Temp controlled fermenter

[Alan_P]

Hi everyone
I'm quite sure this has been discussed/thought/debated/cremated, etc before but I couldn't find anything relevant by searching some key words..
I'm thinking about building a Styrofoam box big enough to fit a fermenter in, for which I would use the electrical cooling device of an auto cool box.. the tricky part is I am no engineer nor electrician and have no idea how that specific circuit works.. By any chance someone has done that before and could provide me with some electrical scheme of it? Or is it at least doable? I must control my fermentation temp since I have an average room temp of 25°C [77°F], adding a few more degrees for the fermentation temp and you get the wrong picture...
Many thanks!

 

[brewinaround]

There are quite a few ways to do this project.

The way I went about it was to buy a large wine fridge from Goodwill or other thrift store. The down side of that was I can't fit a 6.5 gallon carboy in it but it does fit a 5 gallon with a blowoff tube perfectly. The internal temperature control of the fridge had a two zone variance. So i over rode the internal control with and STC-1000 off of Amazon. It was only about $18.


The basic schematic for wiring a temp controller is this:

And here is how mine turned out.

 

[ave8tor]

I too have been looking for small mini fridge to act as a fermenter. I made a kezeer out of a deep freezer and a temperature controller, but am having a difficult time finding one that fits my carboy. I'd still like to retain the 6.5 gallon size. Of all the mini fridges I have seen, the compressor is on the bottom which obviously gets in the way of getting the full carboy into the fridge. The overall height is good, but that compressor cutout gets in the way. Would the fridge work the same if I just flipped it upside down?

 

[OddDog]

It's my understanding that mini fridge compressors aren't designed to run anyway other than right side up, upside down can cause problems with the compressor.

 

[Ramitt]

I use a dorm size mini fridge mated to a box made with 3 inch polystyrene foam board insulation and control it with one of wilconrads black box. Works great for ales, not tried lager temps.

 

[Alan_P]

I thought about getting a STC-1000 and connect it to an old [wine] fridge, but this box seemed easier and perhaps cheaper to make as well. I'll keep searching, thanks for the ideas.
And yes, the compressors must be side up from what I know as well.

 

[brewinaround]

Wine fridges typically work off a thermo-electric cooling mechanism (electricity running through a peltier device which transfers heat from one side to cool the other). There is no oil/compressor in these devices.

These can be ran off a 12 volt power source and turn, switched, tipped sideways etc. They are far less efficient. For example, my wine fridge/fermentor takes 1 hour for every degree to cool. So if my wort is fermenting vigorously, it's hard to keep the temp near 68-70 degrees since the internal temp is 5-8 degrees higher.

I'm looking into a affordable chest freezer myself. For $170 bucks i can lager and i've heard they'll bring the temp down super fast and save my electric bill a bit :/

 

[d3track]

There are quite a few ways to do this project.

The way I went about it was to buy a large wine fridge from Goodwill or other thrift store. The down side of that was I can't fit a 6.5 gallon carboy in it but it does fit a 5 gallon with a blowoff tube perfectly. The internal temperature control of the fridge had a two zone variance. So i over rode the internal control with and STC-1000 off of Amazon. It was only about $18.


The basic schematic for wiring a temp controller is this:

And here is how mine turned out.

Do you get any skunk ing with the blue light? I keep reading that has the same wave length that causes skunking of hops. But it looks way cooler.

 

[brewinaround]

Do you get any skunk ing with the blue light? I keep reading that has the same wave length that causes skunking of hops. But it looks way cooler.

Hmmm, well not yet. It's just a small led that only comes on when i need to check the temp. It's not on more than 10 seconds every day. Other than that, it's in a dark closet.
I will check on the light wave length, thanks!

 

[Alan_P]

Wine fridges typically work off a thermo-electric cooling mechanism (electricity running through a peltier device which transfers heat from one side to cool the other). There is no oil/compressor in these devices.

These can be ran off a 12 volt power source and turn, switched, tipped sideways etc. They are far less efficient. For example, my wine fridge/fermentor takes 1 hour for every degree to cool. So if my wort is fermenting vigorously, it's hard to keep the temp near 68-70 degrees since the internal temp is 5-8 degrees higher.

I'm looking into a affordable chest freezer myself. For $170 bucks i can lager and i've heard they'll bring the temp down super fast and save my electric bill a bit :/

Indeed... I came up with the same result - to buy a small fridge/freezer, preferably A+ or even less consuming and to change the thermostat with an STC-1000. Wine fridges, big enough to fit a fermenter, are rather expensive [even second hand ones] and consume quite a lot of power.

And my initial idea of using the cooling mechanism of an electric cool box was completely rubbish - it seems that those boxes don't actively cool but just keep it cold longer than a regular ice box, making them useless for fermentation times. There are active cooling ones as well, but smaller and much more expensive than a simple fridge - at least what I've found here.