Seeking Opinions - Fermentation Temperature Control Equipment

[Brian Parfitt]

All,

I am looking for some suggestions/opinions on what others have done for fermentation temperature control.

Background info:
All grain brewer - couple years under the belt
Electric system - homebuilt CraftbeerPi controller
Brewing 5 gallon batches
Kegging

My old fridge has died and I am looking for others' opinions on what they have done that has worked well for fermentation temperature control.

Some options I am looking at:
- Buy another used fridge and continue that route?
- Takes up a bit of space in brewery
- Easily drops into existing process

- I am looking at the Spike Flex+ system + temperature control as a fermenter upgrade
- Could start with something as simple as cooler with ice water and pump
- Could graduate to glycol chiller over time
- I like idea of pressurized transfers
- This is a bit $$$'ier

- Stay with my Fermonster and adapt some other cheaper cooling solution like:
https://www.morebeer.com/category/coolstix.html - Not sure how well this works...

Obviously cost is a factor here, but I am convinced I will simply spend my way to the nicer solution over time.. i,e, I'd start cheap and work my way through a series of upgrades to land on a more serious solution. And possibly spend more money over time anyway.

So my question is.. What have people tried and liked.. The "I can't believe I went without this so long!?" items...
What have people tried and thought "My 5 gallon plastic fermenter in a fridge was just fine vs this $$$$ stainless fermenter and chiller"

Thanks in advance for any posts. Also happy to have some additional dialog as the thread evolves!

 

[wsmith1625]

I'm in a similar spot, using a plastic bucket fermenter in a wine fridge I got on Facebook Marketplace. I don't actually have too many complaints about this setup. Disabling the internal thermostat and using an external temperature control have allowed me to do both ales and lagers without any trouble.

I have been looking at upgrading my fermenter so I can do pressure transfers and such, but the dimensions of the fridge are very limiting. If I go plastic, it looks like I can use the FerMonster or if I go stainless I can use the SS Brewtech Brewbucket. I really like the FermZilla, but I would need to add a collar to my fridge to make that work. I'm leaning toward the SS Brewbucket.

I guess what I'm saying is that I would rather upgrade my fermenter than my cooling system. The biggest pitfall I see with the fridge is that I can only ferment 1 batch at a time. If I time my batches with the seasons, I can always ferment without temperature control, but I haven't had to do that yet.