Need help fast!

[horaceunit]

OK. Has anyone ever made it OUT of this hobby alive!? 2 months ago, on a whim, I bought a one gallon brew kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop and made my first batch of beer. Yesterday was my first 5 gallon extract batch, and today I got a chest freezer off craiglist and an STC-1000 temp controller is currently on order. I guess a mash tun is right around the corner! Does it ever end!? It’s a good thing I really like beer! Well at least I know what all my friends and family are getting for Christmas next year! I hope they all like beer! Actually I couldn’t be happier and I am really loving it! This forum has been a great source of information and encouragement so a big hearty thanks to all!

 

[beergolf]

Hhahahaha. Welcome to the addiction. When I started I brewed 4 batches before even tasting the first one.

Also I spent so much time on this forum that my wife called it my beer porn.

 

[Freddyj123]

OK. Has anyone ever made it OUT of this hobby alive!? 2 months ago, on a whim, I bought a one gallon brew kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop and made my first batch of beer. Yesterday was my first 5 gallon extract batch, and today I got a chest freezer off craiglist and an STC-1000 temp controller is currently on order. I guess a mash tun is right around the corner! Does it ever end!? It’s a good thing I really like beer! Well at least I know what all my friends and family are getting for Christmas next year! I hope they all like beer! Actually I couldn’t be happier and I am really loving it! This forum has been a great source of information and encouragement so a big hearty thanks to all!

Horace, can you point me in the right direction? I have a chest freezer, see the temp controller on Amazon and these instructions https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pimp-my-system/build-temperature-controller/

What is used for heating? Do you have anything that can point me in the right direction? Thank you

 

[d3track]

Using for a keezer or fermentation chamber?

 

[Freddyj123]

Thank you d3, fermentation chamber. It is very cold in my basement in the winter

 

[d3track]

Here's a start
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...ng-equipment/fermentation-temperature-control

I use a lasko personal heater in mine and it works great.
http://t.homedepot.com/p/Lasko-MyHe...ersonal-Heater-Black/202363459/?showPLP=false

 

[Freddyj123]

That is cool d3, sorry for hijacking your thread Horace, I'll start one up on fermentation chamber

 

[horaceunit]

Hey no worries wouldn't consider it hijacking at all. The links posted above are good there are even some on youtube- don't have any links handy. Right now I am more interested in cooling, but that will change in 3 or 4 months! Then I'll worry about how/what to use to heat rather than cool. Just finished bottling my third one gallon batch and i'll have a couple of weeks before the first 5 gallon is ready to bottle. I'm already trying to decide what to do next...now that the fermentation chamber is a few days away from fruition a Lager sounds like it might work..... Decisions, decisions. I guess I need a bedtime beer now!

 

[Kharnynb]

freddy, i use a swamp"cooler" with an aquarium heater in the water and a stc-1000 myself, since i have no worries about too hot in my cellar either...

 

[horaceunit]

Welcome to the addiction.

It's horrible, HORRIBLE having this much beer around! Oh, wait......

 

[horaceunit]

OK got the $50 chest freezer off craiglist! Here it is!

 

[estricklin]

OK got the $50 chest freezer off craiglist! Here it is!

Very nice!

Welcome to the rabbit hole of homebrewing, and HBT.

Do that lager!

 

[horaceunit]

A lager is definitely in the planning! I have a family reunion that I want to take a couple of cases to, as well as a big 4th of July party I really need to take a couple of cases to. I figure on waiting until late summer to start a lager. One thing I really didn't think about was that the 6 gallon bucket fermenter I have is the only thing that will fit into the larger area of the freezer. Well except for a couple of 12 oz. bottles. I can fit two one gallon bottles with airlocks on the shelf. So to do a long fermenting lager I would really be limited in what else I can do at the same time.

