KCBrewer's Garage Brewery

[KCBrewer]

Why yes it is, but it is much more than just a sink on wheels.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/carboy-corny-keggle-cleaning-made-easy-long-photo-intense-215412/

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/user/TheKCBrewer?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/OqY0Is_iT6k[/ame]

 

[lwridr91]

What kind of panels are those that you line your chamber with? Where did you get them at? I'm going to be building a chamber real soon and I'm looking for panel like that.

 

[40Below]

Its called FRP and you can get it at Home Depot or Lowes

 

[KCBrewer]

Yep, just like 40Below said. I put a link to it earlier in the thread. $26.97 for 4'x8' sheet at HD. Lowes was around $35 for the same thing.

Since I don't have the material to finish I wired everything up and made little video of it all. Here's a link:

 

[poorboy2011]

Not bad for a guy from the wrong side of the state.

 

[ezzieyguywuf]

Dude, I'm gonna go ahead and suggest that you DO go ahead and put some sort of insulation between the floor and your ferm chamber. A large concrete slab (your garage floor) will hold its temperature much better than your puny ferm chamber. Therefore, whatever temp your floor is it will be the temp your chamber trends towards, i.e. it'll be on all the time unless the floor is the same temp that you want to ferment at (which I doubt). Trust me, you're going to want that layer of insulation.

 

[DevineBrew]

*subscribed*. Amazing job, giving me tons of ideas. I see my free time and money saved going away in the near future.

 

[minsco1]

Not bad for a guy from the wrong side of the state.

Haha! Wrong side of the state, eh?

Us Missourians have got to stick together! We've got plenty of states bordering us to rag on. Like KS, because except for KCK, KS is filled with inferior human beings (at least compared to Missourians).

 

[KCBrewer]

Not bad for a guy from the wrong side of the state.

Thanks, I think. I do venture out your way from time to time. I picked up the 550lbs of grain I have (or had, it's going quick) from MO Malt Supply in your area.

Dude, I'm gonna go ahead and suggest that you DO go ahead and put some sort of insulation between the floor and your ferm chamber. A large concrete slab (your garage floor) will hold its temperature much better than your puny ferm chamber. Therefore, whatever temp your floor is it will be the temp your chamber trends towards, i.e. it'll be on all the time unless the floor is the same temp that you want to ferment at (which I doubt). Trust me, you're going to want that layer of insulation.

Now that 2 people have shown concern about it I may go ahead and do it. It won't take more than 15 minutes to do.

I just am not so sure that it will present that much of a problem. I didn't think conrete transferred heat/cold all that much. Like right now, it's 27° outside, but the garage is about 55-60° with no heat. I don't know what the floor is, but it isn't 27°. Also, the garage is about 6' underground, except where the doors are, and stays pretty cool all year round.

I've been in a few walk in coolers also that are built right on the concrete and they don't have any issues.

Like I said, I may be wrong, and if I am the floor is not a big deal to insulate. I'll have to run some tests once it's done to see how much more it runs without the floor insulated.

I appreciate any advice though.

*subscribed*. Amazing job, giving me tons of ideas. I see my free time and money saved going away in the near future.

Thanks

Haha! Wrong side of the state, eh?

Us Missourians have got to stick together! We've got plenty of states bordering us to rag on. Like KS, because except for KCK, KS is filled with inferior human beings (at least compared to Missourians).

Thanks for getting my back minsco. He's probably just still bitter about the last Governor's Cup.

 

[ChandlerBang]

I just am not so sure that it will present that much of a problem. I didn't think concrete transferred heat/cold all that much. Like right now, it's 27° outside, but the garage is about 55-60° with no heat. I don't know what the floor is, but it isn't 27°. Also, the garage is about 6' underground, except where the doors are, and stays pretty cool all year round.

I've been in a few walk in coolers also that are built right on the concrete and they don't have any issues.

Like I said, I may be wrong, and if I am the floor is not a big deal to insulate. I'll have to run some tests once it's done to see how much more it runs without the floor insulated.

I appreciate any advice though.

I think the issue you may have is the concrete being a large mass that stays the same 50 ish degrees all the time. You probably won't have an issue unless you are trying to get a beer up to 65 or so degrees. I think the concrete will "wick" BTUs out of the bottom quickly. That said, it may actually help for a lager, or other lower temp ferment.

All that said.... screw it and see what happens. If you decide to insulate later let us know if you actually noticed a difference.

AND I FRIGGIN LOVE THE DESTROYED FRIDGE IDEA

 

[KCBrewer]

I understand the concern. Basically it's like having 55° hot plate inside the fridge all the time and soaking the heat out of the fermentation side. I just thought that once the concrete inside each chamber got to temperature, it wouldn't really transfer the heat/cold that much.

I suppose I could let it run until each chamber gets to temp, maybe overnight to see if the concrete temp stabilizes, then time how long in between each chambers cycle. Then do the same with some insulation laid down. If it makes any significant difference I'll definitely go ahead with insulating. My electric bill is ridiculous as it is!

 

[cyberbackpacker]

The thing is though, it is the entire concrete floor acting as a heat sink, not just the small portion that is covered by the chamber; your unit should not be a match for the thermal mass of the entire concrete floor.

But as you said, test it and see; empirical data based on a specific situation is always best!

 

[TheSlash]

That is awesome. For the grain, I see you probably have too much, but these airtight bucket lids are amazing...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001VBALBK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

They have a ring that fits on any 12" diameter bucket and allows the spin top lid to seal it easily. I know they fit a 7 gallon bucket, you might be able to find more...

