but now I should be able to step back. My time should soon be freed up to resume brewing, building brewing stuff, and hanging out more on HBT! On a good note, my 2nd year hop vines have between 4 and 6 bines each popping thru the ground, so all 8 of them survived their first winter! :rockin:

Congrats on the new clinic. My second daughter has that as her career path. I almost did it too back in the early 80s when I was in college. Now it requires a doctorate, I think. She is a ranked runner and I'm sure there is a connection. She thought about med school, but the new healthcare system scared her. That is a subject for a different forum.

 

[limulus]

My fermentation chambers should perform the same in the summer as they do in the winter. They are located next to the mechanical room in my basement. I have radiant floor heating throughout 85% of the rest of the basement, but not in there. This was the first winter with my boiler system and I tracked ambient temperatures in my brewing room, which where consistently around 66 degrees. Incidently, since my brewery is located in the furtherest corner away from my walkout portions of the basement (it's a 2 sided walkout), it stays nice and cool. With a combination of the sinking cool air from my A/C in the main levels of my house and the cool earth on the other side of the poured walls in that corner, my temperature last summer in the brewery was consistently 66 degrees.

Nice to hear someone has a basement that stays cool. Mine does too now that I have a dehumifier set to 50% that pumps out through the basement HVAC system. I don't know why it gets so humid down there. The basement AC keeps it at 76f. But I keep three ceiling fans running 24/7 down there in summer just to keep the air moving.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

I have had a busy couple of weeks of brewing. I have four 5 gallon batches of beer happily fermenting away in the fermentation chambers! I brewed up 4 AG batches including a summer orange wheat, a monster IPA, a rye maibock, and world wide lager. The chambers continue to work flawlessly, so I'm happy. My biggest fear is that the mini fridge used for the lager chamber is going to give out and I'm going to have to tear the whole thing apart to re-install another. It continues to serve it's purpose for primary lager fermentation and getting the temp. most of the way for the secondary lagering at which point I transfer to my keezer for longer term lagering. All in all I'm pleased!

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Just a quick update on my fermentation chambers. I have been dabbling with some lagers as of late and am finding that my current lager chamber does a good job of maintaining primary fermentation temps, but the old mini-fridge that it is build around struggles to get the chamber below 7 degrees C (44 degrees F) anymore. I purchased a chest freezer off of CL yesterday and am going to build a multi-use chamber for the brewery. I want something that can be used not only for lagering, but also for cold crashing and carbing up kegs in waiting. I plan on starting on it tonight and will post some pics over the weekend. Here we go again.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

The freezer and framing.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Cabinet dressed out with knotty pine, vents installed, and temp controller placed. I also installed an additional outlwt on the front in case I need to plug something in and for symmetry. Next onto the decorative lid and log trim pieces.

 

[Huaco]

Very nice looking Hoppo!
I like how you've given plenty of space for venting on the chest... Wise!

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Thanks Huaco. I built the hinged lid and trimmed it out with pine boards. Just need to mill some log trims and tile the top to match my other pieces. Controllers wired up and working, just in time for my Oktoberfest to go into the secondary.....better late than never on that beer. This chamber ended up really tal, so I am building a step out of a large slab of pine that I have out in the garage for easier access.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Pics

 

[Huaco]

Thanks Huaco. I built the hinged lid and trimmed it out with pine boards. Just need to mill some log trims and tile the top to match my other pieces. Controllers wired up and working, just in time for my Oktoberfest to go into the secondary.....better late than never on that beer. This chamber ended up really tal, so I am building a step out of a large slab of pine that I have out in the garage for easier access.

Could you rig a block and tackle or other hoist type winch above the chamber? It's going to be a bear of a time on your back overcoming the height of the chamber wall. I ferment in 1/2 bbl Sanke kegs and heaving the 12 gallons over the wall of that is not fun. I can't imagine doing it over what you have. I need to build a long enough hose from my chilling setup to chill directly into my fermentor that has been placed into the chamber empty!

 

[Hoppopotomus]

I'm sure that I could rig something up above the unit. However, I have a large 4" thick slab of pine that I plan on using as a stair step to make things easier. I ferment in Ale Pales and 6 gallon carboys with carboy hauler straps, no larger. My 10 gallon batches get split, so I can easily handle the 45 to 50 lbs load....for now anyways. I'm sure later in life, I'll start looking into more back friendly alternatives, but with the step in place the height will be no different than what I face with my keezer and other 2 chambers. My last patient is finishing up in the gym, so I'm actually getting out of the office a little early for once. I plan on going home this evening and ripping the pine slab down to size and building the base for the step. If I'm feeling real ambitious, I'll rip down the log trims as well.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

I ripped down the pine slab to use as a step and made a base to support it. Should make life easier lifting kegs and fermenters into the chamber.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

I decided that I didn't have the ambition to rip down, debark, and knife cedar logs all day, so I went with a quicker alternative. I ripped down the rest of the pine slabs into 3" wide stock, then knifed them down into a log shape. Not as much character as the authentic cedar logs used on the other components, but it saved me a ton of time and aggrevation. Far easier to miter the corners with somewhat square stock, than with inconsistently shaped and sized cedar logs. Next I need to get the collar insulated and my CO2 system installed.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Collar insulated, CO2 manifold mounted, and tank/regulator placed. The chamber is now operational. Just need to tile the top with tumbled travertine, trim the vertical corners, and finish the wood work. I have an Oktoberfest sitting in primary in my other lager chamber at 48 degrees for almost 4 weeks. Unfortunately thats as cold as the dorm fridge can handle, hence me building this one. Need to get it racked today and moved over to this chamber for the progressive lagering down to colder temps. Better late than never.

 

[limulus]

I ripped down the pine slab to use as a step and made a base to support it. Should make life easier lifting kegs and fermenters into the chamber.

Very nice work. I just noticed the PVC pipe coming out along the floor. You may have covered that earlier, but is that a condensation drain from the keezer? No matter what I do, I still get condensation in mine. I have added extra weather stripping around the gasket and I still have to get the wet/dry vac out on a regular basis. I have a coffin top and although it is built quite solidly with a tight seal, I may be getting moist air in through the coffin.

Unfortunately for me, my basement is finished and I have 8" wide scraped hickory flooring down there. I wont' be making any floor drains, but I could possibly construct some sort of drainage system so I don't have to vacuum out the condensate.

BTW, you probably know this but places like Home Depot sell the vents in wood. I have on on mine.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

No the pvc is for the condensing discharge for my furnace and boiler. My keezer is in my bar area on the other side of the wall. I get condensation in mine as well. I shop vac it out everytime I open it up. I'm sure I will get some condensation in the lagering chamber as well, but I don't worry too much about it. I had a case of wall registers left from when I built the house that I came across, so I just shot them with hammered metal spray paint to match my 2 control panels in the brewery. I considered wood diffusers, but pine ones are harder to find and these were free.

I got the Oktoberfest racked and put in the chamber. Let the lagering begin.

 

[tagillis]

Your builds are clever and very well executed. Thank you for sharing. Now you've got me curious to learn more about your woodshop and your choice in setup and equipment.