 

[estricklin]

A lager is definitely in the planning! I have a family reunion that I want to take a couple of cases to, as well as a big 4th of July party I really need to take a couple of cases to. I figure on waiting until late summer to start a lager. One thing I really didn't think about was that the 6 gallon bucket fermenter I have is the only thing that will fit into the larger area of the freezer. Well except for a couple of 12 oz. bottles. I can fit two one gallon bottles with airlocks on the shelf. So to do a long fermenting lager I would really be limited in what else I can do at the same time.

Lagers don't have to take a lot of extra time. Ferment it as you normally would any ale for a couple weeks, then cold crash for a few days before bottling/kegging. If after it's carbed you feel like it needs more aging, just give it a little more time before drinking. In a perfect world we would probably let most ANY beer, bet it an ale or lager, hang around at 32F for 6 weeks, but heck even AB does it in half that! Once you do a lager or 2 you can "demystify" them for yourself, and know there's no voo doo to it!

 

[horaceunit]

Hmmmmmm....... Well I was looking at ones as you describe that take 4-6 weeks at 35 degrees or so. Definitely something to think about doing it like an ale and then cold crashing. Of course I'm also looking at doing a DIY mash tun so I can go all grain as well. I have a 5 gallon extract kit to brew next weekend and then it will be time to decide what to do next.

 

[horaceunit]

Just wanted to post somewhat of an update about the chest freezer fermentation chamber described in an earlier post on this thread. One of the limitations I quickly figured out with my chest freezer fermentation chamber is that I could only fit one 5 gallon bucket in the main portion for fermenting. There is also a shelf that 2 one gallon jugs will fit on, including air locks, or about 18 12 oz. bottles. In looking for a solution to this I found information online about Better Bottle carboys and after measuring the freezer figured I would be able to fit at least 2 or 3 of the 3 gallon ones into the main area of the freezer. This also indirectly led me to another very nice discovery! The Better Bottles have been pretty scarce online and so I tried to find them locally. I had heard there was a Local Brew Shop near me, but I hadn’t been able to find it so one Saturday I really set out on a mission a couple of weeks ago and I finally figured it out! They actually rent out the front of an antique store that is less than 4 miles from my house. It isn’t a huge shop, but they have all the basics, and they had 4 of the 3 gallon Better Bottles in stock. Price was $24 each and without having to pay shipping it was a pretty good deal. At first I bought two so I could see how they would fit, and once I was able to place them in the freezer I realized that 4 would fit without a problem so I naturally snatched the other two up a couple of days later. I’ve also learned a couple of interesting things about the 3 gallon Better Bottles that might help others. First Here is a shot of the four carboys in my freezer.

Being the inquisitive type I looked all over the bottles, but I couldn’t actually find any measurement marks on it. So I used a 32 oz. glass measuring cup and accurately measured a gallon of water into a gallon water jug I have used for mixing sanitizer. I marked the jug and then filled the Better Bottle with 3 gallons of water. Here is a picture of the Better Bottle with the 3 gallons of water in it.

Kind of hard to see but with 3 gallons in it the water level is right up to the bottom of the neck. If you were to fill one up to this level with wort I’d hate to think of the blow off during fermentation. Next I put in 2 gallons of water using the marked water jug and then 2 more quarts using the measuring cup to see where 2 and a half gallons would be. Here is a photo of that.

As you can see this is a more reasonable level for wort fermentation and would give a good amount of room for krausen to form and to avoid too much blow off. It also works out just about right if you figure two bottles for each 5 gallon batch that is brewed. Since four Better Bottles will fit in my freezer at the same time I could obviously do two 5 gallon batches either at the same time, or by staggering them by a week or two. Another advantage I can think of is the ability to dry hop one bottle and not the other so you can compare the two and see which one you like. Indeed I just brewed a 5 gallon Amber Ale extract today and split it up between 2 of the Better Bottles and I am planning on dry hopping one just to see what the different between them will be. Hope this might help anyone who has one of these smaller chest freezer fermentation chambers especially if you want to increase your fermentation capacity.