The Mash Menagerie

[RVB]

Greetings. Since joining HBT in January I have covered a lot of ground. I have spent over 800,000 hours reading these message boards (an obvious lie but I do spend hours every day) and a month ago I cooked up my first batch, a gorgeous Irish Red that was a kit brew. It is aging nicely. Next I did a partial with a recipe from HBT Recipe thread (Nut Brown Ale) nine days in the primary and will rack tomorrow. Also tomorrow I am doing my first all-grain, again with a recipe from HBT and the BIAB method gleaned from these pages. So I'm really into this and enjoying.

I brewed from the early 90s until '02 and found a lot of 'stuff' left from then that I have stuffed in a storage building. That includes four corny kegs along with my CO2 tank but my gauges were killed by saltwater during a hurricane. I also have a small upright chest freezer in the storage building that hasn't been used since '04. Question here, what is going to be the temperature controller for my freezer to make it into a keezer? Next, I have an upright freezer that I am considering converting to a fermentation chamber. (I live alone now and have little need for a lot of the things I have). And finally, I also have a small window AC and was wondering if there is an an easy way to convert it into a cooler for a fermentation chamber.

This is truly an awesome website. There are some of the most insightful, innovative DIYers here, garage built projects that defy the imagination. I'm so grateful I found you all and thanks for everything.

RVB

 

[passedpawn]

For a temp controller, there are lots of options (of course!).

The simplest are temp controllers from Johnson Controls and Ranco. JC has the A19 and the A419. Similar except the former is analog (turn a dial) the latter is digital (push a button, read a display). Digital costs more, but is more accurate. Ranco I have no experience with but is similar to the A19. Most of the various online places, and some locals, carry this stuff. All you need to do is plug your freezer into the gadget, then plug gadget into wall, easy peezy.

 

[adamensis]

Sounds like some good DIY projects in the making. I have used the STC-1000 (a/k/a ebay temp controller) for both my keezer and ferm chamber and it works great and the price is right. I'm not sure what paying more for the Love controller gets you other than maybe slightly better accuracy and maybe some bling. As for the window unit, lots of people have used them as the cooling source for their ferm chambers. Have fun with it.

 

[RVB]

Sounds like some good DIY projects in the making. I have used the STC-1000 (a/k/a ebay temp controller) for both my keezer and ferm chamber and it works great and the price is right. I'm not sure what paying more for the Love controller gets you other than maybe slightly better accuracy and maybe some bling. As for the window unit, lots of people have used them as the cooling source for their ferm chambers. Have fun with it.

I appreciate the input from both of you. I did order two of the STC-1000s....at twenty bucks each delivered it was hard to turn down. Guess I'll wade my way through these other issues as they come up. Thanks again.