My Fermentation Chamber Project- Some Questions

[Pennsyltucky]

So I picked up a 30 cu. ft. chest freezer today that I intend to turn into my fermentation chamber. I already have a small electric space heater for when its needed...

NOW... how to control it all...

I'd love to get the baddest controller out there but this project is on the cheap- so I'm looking at an ebay Johnson Controls A19 (I missed out on one today for about $25 because of my blackberry arguing with the app). My question is, can I just plug in the freezer when I want to cool and switch to the heater when I want to warm? Or, do I need a two stage controller? I don't have a lot of temperature swings (my basement stays around 55 in the winter and 75 in the summer pretty consistently) so I don't think I need to switch back and forth between heating and cooling in the same season.

**IGNORE THIS THREAD** I moved it to DIY Projects where it belongs

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

I would go with a dual stage controller, just because it will make your life easier, and I just learned the Love TSX3 are $70 rigth now.

Or you can search ebay aquarium temperature controller thread which will give you an even less expensive alternative to a digital controller, but they only read in Celsius-if you are okay with that.

I think they are about $20 or so.

Regardless of your decision, good luck, 30cu chest freezer is HUGE! you must brew a ton!

 

[Jewrican]

+1 to the ebay controller

 

[Pennsyltucky]

Ebay controller is up and running! Just put my keg of Pale Ale in to carb up... going to move my carboy of IPA in there soon to finish fermenting (thankfully we had good- stable- weather this week)!

I compiled, printed and laminated a "fahrenheit to celsius" cheat sheet (most of the charts I found were celsius to fahrenheit, this seemed easier... just look for what I want the temp to be and program the # next to it).