Mini-Mother of a Fermentation Chiller

[Jsmith82]

So I'm on a big budget, I didn't want to invest in an old deep freezer (I want a newer one once that day comes), but I wanted a way to ferment beers and lager so based off of the "Mother of a Fermentation Chiller" plans, I shrank the original idea down and made my own which fits a single bucket.

I really enjoyed building this, though it's not as finished and nice looking as other projects on here, I'm thinking I'm going to just trim the edges and let SWMBO paint it however she wants then call it a day. I do plan on having a "do over" towards the end of summer as I'm not very savvy with power tools and home carpentry, this was my first time building something up from scratch.

My "Google Sketchup" of the modified chiller showing the air circulation, the bottom 3 compartments are filled with ice packs then fed air by an attached fan (a home computer fan hardwired to a DC adapter), air circulates around the bottom chambers then up into the main chamber, then back down via a small triangular path on the back side:

My plans to get everything I need out of a single 4x8 sheet:

Wired up fan:

Labor (those are hops in the black buckets in the background, since this picture they have all grown well but the Cascade is INSANE. We're getting hops out of it this year when all it was really supposed to do is plant its roots):

Building:

 

[Jsmith82]

Fan mounted (it's on there straight, funny camera angle):

After insulating and sealing off the entire thing on the inside, alas, first beer going at it, Oktoberfest!:

The lid on top and the cover for the ice chambers have a matte black handle center mounted on each, reverse side having insulation on it. I'm using ice bricks that are used when shipping medical supplies, they are designed to keep temp for 2 days in a cooler during transit. Rotating every 24hrs with fresh ice blocks from the freezer, I was able to drop my test water down to 43 degrees utilizing 3 blocks at a time.

It's not pretty, it has a manual transmission lol, but hey, my beer is bubbling away and this morning the temp was at a steady and controlled 59 degrees, I was wanting to ferment at 60 (this being an ale using Notti) so... Success!

 

[pvtschultz]

Now put the Ebay Aquarium Temperature Controller inline with the fan and you'll have the ability to "set it and forget it" (though you'll still need to change out the ice packs...).

 

[Lycan]

There is a problem here.... It all looks good except that you should have been pushing cold air up the long tube and pulling cold ar through the shelf hole. Thermodynamics state that cold air sinks and hot air rises. By taking the cold air at the bottom and chilling it only slightly you use less frozen air from the ice packs. With the hotter air on top getting blasted with cold air it will cool faster too. The was you have it right now you are colling hotter air which will take longer than cooling cool air. Just some friendly advice. Other than that.... I want one!!!