Question: Son of a Fermentation Chiller

[WhizardHat]

Hi All, I'm starting to get serious about building a son of a fermentation chiller, or a fridge-powered insulated box of some sort (like this one) for my fermentation. But there's a twist. Are you ready for the twist?

Ok, here's the twist. I live in South Florida, and I want to keep it in my garage. I haven't taken any temperature measurements, but for the sake of argument, let's just say it clocks in at an average of 95F, +/-15 degrees in the summer. Would I be replacing ice blocks every two hours? Is the fridge-powered method a better option?

I really envy all you yanks with basements and cooler ambient temperatures.

 

[mariojr]

I live in NC and have used the SOFC in the summer. I rotated two ice bottles out every 12 hours and that worked well for me, so I would give it a try. Most of the the time there was still half ice in the bottles. And if it doesn't work you can use the parts to make the fridge powered box.

 

[BryceL]

I built the son a a fermentation chamber a year or so ago and have been pretty pleased with it. I'm in southern California and it gets pretty hot in my garage in the summer. I use 2 one gallon containers at a time and swap them out in the morning and night when it's hot. You can fit up to 4 one gallon containers in it, but I've always just used 2. I've had it hold 25F below ambient without much problem. If your at 95F a lot of the time though, a fridge might be an easier option for you. All the parts for the chamber cost me $75

 

[beergolf]

They work great.

I have one that I built ans use it occasionally.

If it is really warm where you are you can find the round water bottles like these.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HZEAPK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Many companies are now using them They work great because you can stack three of them up in each side of the chamber. It will really get the temp down if it is hot and with all that ice it lasts a long time.