One Temp to Rule Them All

[Nodak_Brewer]

So I bought an Insignia 7 cu ft chest freezer to use as a fermentation chamber for mead, beer, cider, etc. My question: is there a good "do it all" temp for both fermenting and aging in the same freezer? If I place the controller's temp probe in a fermenting mead, it'll read higher than the aging mead/beer/cider due to the heat generated from fermentation. That means the aging liquids might get too cold. The inverse is true if I place the probe in the aging mead. Would it be better to just insulate the probe and tape it to the freezer wall, having the freezer act as a constant temp fermenter (like a basement), or keeping it in a container of water at all times?

note: I use D47 and 71B pretty much exclusively.

 

[day_trippr]

What are you using for fermentors, and how many do you think you can fit in a 7cf chest freezer? I'm guessing one might fit a pair of 6g carboys.

If you were actually brewing beer, I'd say the most important phase in beer production is fermentation, so I would key the chamber temperature to manage that over anything else, and let the rest go for a ride. I don't make mead or wine so I can't testify to the relative importance of fermentation (vs aging) for those.

In any case, I would at least start off with your controller probe pinned to a freshly pitched fermentor and well-insulated from the interior air (I use a pad of inch thick closed cell foam) and monitor the temperature of the other vessels over time (a good IR gun would be great for that) to see what's happening.

If it turns out the aging batch is chilling excessively you could add another controller and a Brew Belt or equivalent to warm it back up...

Cheers!

 

[Nodak_Brewer]

I have a gallon carboy and 3 gallon better bottle currently occupying the freezer at 64F. I have a 750 filled with water in the corner of the compressor hump with the probe attached to its side and covered with bubble wrap to act as a temperature control. I insulated the floor area with cardboard. I figure that 64 is a safe temp since aging liquids will sit near that and fermenting ones will be more but probably not over 70, and most of my yeast requires 70-ish anyway. I doubt I will lager anytime soon, and will start brewing beer again once I graduate.

The temperature seems to hold with .5 degrees of the setpoint now that there is more mass in the chamber. I had to plug and unplug the probe a few times while figuring out my probe setup, hopefully that didn't hurt the compressor as doing so shut down all processes each time I did it.

 

[schematix]

If it were me i'd just buy another chest freezer. One for storage and one for fermenting.

 

[Nodak_Brewer]

I wish! I live in a small apartment right now, and my garage gets 40 below at times.

 

[kh54s10]

I don't know much about mead or cider, but I would control the temperature of the fermenting brew and let the rest be at whatever temperature. For beer I control the temperature of the fermenting beer and take the finished ones out of the fermentation chamber for finishing or aging.

 

[AkTom]

My mead likes it close to 70*. My basement stays about 62 in the winter and 72+ in the summer. My beer likes it abound 62-66. I have a fridge for beer fermenting. You need to choose your yeast for the temperature rating for what you're brewing. Beer and cider after initial fermentation can generally take higher temps.