So I turned a small cabinet I found in the basement into a fermentation cabinet by lining the inside with some insulating sheathing, sticking a lightbulb in a paintcan for the heater, and a couple fans to try to keep the box cool.
I have one fan pulling air from the outside into the box over a tray full of water with some sponges for the air to blow through and hopefully act as a small evaporative cooler... Unfortunately I have been running it and I haven't been able to get the temps to go below 70 degrees during fermentation
The basement is pretty cool, usually 60-65 degrees, so I figured a mini swamp cooler would be enough, but I was wrong. I've only been doing 1 and 3 gallon batches, so that might work in my favor as there will not be as much heat.
Also, I am waiting for my eBay temperature controller to come in the mail so I can maintain temps with that, so I need some sort of cooler that can turn off and on if possible.
Does anybody have a good idea for me? I have seen some folks take apart mini fridges and use the compressor and such to cool a box, but I don't know how that all would work. I kind of would like to make this cabinet work, as I've already put a bunch of work into it. I'm trying to keep it pretty low budget and not too complex if I can help it.
Thanks everybody. Links to similar builds, new ideas, and the like are all helpful.
I have one fan pulling air from the outside into the box over a tray full of water with some sponges for the air to blow through and hopefully act as a small evaporative cooler... Unfortunately I have been running it and I haven't been able to get the temps to go below 70 degrees during fermentation
The basement is pretty cool, usually 60-65 degrees, so I figured a mini swamp cooler would be enough, but I was wrong. I've only been doing 1 and 3 gallon batches, so that might work in my favor as there will not be as much heat.
Also, I am waiting for my eBay temperature controller to come in the mail so I can maintain temps with that, so I need some sort of cooler that can turn off and on if possible.
Does anybody have a good idea for me? I have seen some folks take apart mini fridges and use the compressor and such to cool a box, but I don't know how that all would work. I kind of would like to make this cabinet work, as I've already put a bunch of work into it. I'm trying to keep it pretty low budget and not too complex if I can help it.
Thanks everybody. Links to similar builds, new ideas, and the like are all helpful.