Keeping Proper Temps

[Wobbly Cat]

Personally, I'd rank temperature control as the most impactful brewing upgrade I've made thus far. I built an insulated box around an old mini fridge, with overall dimensions that would fit snug inside my brewing closet. With an Inkbird and a small amount of flexwatt heat tape inside of it, I can hold steady at fermentation, ramp up as needed, and cold crash all in the same chamber. It's not beautiful, but it's pretty compact and works great! I also made sure to get a stopper with a thermowell so I can have the Inkbird probe measure the actual temperature of the beer.

 

[Will_the-new-brewer]

I use the Son of Fermentation Chiller (SoFC). Living in Guam makes it difficult to keep the fermentation temps down in a closet or dark room (electricity is also expensive), so I found a small fan and a thermostat work well with frozen ice jugs.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

Mini fridge controlled by one of the controllers below. I ferment in pin lock corny kegs
BrewPi
Fermentrack
STC1000+

 

[rwinzing]

Gylcol unit.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Im a cheep and lazy Bastard. A deep pan or storage box for $6 with water and a tray of ice cubes every 8-12hr is fine.

I did build a coldwater recirculation system relatively inexpensive and used for years. The 8gal plastic fermenter fit inside the 10gal boil kettle. I placed the bucket in the kettle filled about 90% to top. Then placed the 2 ends of a tube, one was open for return, the other attached to a cheep homer aquarium pump. The tubing would couple with a coil of copper originally used for wort chilling. The copper was submerged in an ice bath from the 10gal homer cooler converted to mash tun. The aquarium pump was driven by a $15 temp cotroller from amazon. I built a box around it with spare wood. Worked great.

Water is like 1000% more efficient then air with heat transfer. So after experimenting, realized only have to do about 2 days of temp control. I'll start once I see fermentation action and end 1.5 to 2 days later and let the temp rise to room temp. During winter months the house gets onto the 60s so water only is fine. No body noticed any beer quality difference.

Temp control is ultra-important but the cheep/easy method is the way to go for me.

 

[blkmagik98]

Kenmore 8.8 ft2 chest freezer with a homemade BrewPi setup, and use the same model chest freezer with an Inkbird for my keezer.

 

[El Nino]

Right now a 5.2 cubic foot chest freezer with an Inkbird 308 temperature controller.

I have the same exact setup. Works like a champ for fermenting and keeping everything within 1 degree F in either direction from my target temp.

For bottle conditioning I just store it in the closet, in a regular ice cooler in case of bottle bombs. Hasn't happened yet, but if a bottle pops I want it contained and not all over the floor. Room temp here in Hawaii is around 78-80F so my bottles are usually done carbonating in 7 days.

 

[igvandeventer]

I set my bucket on a large ac vent in my bedroom for my current beer. Worked pretty well actually.