Regulating two fermentations independently in one chamber?

[chudsonvt]

This past fall, I got a free chest freezer. I have seen photos of people with multiple carboys in one chamber, but more commonly, they are just controlling the temp of the chamber or just one of the two fermentors. I am curious if anyone has tried the following with success.

Say I have beer 1 that I want to ferment at 68° and beer 2 I want at 65°.

I assume that the best way to do this with the chest freezer is to use one controller to regulate the internal ambient temp to say 60° or so (since this is a little lower than beer 2 temp). Then, use two more controllers to control thermal tape on each fermentor. It kind of sucks that it would require 3 controllers to do this, but it does not require 2 chambers so that is a win.

I just want to validate this approach before buying anything new...

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

Use one controller and the fridge attached to the first vessel at the proper temp (lower of the two) then a second controller and a brew belt to keep the second vessel slightly higher.

 

[SanPancho]

exactly. the only part thats a pain is if the required temps start to diverge alot, say d-rest, cold crash, etc.

but easily avoided with a bit of planning.

 

[chudsonvt]

Use one controller and the fridge attached to the first vessel at the proper temp (lower of the two) then a second controller and a brew belt to keep the second vessel slightly higher.

I think would work as long as there is a different temp for beer 1 vs beer 2. And it would mean 1 less controller and one less heating device.

If I wanted to do two at the same temp, then there is no telling which should have the heating on (or not at all) it since one may ferment a little more vigorously than the other. But with planning, I suppose I could stagger and plan around a diacetyl rest...

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

If I was gonna do two at the same temp, I'd set the fridge maybe 6-7 degrees below the optimal temp and just put the two carboys side by side in the fridge.

You might just be over thinking this a bit bro...

 

[chudsonvt]

If I was gonna do two at the same temp, I'd set the fridge maybe 6-7 degrees below the optimal temp and just put the two carboys side by side in the fridge.

You might just be over thinking this a bit bro...

LOL, its the engineer in me.