My semi walkin 5000 btu fermentation chamber

[n240sxguy]

Well then.

 

[fermentednonsense]

Nice!

 

[n240sxguy]

As soon as my centennial blonde-ish slows down fermentation I'm gonna give the cold crash another shot. I'm gonna hopefully check the chamber with the thermal imaging camera tomorrow to see if/where I have any leaks. I'll see how low it will go.

 

[n240sxguy]

I did find two places with the thermal camera that need a little more insulation around the door. I lowered the temp from 62 to 35 last night two see what it would do. It went from 62 to 51 in about 2.5 hours. This morning, 7-8 hours later, it had only dropped to 47. I'll see what it's at when I get home, which will be 12 hours since the last reading.

 

[n240sxguy]

When I got home it was down to 45. Soon thereafter it got to 44, and is sitting right there with the A/C running every second that the controller will let it. The fan is on a 10 minute timer, and it never has a chance to shut off.

 

[n240sxguy]

So, 16 hours later, it has dropped a whopping 1 degree. It is down to 43, and apparently that's where it's gonna stay. Next step is install some computer fans. I bought four 120mm fans on newegg for $12.99.

 

[n240sxguy]

12 hours later and it is bouncing between 43 and 44. I taped over the hole I drilled in the bottom to drain to see if the water slinger will help it get any colder.

 

[pickles]

Did you end up getting it any cooler?

 

[n240sxguy]

Not a damn bit! 44 is as low as it would go. I'm gonna put a few computer fans in there and give it another shot soon.

 

[pickles]

I've got a similar build going as we speak. Do you think it's necessary to have the delay relay keep the fan going for a bit or not?

 

[n240sxguy]

Probably not. Either leave it running all the time, or use computer fans.

 

[n240sxguy]

Update:
I had a little mold grow in my chamber because I cooled it down, and let it come back up too quickly. Also, as the weather has cooled off, the A/C compressor would turn off leaving just the fan running. The fan would actually heat the inside of the chamber up to the high 70's. Yesterday I pulled the A/C out and bypassed the factory temperature switch so it will run when the controller tells it to without interference from the factory switch. I have to clean the mold out, and get the insulation I removed put back in. On my next batch I'm gonna either run the A/C fan 24/7, or finally get a power supply for the computer fans I bought. I also learned not to increase the temperature too fast. That's where my condensation came from. It basically sat there for a day and a half or more just sweating. Having a fan running that whole time may have minimized it. Either way, I'm not gonna raise the temp more than a couple degrees a day from now on. That way the A/C will have a chance to kick on and remove the moisture.

 

[bleme]

If you cover the insulation with something non-porous, like FRP, it would help with mold. Even contact paper would do in a pinch.

 

[n240sxguy]

The mold was only on the shelf, not the insulation. I need to cover that shelf with something or paint it like someone recommended before.

 

[bleme]

I covered my shelf with contact paper.
So far, so good.

 

[n240sxguy]

Like the stuff you put on cabinet shelves?

 

[bleme]

Yup. Covered both sides and wrapped around the edges. Lots of overlap because the stuff sticks to itself better than anything else.

 

[n240sxguy]

Ok. Cool