Earthbound's SOF Chiller

[EarthBound]

I built the Son of Fermentation chiller.

I also built the Remote Sensing DIY Controller for Less Than $25.

I built this like 2 years ago and still haven’t used it, but I figured I might as well post it on here. Sometimes I feel it was a waste of time, but since it was the first of my many HB projects, I consider it to have been acceptable. I do not plan on going into much detail with this first post because I assume this project is self-explanatory with the links I provided. However, if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them.

In the first picture, you can see the white thermostat on the bottom and the black thermometer on top. I used liquid nails, grommets, and pieces of dowel rod to keep it all together. Here’s how I wire the thermometer:
1) Jumper wire between the RH and RC terminals
2) Positive lead from DC converter connected to the RH terminal
3) Positive lead from fan connected to G terminal
4) Negative leads from converter and fan connected to each other

There may be a small lag time when adjusting temps. It can take about 2 minutes to respond.

In the third picture, the black and white wires are connected to the thermostat on one end and the thermistor on the other end.
I think this remote thermistor idea is cool because you could use it to switch a relay (DC in, AC out).

 

[fc36]

Earthbound, I've been thinking of building my first ferm chiller and now with my roommates moving out, I'll finally have a room dedicated to brewing eqpt and a place to keep it. Subscribe.

 

[hlumbard]

My advise would be to forget the grommets and dowels. Also I would permanently attach the front and only have access from the top. I found I never removed the front so it only gave the air a place to leak. Also, didn't use the dowel b/c I just set some books on top to "seal" the lid. Just my $.02

Loved this for years but now I have this

 

[EarthBound]

My advice would be to forget building this dinky little thing unless you plan on only doing one 5 gallon batch at a time. When I did my first all-grain batch, I realized that brewing only 5 gallons is a waste of my time. I always do at least 11 gallon batches, making this SOF chiller useless. I'm definitely gonna sell it or trade it. It was a cool project though, I guess...