Super cheap fermenter cooling

[bhatchable]

Lots of brewers take the summer off for the same reason...

Just brew like hell during the mild months to build up a closet full of beer. then take a summer without brewing to drink it

 

[HalfPint]

Just brew like hell during the mild months to build up a closet full of beer. then take a summer without brewing to drink it

I live in Texas, so It's either improvise or don't brew!

 

[zakleeright]

I just completed the "Son of Fermentation" Chiller, and it rocks! I spent about $80 in materials, but bought all new (except fan & wall wart laying around). In my maiden voyage test I used only 2 1-gallon ice jugs. It quickly brought the temp from the ambient temp of 79F to 62.5. I had 5 gallons of starsan in my primary to play the part of "wort". It was 78 when I put it in, so the chiller had all that mass to cool down. I kept the internal air temp at 66f for a day, then 62 for the second day. Ice lasted 45 hours. replaced with fresh ice, and kept temp at 60 for two days. The "wort" was 3 degrees colder than air temp. So I had a 20 degree temp differential only using 2 jugs (out of 4 possible) of ice. the temperature varies no more than 1/2 degree cooler, 1 degree warmer around the set point, but I'm sure the wort temp doesn't vary, as it has more mass. I have 5 gallons of Altbier in there now bubbling away. Air temp 68, wort temp 66.
This thing rocks, uses almost no electric, and weights only a couple lbs empty.

Build it, you'll dig it.

 

[DeathBrewer]

How is your wort cooler? Mine's always higher active fermentation creates heat so that seems rather odd.

Cool anyway. I made some great beer with my SOFC...never did me wrong.

 

[zakleeright]

I hear ya on the wort temp. My test run only had "simulated wort" (starsan in a bucket) so there was no fermentation. My altbier may be cooler because fermentation just started? Or maybe the little strip/stick-on thermometer on the side o' my plastic primary is off? I'll peek in on it again tomorrow and see what I see.

Edit: Yep, my fermentation is rolling with sub-1-second bubbles, and the wort temp was 70, air temp still steady at 68. So, I lowered the setpoint to 66, in attempt to keep wort at around 68. Cheers

 

[MJDore]

I'm digging up old threads here but, hey, that's what the search button is for! Any chance you could repost the pics of your chamber? I'd love to see a visual as I've been wanting to build the same sort of deal.