Fermentation chamber build.

[Jday086]

I started home brewing on a whim in July, I had never brewed before and hadn't even read all that much about it. I wanted to get a kegerator, so with the help of a buddy, I got one setup at the end of June, and couldn't find kegs of anything I liked. I live in Utah, so out of state is my only option and that sucks. So I spent the 4th perusing different ways of getting kegs and came up short on what I could get and where. Anyway, fast forward to now. I found some equipment locally and got a steal of a deal on it to boot. That brings us to July 7th I started my first batch and first all grain brew. I'm currently at 12 bathes, brewing just about every weekend, and admittedly drinking like a beer loving fish, but the amount of time brewing is starting to wear on SWMBO, she agreed on one weekend a month....So I finally built this guy, nothing pretty, but super functional.
View attachment IMG_3083.jpg

I don't have the finished pictures but will get some and add them tonight.

It's large enough inside for 5 standard buckets to fit comfortably and still have room to move things around if needed. This size might be overkill, but I always hate needing something bigger afterwards. I tested it out over the last two weeks and it performed well, held all 4 batches to temp and no dips or spikes. And i can get to cold crash temps easily if needed, so that's nice. I still need to add a fan to circulate air and some sort of heat source. Any advice on the heat?
The only downside is, now my one brew day is a lot longer but I get at least 4 batches done depending on my ambition.

 

[Jtk78]

For heating I got ferm wraps from reptilebasics.com. I ordered 5', added a note to make 2 30" pieces during ordering, and had them put the connections/cords on. I'm very happy with them, and the price was great (I have NO affiliation with the company or site). With 2 wraps and two temp controllers (Inkbird dual stage and a single stage i got on Amazon) I was able to maintain a 6F temperature difference between the two vessels in the same converted freezer. I have not tried to go beyond the 6F delta yet.

 

[auburntsts]

How are you cooling the chamber?

 

[Jday086]

Jtk78, i will check them out, that sounds like a good option.

I have a mini fridge I was using as a single chamber. I wasn't able to get pics last night, but I will show the entire thing. It's built from 2x4s, 7/16" OSB and 2" rigid insulation. I'm using an inkbird dual stage controller but like I said, so far only using the cooling plug. It works well using it the way I do, most of my brews are simple and ferment in the same temp and time frame. I just started branching out and am looking for options for adding heat and such to make things less all one temp.

 

[Jday086]

Ok I finally had a chance to get down stairs to take a few pictures. It's been busy this last month. The chamber isn't really that much, just an open box that I stuffed a refrigerator in and sealed up. It holds the temps perfectly, almost too well in fact, it stays a little lower than what I'm aiming for. Right now it's empty, and it's holding steady at 60*F, too cold for my liking. With it getting colder here, I really need to look into a heat source. I like the idea discussed above. Not sure if you can make it out in the second picture, but I have run power inside for both 12v and 110v. I'm working on getting at least one 12v fan for circulation installed, time is the issue, but it's almost complete.