Son of a fermentation chamber ?

Ok I have a kinda open question before I start my next project....has anyone ever used one of these ? I know I can build it so, it's not so much any build questions but more of a functional question as in does it work .... Is it worth the effort to build it .... What kind of ambient room temp vs. chamber temp can I expect...... I guess I'm just looking for reviews from those who have used this type of homemade fermentation chamber before. Thanks for the input !!!

Aschecte said:

Ok I have a kinda open question before I start my next project....has anyone ever used one of these ?! I know I can build it so, it's not so much any build questions but more of a functional question as in does it work ....

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Yep, built it for my first batch 3 years ago and still using it.

Aschecte said:

Is it worth the effort to build it ....

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I works, but changing the ice bottle gets to be a PITA after a while.

Aschecte said:

What kind of ambient room temp vs. chamber temp can I expect......

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I've held it at 40F with the ambient temp about 60-65F.

Aschecte said:

I guess I'm just looking for reviews from those who have used this type of homemade fermentation chamber before. Thanks for the input !!!

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I'm happy I built it, but I'm planning to move on to a refrigerator or chest freezer. Like I said, it works well enough but isn't set it and forget it.

I have been using one for over a year now and my only complaint is it will only fit one carboy. I live in Georgia and we set it up in my garage where the is absolutely no conditioned air. The ambient temp in the summer is in the low 90's and we have maintained temps as low as 60 and I'm sure we could go lower but have never had the need. We created the ice chambers to accommodate 1 gallon Gatoraid bottles as the container is a little more rigid than a milk jug and need to use two ( one in each cell ) in the summer. We have 4 bottles in service during that time, two in the fermenter and two refreezing. They are changed out about once per day or day and a half. In the winter the garage fluctuates between 55 and 65 and we still use it for consistent temps and to keep the carboy out of the light. We change the ice out about once every 3 days and it is never fully melted.

Mine in service for a year. Like was said earlier you have to change bottles everyday in summer(i live in nc) but i like it.

Ok so far it seems that it really works pretty well the only draw back is the amount of "labor " and I hesitate to call changing ice jugs really labor but I can see it being a pain in the a$$ after the first couple of times. I think I'm going to go for it.... thanks for all the input so far.

oh yeah that's the other question is this thing really cumbersome and take up a lot of space ? is it difficult to move ( when empty ). ?

Not cumbersome at all, it is very light but it does take up some real estate. When positioned for use, you will need access to both narrow ends. One is access to the ice compartment and the other is access to the primary. When not in use it still takes up the same amount of space so storage is a bit of a problem. I am planning to build another one but looking into ways to "pin" it together so that it will break down and I can just stack the panels when not in use.

Dont forget the freezer space for your ice jugs