Rubbermaid fermentation chamber.

[Cromwell]

I figured out a better bottle carboy fits inside a Rubbermaid 10 Gallon cooler with about an inch all around it. It's an inch too tall, so I cut off part of the neck of the carboy and it fits perfectly.

My plan is to use the cooler to lager the Koelsch, since I think I can keep it down around 35 degrees for days at a time without opening it.

But it made me think, if someone figured out a way to put an airlock in through the lid without a big air gap, this would be a much better fermentation chamber than a wet t-shirt, or even a water bath.

Has anyone done this?

 

[Dan]

I was reading a post yesterday where somebody cut a hole in the top of their rubbermaid so the neck of the carboy could stick out. Might be a little late to try that now unless you have another carboy.

I still think you cold drill a hole in the lid and run a blow off tube through it into the neck of your carboy (airlock removed) or depending on the type of airlock you are using take the cap off of it and push a smaller tube onto the post in the airlock.

Are you planning to recirculate water through the rubbermaid?

 

[phoenixs4r]

Ya I would have (and did) drill a hole in the lid vs cutting the carboy neck, but i didn't have a choice anyways since it was a glass carboy.

Fermenting in it is actually kinda cool. If you install a valve at the bottom you can empty the warm water while your filling it with colder water. Not as good as a fridge, but fridge fermention chambers can't double as a mash tun on brew day either

I wouldn't want to lager in it, because I don't have enough time in the day to pay attention to temperature/swap water/ice but it was definitly feasible. Before I had a fridge I kept a california common at 50F for a week before someone smacked me upside the head and told me how to properly ferment a california common, haha. IT SAID LAGER ON THE PACKAGE. lol what was I supposed to think.

 

[Cromwell]

Ya I would have (and did) drill a hole in the lid vs cutting the carboy neck, but i didn't have a choice anyways since it was a glass carboy.

Fermenting in it is actually kinda cool. If you install a valve at the bottom you can empty the warm water while your filling it with colder water. Not as good as a fridge, but fridge fermention chambers can't double as a mash tun on brew day either

I wouldn't want to lager in it, because I don't have enough time in the day to pay attention to temperature/swap water/ice but it was definitly feasible. Before I had a fridge I kept a california common at 50F for a week before someone smacked me upside the head and told me how to properly ferment a california common, haha. IT SAID LAGER ON THE PACKAGE. lol what was I supposed to think.

Exactly! I'm going to use the cooler as a mash tun for a couple of hours, then stick the carboy in it to ferment. Double duty wins. And I figure putting in a bit of ice every day or couple of days will keep temps pretty stable. I don't know how long I can go between updates.

As far as lagering goes, I know a cooler can keep ice solid for 2-3 days, so I'm hoping I can keep a temperature range between 32-37 for that long without opening the cooler. Clearly I'd rather have a freezer, but a cooler is cheaper, smaller, more portable and needs no outlet.

I have a glass carboy as well. If this works out well, I might just cut the hole in the top of the cooler. I just figured that would lead to more heat loss. (Cool loss?)

 

[jfsp]

Maybe you could add a Peltier to the lid of the cooler and use an aquarium temp controller to turn it on. They are pretty cheap on ebay, but you'll also need 2 heatsinks and a fan on the hot side, a 12V power supply and a temp controller of course.

 

[phoenixs4r]

If you cut a hole in the top and make it too big so it doesn't fit snug against the carboy just throw a towel around it.

Also, when I cut the hole in my lid I found the lid was not insulated, so I sprayed some expansion foam in that sucker.

What i did worked out pretty well, I went a found a pvc pipe that could fit around the carboy neck, then used my dremel (probably could have used a hole saw) to cut a hole in both the top and bottom of the lid. Sprayed some expanding foam in that thing, slid the pvc through, and siliconed it so i didn't go anywhere.

The only issue I have now since making it a mash tun, is the brass valve installed makes the carboy try to shift to the side, making the lid not sit properly, however if you add enough water you can kinda float the carboy above the valve and get the lid to seal. This was with a 6 gallon glass carboy.Or get a smaller brass valve then what I used.

I'm also going to be making a PVC tap pipe that goes in there so i can throw my corny in there for partys. If it works I'll make a thread in the DIY section. Should be cool

 

[jfsp]

I've placed an order on a 10 gal rubbermaid, a 90W peltier and power supply. I'm planning on using a powerful CPU heatsink on the hot side with 120mm fan that I have laying around (thermaltake with heat pipe) and a Northbridge heatsink on the cold side with a 40mm that won't generate much heat load.

