Smaller Son of Fermentation Chiller

[roamer1]

I just made one of these and it is working great. I used
a Honeywell RTH111 Thermo from Home Depot and
from Radio Shack an Enercell AC to DC power adapter
273-357 and a Ernercell Adaptaplug tinned lead
adapter 273-349. Used terminals G and RC on the
thermostat and removed the factory jumper from
R to RC.

 

[Tiredboy]

It looks like a chiller is the way forward for me. Has anyone got a "idiots guide" parts list? I can work out the foamboard/wood but I want to be able go into radio shack and say i need........

 

[pquirk2]

I just made one of these and it is working great. I used
a Honeywell RTH111 Thermo from Home Depot and
from Radio Shack an Enercell AC to DC power adapter
273-357 and a Ernercell Adaptaplug tinned lead
adapter 273-349. Used terminals G and RC on the
thermostat and removed the factory jumper from
R to RC.

Did you extend the thermistor? I bought this thermostat today to use and I'm having trouble figuring out were the thermistor is.

 

[eanmcnulty]

I just made one of these and it is working great. I used
a Honeywell RTH111 Thermo from Home Depot and
from Radio Shack an Enercell AC to DC power adapter
273-357 and a Ernercell Adaptaplug tinned lead
adapter 273-349. Used terminals G and RC on the
thermostat and removed the factory jumper from
R to RC.

Did you extend the thermistor? I bought this thermostat today to use and I'm having trouble figuring out were the thermistor is.

Did you ever figure this out? Did you find the thermistor? I am looking this right now.

 

[zheol]

instead of using ice i wonder how a peltier and a radiator set up would work basicly would turn it into a real fridge you could use the 2nd ice chamber as a heat pump chamber and Vent it with room air. im still waiting on my frist equipment to arrive so im gonna wait a little bit to build one of these but hay the idea is out there ^^

 

[gjohncock]

instead of using ice i wonder how a peltier and a radiator set up would work basicly would turn it into a real fridge you could use the 2nd ice chamber as a heat pump chamber and Vent it with room air. im still waiting on my frist equipment to arrive so im gonna wait a little bit to build one of these but hay the idea is out there ^^

Hi there. A friend and I have been working with peltiers for a couple of years now. From what we have found so far, peltiers will not get a chamber down to freezing temps. Whilst the peltier can and will freeze over, translating this to a chamber is a much different story. Our original target was to get to 12 degrees c so we can brew lagers with specialist yeast but the ambient temp of the room plays a big part in this.

If you manage to freeze a volume of water into ice we would really like to hear about it.

The cold side usually ends up about 15 degrees from the hot side (once you connect heat sinks to them) so to freeze water it would need to be running the hot side at 10 degrees c. That in itself would require some sort of refridgerated assistance in the hot side if the ambient temp of the room was greater than 10 degrees c. We have used radiators and coolant in some of our tests so far but cannot get anything close to producing ice.

Our theory is to maintain an achievable cabinet temp which in turn will regulate the temp of the wort. At the moment I am testing my rig set at 22 degrees. It is all computer controlled with the switching between heat and cool handled by a relay circuit connected to 2 USB relays. We are still putting the finishing touches on the software and will be publishing data around the heating and cooling temps of the peltier on our site at:

Pimpmybrew.com

The site has been dormant for a bit but there are a few articles up there that you may find interesting. We are starting to ramp it up again so you should see a few more articles being posted soon.

All the best for your testing. Peltiers are very cool little devices and are a heap of fun to play with but there seems to be little understanding of how to get the best out of them.

Cheers!

Greg J

 

[djt17]

Sorry to rescue an old thread; but, I want to say thanks to the OP. I used these instructions to build my own. I currently have US-05 fermenting at 61°. Changing 1 gal ice jugs every 12 hrs, they are only 1/2 thawed. Much easier than a swamp cooler. Can't wait to try this for fermenting lagers.

 

[lineman2495]

First of all, kudos for the design. It works like a charm. Might be a bit too efficient. Brewed the Slacker's Late Hopped IPA again and trying to get to 66 degrees. With one jug, can't get above 64 - fan's not running at all. Maybe another NEPA heatwave is what I need to get that ambient temp up? lol

 

[lineman2495]

I used Gorilla Glue to assemble all the parts and it worked perfectly. If you choose to use it get some clamps.

 

[Setesh]

That design is excellent. Really good stuff steelerguy

 

[steelerguy]

Glad the plans are still helping people out! Wish I hadn't lost the Sketchup files...and wish I had more time to brew, not a single batch this year.

 

[Setesh]

Glad the plans are still helping people out! Wish I hadn't lost the Sketchup files...and wish I had more time to brew, not a single batch this year.

Dude, you only have 18 days left! What about doing an all extract batch? Shaves a lot of time off the brew day, and you already have what is arguably the most important factor covered with your fermentation chamber. The ground water is also nice and cool for chilling so that step should be faster too.