My Fermentation Chamber Build

[emjay]

I'm in Ontario as well and right now I use 10W brewbelts I already had. But it's a chest freezer with much less heat loss.

On this particular design with these dimensions, 50W of heat would only really achieve a temperature delta of 10° Fahrenheit. That's still far less than you'd need even to just br able to keep it from freezing!

You'd need to get some serious wattage for it to ferment even a lager when winter is at its coldest... to the point that I'd be concerned with it being a potential fire hazard.

Where in Ontario are you from anyways?

 

[Ace_Club]

I'm in Ontario as well and right now I use 10W brewbelts I already had. But it's a chest freezer with much less heat loss.

On this particular design with these dimensions, 50W of heat would only really achieve a temperature delta of 10° Fahrenheit. That's still far less than you'd need even to just br able to keep it from freezing!

You'd need to get some serious wattage for it to ferment even a lager when winter is at its coldest... to the point that I'd be concerned with it being a potential fire hazard.

Where in Ontario are you from anyways?

If the ferm chamber were to be kept outdoors (or in an uninsulated garage), then you could make it smaller and/or add more insulation to reduce the amount of heat capacity required to keep it warm.

 

[scottsr123]

Hey Ace_Club,
I looked around for the controller you used in your build, and it is listed as using a 220V power supply. So, are you using 220v power, or is there a 110v model out there that I've been unable to locate?

Thanks!

 

[runstop]

Hey Scottsr123,

If you buy one of these on ebay, the hong kong supplier will have both a 110 and a 220. They wil send you the right one based on where they're shipping.

runstop

 

[scottsr123]

Hey Scottsr123,

If you buy one of these on ebay, the hong kong supplier will have both a 110 and a 220. They wil send you the right one based on where they're shipping.

runstop

Thanks, Runstop!

 

[Ace_Club]

I made some more progress tonight on the build. I finished insulating the wall with the mini fridge and was able to get the fourth wall/door installed. All that is left to do is the following:

1) Install remaining insulation on the fourth wall/door.
2) Install weather stripping around door seal.
3) Install locking/holding mechanism for the door.
4) Install FRP flooring.
5) Caulk/aluminum tape all the final joints.

The end is in sight. I can't wait to have this project finished.

(Unfortunately my wife is out of town and took the camera with her. I will post pictures of the current progress tomorrow night)

 

[Ace_Club]

Here are the pics of the fermentation chamber build.

A shot of the final insulation on the fridge wall:

The final fourth wall, with door shut:

With the door open:

 

[BYOBKC]

nice work! so what is ambient temp and what is the lowest temp that the fermentation unit can reach?

 

[Ace_Club]

nice work! so what is ambient temp and what is the lowest temp that the fermentation unit can reach?

I will see soon enough. The max ambient temp in the basement is ~78F during the summer months. I plan to keep the chamber at ale temps so a max low of 60F.

I still need to insulate the door and install the weather stripping. Then I can turn it on and take it for a test run.

 

[Tinga]

Subscribed. This is exactly what I was thinking of doing. I may have to brush up on some electrical technique for the controller build though.

 

[geoffabrown]

Bring out the GIMP! Good work my man. You are a true inspiration to the garage brewers of the world.

 

[Ace_Club]

Subscribed. This is exactly what I was thinking of doing. I may have to brush up on some electrical technique for the controller build though.

Really, as long as you can cut wire and strip the ends, that's as difficult as this controller build got.

Bring out the GIMP! Good work my man. You are a true inspiration to the garage brewers of the world.

Basement.

 

[Randar]

Slowest....

Ferm....

Chamber.....

Build....

Evar.

Come on Ace.

 

[funkapottomous]

He'll likely do what several people around here do and butt the opening of the fridge (door removed) up to an opening of the chamber and seal the edges. Essentially expanding the interior of the mini fridge.

wow.

How have I not thought of that before? That's a good idea!

 

[Ace_Club]

It's done.

Here are the final pics of it with the floor and all seams taped. It gets a test run tonight and then gets put into use with my brew session on Monday.

