How do you control fermentation temps?

[LovesIPA]

What kind of tape do you use? I tried a few types of tapes but they come off because of the dampness around bucket.

I use blue painter's tape. I also use an eva-dry to keep the moisture level down.

 

[idylldon]

Works like a champ!

Cheers,
--
Don

 

[LovesIPA]

Works like a champ!

Cheers,
--
Don

Would you mind describing what we're looking at and how it works?

 

[idylldon]

Would you mind describing what we're looking at and how it works?

It's a 20-gallon jacketed fermenter (I bought the vessel and added the jacket myself) coupled to an AC powered glycol chilling unit I built (like many others on here). I have the glycol set to 25F with a 6-degree differential and the fermenter set to whatever is needed for the yeast strain with a 1-degree differential. There's a small submersible pump in the glycol tank that runs when the AC kicks on to circulate the glycol around the evaporator. When the fermenter thermostat kicks on, a larger submersible pump sends the glycol to the jacket on the fermenter.

The fermenter and chiller are connected with quick disconnects because I also use this chiller with my 32-gallon Speidel fermenter when I double batch.

I can easily do lager fermentation temps at any time of the year. Even with a high ambient temperature, the AC unit doesn't run very often.

Cheers,
--
Don

 

[LovesIPA]

Very interesting. I will follow-up in your thread I just found.

 

[cannman]

Love it

 

[mccabedoug]

I have a $25 chest freezer that I bought off Craigslist. I also have a $19 STC-1000 temp controller.

The STC-1000 is plugged into a GFCI outlet in my basement. The chest freezer is plugged into the 'cool' plug of the STC-1000. A heating pad is wrapped around one side of the bucket and is plugged into the 'heat' plug of the STC-1000. On the opposite side of the bucket I have the STC-1000 temp probe against the side of the bucket. The probe is under 1" of cloth to isolate it from outside air. The heating pad and the cloth/probe are held on with 2 bungee cords wrapped around the bucket.

I also have a jar of crystal kitty litter in the bottom of the freezer to absorb humidity.

I love this set up and the temps of the wort are dead on as measured with an IR thermometer. I also painted the outside of the chest freezer with chalkboard paint (outside was pretty beat looking). My intention was to write the contents on it. Turns out my kids just like to draw stuff on it with driveway chalk.

I can now make lagers in the summer and hefes in the winter.