 

[EarthBound]

The thing is though, it is the entire concrete floor acting as a heat sink, not just the small portion that is covered by the chamber; your unit should not be a match for the thermal mass of the entire concrete floor.

But as you said, test it and see; empirical data based on a specific situation is always best!

I agree. We can only speculate (educated guess) that the concrete will act as a terrible insulator, but you don't know until you try it. Homebrewers make pretty good experimenters.

 

[EarthBound]

So, how has the concrete worked out?

 

[bambam190]

*subscribed*

I am also on the insulate the floor bandwagon. At the very least get a carpet or welcome mat from home depot/ lowes and put it down there (safer for your carboys too)

 

[android]

holy crap man, i don't know how i missed this thread. epic build!

 

[KCBrewer]

So, how has the concrete worked out?

Just noticed this reply. I actually haven't had time to complete it. I've got the front of it wrapped in galvanized metal and one door built and have gathered almost everything for the second door. I just need some hinges and couple more pieces of refrigerator door seal.

Taxes and other honey do's have taken a lot of my spare time lately, but I may get to work on it a bit tonight. I've been so wrapped up in other stuff that I've even got a Delirium clone, which I was really excited to brew, now sitting a week past the planned kegging date.

On the insulation, the more I thought about it, the more I think I will insulate the floor, at least on the fermentation side anway. I wasn't thinking about the carboys sitting on the concrete, which I'm sure will work as a huge heatsink. I think the refrigerated side will be fine though since the cornies have rubber bottoms.

Another reason I decided to go ahead and insulate is that I ended up running a 1x2 along the bottom for the door to seal against, where I was originally planning to just use a door sweep of some kind. The reason I was going to use the door sweep and didn't want to insulate the floor was so I would never have to lift a carboy. I could just slide them on the concrete. I suppose having to lift them up 1.5" isn't too big a deal though.

I'll try to get it wrapped up and some more pics/info posted soon.

 

[KCBrewer]

I made some long overdue progress. Still not complete, but the list has shortened.

First, I installed the co2 tank and lines. It's a 20lb tank and I decided to run a line in from the back which allows me to fit one more cornie inside. I also went with a dual regualtor and have a 10' line on the outside at 30psi that will be used for sealing kegs before going into conditioning.

Inside

Next I still needed to make a heat shield for the light bulb that protruded slightly up into the top. I used some galvanized sheet metal and formed this up, then siliconed the edges.

From the top

From inside

All sealed up. You'll notice I did not silicon it to the thermostat housing. This is so the thermostat and defrost timer can still be accessed.

Next was the doors. For these I used a standard 30" interior door slab. These are hollow and simply use carboard in a criss cross pattern to give rigidity. Here is a shot of the end of the door after cutting it down to size.

Once I cut the door to size, I used a piece of 1x4 and crushed the carboard down to the bottom, packing it tight. Then I used layers of styrofoam to fill and insualte the door.

After that I cut a piece of scrap compressed wood to close the end, and wood glue and brads to secure it.

 

[KCBrewer]

I lined the inside of the doors with the same white FRP paneling, then used refrigerator door seal and aluminum carpet thresholds to secure it.

Here is a side shot that shows how the seal is secured to the door. As you can see, the aluminum strip is screwed down and pinches the groove of the seal to hold it.

Here is how it looks installed.

And for the hinges I used interior door hinges and spray painted them with a rustoleum metallic finish. It matches much better in person than it looks like in the pictures. I plan to paint the exterior of the doors with the same paint rather than wrap them with metal.

And here are the doors installed for testing. (yes, doors are level, garage floor is not )

Left to do is paint the doors, silicon everything, mount the draft tower and run the beer line, insulate the top, replace the thermostat with a digital one, and make/install the pieces to trigger the light switches. I have it on and running overnight just to see how it performs, but so far it's working great. I've got a batch of cream ale ready to keg so I'm holding off on that until this is done so I can put it to the test.

 

[ChandlerBang]

Wow. This is just fantastic. I may need instructions on how to dismantle a fridge.

 

[corwin6654]

Wow, this looks great! Nice work KC. I'd be interested in some pics of how to dismantle the fridge so I can do something similar.

 

[KCBrewer]

Thanks guys. I'll try to get some fridge disassembly pics soon. I do have another donor to take pics of, it's just a time thing. I'll get them up as soon as possible though.

 

[Pittbrewer]

subscribed

 

[AnchorBock]

Looking good. Where did you get the refrigerator door seals?

 

[ShakerD]

Thanks guys. I'll try to get some fridge disassembly pics soon. I do have another donor to take pics of, it's just a time thing. I'll get them up as soon as possible though.

Awesome build man!!

I am going to dismantle a fridge asap is there anything I should look out for?

Cheers

 

[Grahambo]

Would a minifridge successfully cool a 4x4x4 chamber to fermentation temps?

 

[KCBrewer]

Looking good. Where did you get the refrigerator door seals?

I got mine from other old refrigerators that had bad seals on the bottom. I just used the rest of the good pieces and cut them to size. You can buy it in rolls though. Just google it and you'll find plenty of choices.

Awesome build man!!

I am going to dismantle a fridge asap is there anything I should look out for?

Cheers

Just don't kink/break a refrigerant line. Make wide gradual bends where needed.

Would a minifridge successfully cool a 4x4x4 chamber to fermentation temps?

I haven't done that myself, but lots of others on here have, and I believe they were similar to that size with good results. The key is to put a fan inside the chamber to keep the air moving.

 

[TheDirtyV]

Subscribed also. Gutting a fridge opens a lot of potential regarding sizing.

 

[bigbeergeek]

subscrib-a-ding-dong