Advice on purchasing/putting together a chest freezer fermentation chamber

[sledgewinston]

I am fairly new to brewing and have come to realize how important fermentation temps are for the quality of a beer, so i am going to go for it and buy a chest freezer to convert into a fermentation chamber. my beers are currently at the mercy of my house thermostat which is inconsistent to say the least. since this is something i dont know much about, id like to get some advice. id like to know kind of setups have worked for you? what brands you would recommend for chest freezer or temp controller? what do you use for the heating element (heat bulb? heat wraps for carboys?) what kind of difference you noticed when switching to this type of fermentation? any advice on this subject would be much appreciated as i will likely be getting one within the next couple weeks. thanks!

 

[CU_tony]

Check the DIY forums, there are many many styles of ferm chamber and even options outside of a chamber in which you place a carboy (or bucket).

Most rely on the STC/ITC thermostats (~$16-20 on amazon) that will need basic electrical knowledge to wire up (dont worry there are guides and we are here to help ensure you dont zap yourself).

My fermentation chamber (linked in my sig.) is based on a mini fridge and works well enough for me. I havent actually hooked up the heating element (an old ceramic heater from my reptile terrarium) because its inside and I havent needed it yet.

So basically, yes and/or no to all of your questions, and they all spur more questions of their own!

 

[motosapiens]

for the past few years, i've been relying on the differences between the house temp, laundry room temp, and garage temp. that works ok for ales, but it requires alot of babysitting, and moving a bucket out to the garage for an hour or so and then back. I just got a couple of inkbird 308 temp controllers that i can just plug in my existing heat wraps (total investment about $75 for each controller/heatwrap pair), and it has really simplified life. If you have an area that is reliably 4-5 degrees or more below your desired fermentation temp, that is pretty much all you need. right now my garage is 35 or 40 degrees at most, so if i put something out there, I wrap a towel or too around it to hold in the heat. If i remember to close the laundry room door, it will stay cold enough that my ales won't get too warm in the most vigorous part of fermentation, when they normally run 5 degrees or so higher than the ambient temp around them.

 

[DaWhip]

+1 on poking around the DIYs.

I have a small chest freezer (5cf?) that I added a collar to for my ferm chamber. I can get 1 large carboy/bucket in the bottom and two 1 gallon carboys on the hump. I recently switched to fermenting in a corny keg and now I can get 3 5 gallon batches in there. 2 on the bottom, 1 on the hump with the collar, but I usually only have 1 or 2 big batches going at a time.

For temp control I use the inkbird ITC. Tough to beat that price and functionality. My heating element is a seedling mat that I have laid flat against one of the walls. They are made to deal with being wet and pretty low wattage. In that small space it works like a charm. My ferm freezer is in a shed with no temp control and it has done well from 25*F to over 100*F so far.

 

[brew_darrymore]

Here's my very simple, low-tech setup.

I use a Fast Ferment insulated jacket with frozen 2L pop bottles. Every 2L frozen bottle will drop your fermentation temperature by 5F from your ambient temperature. I normally use 1-2 bottles and keep the cooler at 70F room temperature, but temperature inside the cooler is 10F lower.

2 x 2L bottles will bring the fermentation temperature down to 60-62F. All you need to do is replace the frozen bottles every 24 hours. I replace them before going to bed.

So, if you have a fridge (and I'm sure you do ), freeze some 2 litre pop bottles and you're done.

Huge space saver as opposed to chest freezers.

 

[55x11]

Here's my very simple, low-tech setup.

I use a Fast Ferment insulated jacket with frozen 2L pop bottles. Every 2L frozen bottle will drop your fermentation temperature by 5F from your ambient temperature. I normally use 1-2 bottles and keep the cooler at 70F room temperature, but temperature inside the cooler is 10F lower.

2 x 2L bottles will bring the fermentation temperature down to 60-62F. All you need to do is replace the frozen bottles every 24 hours. I replace them before going to bed.

So, if you have a fridge (and I'm sure you do ), freeze some 2 litre pop bottles and you're done.

Huge space saver as opposed to chest freezers.

I have one of these jackets as well and use it on occasion when my fermentation fridge is occupied. However, dedicated fridge with temp control allows you to dial in temperature more precisely, and do things like lager temp control, lagering and cold-crashing, or cold-conditioning.

 

[brew_darrymore]

I have one of these jackets as well and use it on occasion when my fermentation fridge is occupied. However, dedicated fridge with temp control allows you to dial in temperature more precisely, and do things like lager temp control, lagering and cold-crashing, or cold-conditioning.

With respect to lagering or cold crashing, yes, I completely agree.

I only brew ales though, so my needs are pretty basic.

 

[Collmorgen]

I did just what you are proposing. Bought a chest freezer, built an STC controller following instructions found here. I use a ceramic reptile heater. It does a great job.

 

[BeardedBrews]

It's one of the easiest projects:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MDSWXY4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Look on Craig's List for a small used chest freezer that looks relatively new (should be less than $100).

Use a very small ceramic heater or a reptile heating pad (<$20), dead simple.