I've read of people getting 15F under ambient with much simpler systems and 70W TEC, while others got barely 15F under ambient with a 250W TEC on a fully insulted fermentation chamber, so I really don't know what to expect. Does anyone know what is the insulation rating or heat dissipation coefficient of those rubbermaid water coolers ?

 

[phoenixs4r]

Sure don't, but you've striked my interest. Please post results

 

[jfsp]

I've received my rubbermaid 10gal water cooler but my peltier is still in the mail. I decided to run a test : I've filled the tub with 10gal of boiling water, closed the lid, then measured the temperature a few times. Here is what found :

At t=0, the water is at 92C
At t+3 hours : 85C
At t+5 hours : 81C
At t+53 hours : 39C

Room temperature was a constant 24C

Or a drop of 53C in 53 hours. On average, that's about 45 watt of heat emission. We know from Newton's law of heat dissipation that this is not a linear process but that dissipation will be proportional to the temperature difference between the two mediums. Still, keeping this tub at 0-4C (lagering) will probably need 40-55W of heat transfer depending on fermentation. My 90W peltier wouldn't cope with that even with perfect cooling of the hot side.

First observation : The lid is the only hot spot I could feel on the cooler (didn't check the bottom outlet). This is explained by the fact that that the lid is empty. If you plan on using this water cooler with a 6gal carboy by punching a hole in the lid for the carboy's top, then you'll make an even more inneficient device. I would rather suggest building an elevated Styrofoam lid that would envelope the carboy and airlock.

Also, i'm moving away from the idea of cooling this fermentation tub to lagering temperatures. Instead, it will be much more efficient to use a 50W lightbulb covered in foil paper to heat the tub on my balcony in our beautiful Canadian winter coldness.

Edit : I do recommend boiling your cooler prior to using it as a mash tun. Although my cooler smelled clean brand-new, exposing it to boiling water released a strong plastic odor. Since you wouldn't usually poor boiling water in a mash tun, boiling it once should leech anything that would normally go into your mash. Add a bit of dish soap to help with the hydrophobic chemicals. Leave it to slowly cool over 2 days for maximum effect and to avoid burns when emptying it.

 

[subliminalurge]

this would be a much better fermentation chamber than a wet t-shirt,

Blashphemy! There's nothing better than a wet t-shirt!

Oh wait, I was thinking about something else.... Carry on....

 

[Revvy]

Are you talking about something like this?

Plenty of folks use these cubes or even larger, and replace the lid with a couple layers of pink insulation board to accomdate their fermenters and airlocks.

The even build the lids up to accomodate the dome of carboys.

 

[phoenixs4r]

Are you talking about something like this?

Plenty of folks use these cubes or even larger, and replace the lid with a couple layers of pink insulation board to accomdate their fermenters and airlocks.

The even build the lids up to accomodate the dome of carboys.

You wouldn't even need to do that with a 10 gallon Rubbermaid. The hole created would allow you to spray insulate the lid.

 

[jfsp]

You wouldn't even need to do that with a 10 gallon Rubbermaid. The hole created would allow you to spray insulate the lid.

How easy / hard is it to spray insulate the perimeter of the lid from a central hole ?

 

[subliminalurge]

How easy / hard is it to spray insulate the perimeter of the lid from a central hole ?

Pretty darn easy, but who cares? Just make all the holes you need.

 

[phoenixs4r]

How easy / hard is it to spray insulate the perimeter of the lid from a central hole ?

Easy. Just attach the straw to the can.

 

[Trekker23]

Reviving an old post, but it inspired me to build this and it has been working pretty great. I'm using a 60W peltier cooler for cooling, because it allows precise temperature control and I got tired of changing out ice. A aquarium temp controller and a 15 amp power supply and Peltier a sheet of 2 inch foam board insulation a little weather stripping for the seals and a piece of linoleum flooring to secure it to.

 

[Revvy]

A better bottle real can fit in a 10 gallon cooler? Neat setup!

Put a parts list together please.

 

[WayFrae]

Reviving an old post, but it inspired me to build this and it has been working pretty great. I'm using a 60W peltier cooler for cooling, because it allows precise temperature control and I got tired of changing out ice. A aquarium temp controller and a 15 amp power supply and Peltier a sheet of 2 inch foam board insulation a little weather stripping for the seals and a piece of linoleum flooring to secure it to.

That is awesome! How cold can you get the fermentor with it? This is really so cool. Thanks for sharing!

 

[LJvermonster]

Trekker23, getting back to this, can you post the parts list? This looks fantastic for what I've been wanting to do lately.