Brotha From Anotha Motha Fermentation Chamber

[jglazer]

Hey Ya'll,

I've finally gone the next step in my homebrewing and built a fermentation chamber to control my fermentation temps. This is a big step and will improve my beers dramatically. Before I was using the swamp cooler method which worked ok but it was never really too controllable and temps did fluctuate more than I would like.

This works by a thermostat reading the temperature inside the chamber with a temperature probe, when it gets to a certain temp it kicks on the fan which sucks air from the top of the main room and drags it down and throw the bottom room where there is ice that cools the air as it passes through. It then gets pushed out a whole back into the main room. The fan continues until the temperature probe hits a certain temp. Then it shuts off the fan. The temperature probe is taped to the side of the carboy with sopme bubble wrap and a wash cloth as to read the temp of the beer and not the ambient temp of the chamber. I can easily change what temp I want the fan to kick on from the thermostat on the outside so I never have to open the chamber as I increase the temp over a few days.

Anyways I'll get straight to the details...

Materials-
2 in thick foamboard with an R value of 10 (4x8)
1/4 in birch plywood (two 4x8 sheets)
LOTS of liquid nails (maybe 5 tubes?)
Great stuff spray foam (1 can)
L shaped trim (outside)
Regular trim (outside)
3/8in wide x 5/16 thick Weatherseal Rubber Foam (for seal inside)
Half moon shaped trim (inside to hold weatherseal)
2 hinges (holds top on in back)
5 handles
6 latches (to compress doors onto weatherseal)
4 shoebox sized plastic containers (for ice)
All electronics from COOLERGUYS.COM-
USB Powered Programmable thermal Controller with LED Display
3 Pin Sleeved Fan
3 Pin Sleeved Fan Cable extension 12 thru 72 inches
Thermal probe extension cable 48 inch
Mounting Bracket
Coolerguys 110-240v AC to 12 / 5v DC 4pin Molex 2A Power Adapter

I went out of the gates thinking I would make this to save money instead of buying a chest cooler and temp controller but I soon learned that I didn't want to make a really cheap looking fermentation chamber so I def spent more money that I wanted top but hey, you certainly don't save money by homebrewing. Nonetheless it still wasn't that expensive.

If you have any questions about pricing or details about materials just let me know and I'll try to explain more, but this isn't really a how to- its more of a documentation fo what I built.

Now for the pics:

 

[jglazer]

More Pictures

 

[jglazer]

And more...

 

[jglazer]

And more...

 

[jglazer]

And that is pretty much it! I did a quick test and without anything in there it got down to 55f (room temp = 75) in about 15 minutes. The beer fermenting in there now is a Kentucky Common Ale and its holding it at a steady 64f.

Other factors that led me to build this are:
1) It takes a FRACTION of the energy to keep beer at fermentation temps. Its a low speed computer fan and an electronic thermostat..
2) Its pretty much silent
3) Can be placed anywhere hidden as a piece of furniture
4) Is easily moved and stored away if I don't want to use it for a while

Overall very happy with the finished product.

[Edit] - I sharpened a putty knife and cut the foam board with a straight edge and the sharpened putty knife as a huge blade, it cut pretty easily with 3-4 scores required. I used a handheld circular saw and a makeshift table to cut the plywood. I used a hand held wood saw to cut the trim. Caulk gun for the spray foam and liquid nails glue.

 

[ChefRex]

Looks cool but you do know you are going to die of carbon dioxide poisoning in your sleep with it that close to your bed.

 

[jglazer]

HAHA maybe so...I'll have to record how I sleep the next couple of days. I do keep windows open and ceiling fan on so I hope it doesn't get that bad!

 

[chalkdust41485]

Too bad you're thinking of carbon monoxide poisoning...

Nice build, btw..

 

[lpdjshaw]

Wow, nice! Pretty cool concept.

 

[tre9er]

I'm glad you taped the probe to the fermenter! Air temp isn't a good enough indication of the beer temp, which is what you need to control!

 

[jglazer]

So far ice lasts about 3 days before I have to change it out. I've had the temp set to 64f and the fan only kicks on for about 2-3 minutes every few hours. Ambient temp in the apartment is ~80 right now so when it gets a bit hotter maybe the ice will run out faster and fan will run longer, or if I wanted to get the beer down in the 50s I am sure I could but it would def require replacing the ice probably every 2 days.

 

[naga77777]

Very nice!

A bit of advice from experience, though. If you have duplicate tubs, put the frozen ones inside spare ones. (Sorta like a liner) because the frozen ones will eventually crack from the stress of expansion/contraction from freezing. When you take them out of the freezer and put them in the chamber, all will be fine, but as the ice melts, you'll come home from work to a puddle on your floor. I ruined a good size section of my relatively new laminate flooring this way. Ever since then, frozen tubs went inside equal or larger sized tubs to protect against leaks.

 

[jglazer]

Wow good call, I will DEF be picking up more containers tomorrow...