I'll post some in-use pics on Monday.

Also, one last bit of advice. When working inside the chamber (taping seams, caulking, etc.) never, ever fart. It's horrible, and it lingers.

 

[MPOWELLJR]

Looks great! Let us know how it performs. I have 2.8 cu ft fridge I'm thinking about building one around.

 

[funkapottomous]

Also, one last bit of advice. When working inside the chamber (taping seams, caulking, etc.) never, ever fart. It's horrible, and it lingers.

 

[Ace_Club]

Here it is in action (though not really much more to see).

A shot of the fridge plugged into the controller and the controller plugged into the ceiling outlet.

Here's the temperature controller display. Cooling down towards 16.0 C.

Here's a shot of the locking mechanism. There's a similar one on the bottom of the door.

I tested it out with a 2 liter of ice prior to turning on the fridge. The 2 liter was able to cool the chamber from 22.3 C to 18.4 C and it was only half melted when I opened the door to turn on the fridge.

 

[Ace_Club]

In the near future, I hope to get more accurate readings of when it cycles. For now, I've been noting the temps and status every 15 minutes or so. It seems that the chamber loses ~1 C/hr and that the fridge kicks on for 5-10 minutes to cool it 1 C. When I get the time, I'll post some better numbers.

There are no noticeable air leaks at any seams. I'm guessing this is a pretty good to standard cycle time for something like this, and would like to hear from any others with ferm chamber experience.

 

[SpartyParty]

Yo Ace... I f a guy wanted to take your basic idea of using a mini fridge but to make a keezer rather than a fermentation chamber I wouldn't need the temp control box would I? I'm thinking of using kitchen cabinets with the pink foam and a mini fridge to build a keezer with a beer faucet on the counter. Thanks

 

[dbarrm]

Sorry if this has already been said but you need to get some type of fan in there for air movement.

Dan

 

[Ace_Club]

Yo Ace... I f a guy wanted to take your basic idea of using a mini fridge but to make a keezer rather than a fermentation chamber I wouldn't need the temp control box would I? I'm thinking of using kitchen cabinets with the pink foam and a mini fridge to build a keezer with a beer faucet on the counter. Thanks

It would all depend on the size of the chamber and the temperature you wanted to keep it at. From my recent experience with this chamber, it holds temps well, but the little fridge struggles to get temps down. Plus, I'm only lowering temps by 10F. You'd most likely have to get a larger mini-fridge or risk burning out the motor.

You'd only need a temp controller if you wanted to accurately control temps.

Sorry if this has already been said but you need to get some type of fan in there for air movement.

Dan

I know, I'm getting fans this weekend to add into it. However, as it stands, it works very well without the fans.

 

[EarthBound]

Nice work, Ace! Mine is pretty similar (basically just 2x4's, OSB, and rigid insulation), just a wee bit bigger.

 

[rekoob]

Celsius is way better anyways. Makes life much easier to figure out when water boils at 100 and freezes at 0. Go Metric!! Woot!

yup, cuz trying to remember that 32*F is freezing and 212*F is boiling is pretty hard.

 

[itsme6582]

yup, cuz trying to remember that 32*F is freezing and 212*F is boiling is pretty hard.

Yeah. But have you ever had to work with slugs? Imperial units are a pain in the butt.

 

[StittsvilleJames]

"The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it."

LOL

Farenheit is dumb.

 

[Mpavlik22]

Farenheit is dumb.

Too bad it's a very common way to measure temps in the US. We all must be pretty dumb then.

 

[emjay]

Too bad it's a very common way to measure temps in the US. We all must be pretty dumb then.

Yep

 

[EarthBound]

We all must be pretty dumb then.

Precisely.

 

[naemlss]

Alright, before this goes to far. Back to business

I have a chamber in mind that will basically block off a small part of my laundry room. I will still insulate all of the sides. My laundry room is in my garage and can get up to 100 degrees. I have a chest freezer being delivered and am thinking about using that instead of my mini fridge. Wise?