Ferm chamber setup

[Louz]

I'm tired of the swamp cooler. I'm gonna pull the trigger on a used deep freezer to use as a fermentation chamber. I've got some space in the garage I'm looking forward to setting up as a brewing area.

So other than the freezer and an inkbird temp controller, what else do I need? It's starting to get cool here in the mid atlantic. What do I use to raise the temp when needed? I'm assuming I will need mostly warming capability this time of year, with the occasional cooling to keep the correct ferm temp. Its getting down into the 40's at night and up to the low 70's at times during the day.

I'd like to cold crash with it as well. Currently doing 5 gallon batches.

Thanks

 

[rossi46]

I use a ceramic reptile heater. I also have a fan on constantly in my ferm chamber.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002AQCQO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[JohnSand]

I use a heat belt that wraps around the fermenter.

 

[RM-MN]

You can use most anything that gives off heat to keep the beer warm except for things that give of UV light. Since the freezer is well insulated it shouldn't take too much to maintain fermentation temperatures.

 

[mongoose33]

I hate lifting things in and out of my keezer. My ferm chambers are both refrigerators, one a relatively full-size, one a dorm-style tall one.

Easy to get the fermenter in both of them. In fact, I can get 2 fermenters in the large refrigerator, and by offsetting the brew days, I can actually control ferm temp on two different batches at the same time. So I actually have ferm temp control capacity for three batches at the same time.

The fridges have another purpose: I'll put bottles prior to bottling in the freezer compartment for a bit to cool them down, or in the fresh food section. It also serves as a backup refrigerator for beer, food during the holidays, whatever. I helped with a brew fest a few weeks ago; some bottled beer was delivered to me for storage prior, and I just put the refrigerators into service for that.

Here are the dueling ferm chambers; please note the large one was bought used and came with the camoflage, so no comments on my sense of aesthetic taste, please :

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Here are the dueling ferm chambers; please note the large one was bought used and came with the camoflage, so no comments on my sense of aesthetic taste, please :

View attachment 594730

Its fall you should add some red and yellow leaves
You brought it up so had I had to

 

[mongoose33]

Its fall you should add some red and yellow leaves
You brought it up so had I had to

It's a June refrigerator.....

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Thats all you need. Heat source ( only for the cold season obviously) and an Inkbird. Everything is plug and play and the Freezer can be used/resold unmolested at a later date if need be, so its a win win and no reason not to get one.

 

[jcav]

Its camoflaged so well I can't see it.....just see a basket and three temp controllers hanging in mid air! Seriously the fridge looks good!


John

 

[JohnSand]

The invisible ferm fridge, brilliant.
"No Honey, I didn't buy any more brew gear"
"No sweetheart, I didn't spend the day brewing, I cleaned the garage"

 

[BrewsterJr]

I'm tired of the swamp cooler. I'm gonna pull the trigger on a used deep freezer to use as a fermentation chamber. I've got some space in the garage I'm looking forward to setting up as a brewing area.

So other than the freezer and an inkbird temp controller, what else do I need? It's starting to get cool here in the mid atlantic. What do I use to raise the temp when needed? I'm assuming I will need mostly warming capability this time of year, with the occasional cooling to keep the correct ferm temp. Its getting down into the 40's at night and up to the low 70's at times during the day.

I'd like to cold crash with it as well. Currently doing 5 gallon batches.

Thanks

I bought a Lasko #100 personal heater from Amazon. It works great!

 

[Louz]

Thanks everyone for the info

 

[mongoose33]

As long as people are excited at the prospect of camoflaging their brew equpment, here are a few other pics of the green machine, otherwise known as a ferm chamber.

I ran a couple of bulkhead shanks through the side (after carefully drilling a pilot hole and probing w/ a piece of wire to ensure I wouldn't hit a coil or something). They let me "pass gas" in or out of the refrigerator.

One I connected to a CO2 tank and regulator that's outside the fridge. The other is to hook up tubing to pass fermentation gas from a fermenter to an airlock jar on the outside.

I can force carb, or just leave carbed and on the gas to serve from using a picnic tap. I can monitor the bubbling from outside the refrigerator instead of having to keep opening it up.

 

[pmetty]

Thanks everyone for the info

I throw in a E-333 Renewable Mini Dehumidifier (as seen on Homebrew Finds ). I've gotten some mold build up in the past, but I live in a humid environment. I leave a larger one in my keezer.
Phil

 

[VirginiaHops1]

Good move. Used chest freezers can be had for pretty cheap at garage sales or places like craigslist. New ones aren't even that bad if you look for sales if you can't find a decent used one. Mine worked great all spring/summer holding my ferm temps but now I'm running into the issue of temps dropping. After researching a bit I picked up one of those reptile heat mats, for like $13 on amazon. I can't report back yet as to how well it works. People have reported heating pads work well. Some people like the small space heaters like Lasko MyHeat. My only concern with those was that it might be overpowered for my small chest freezer and overshoot my ferm temp. I have one in my office and although small they put out a good amount of heat.

 

[RevFrank]

I'm tired of the swamp cooler. I'm gonna pull the trigger on a used deep freezer to use as a fermentation chamber. I've got some space in the garage I'm looking forward to setting up as a brewing area.

So other than the freezer and an inkbird temp controller, what else do I need? It's starting to get cool here in the mid atlantic. What do I use to raise the temp when needed? I'm assuming I will need mostly warming capability this time of year, with the occasional cooling to keep the correct ferm temp. Its getting down into the 40's at night and up to the low 70's at times during the day.

I'd like to cold crash with it as well. Currently doing 5 gallon batches.

Thanks

My garage frig serves as my fermentation chamber, and used too for cold crash and carbonation. Programmable temp controller added to maintain constant temps and a bluetooth Tilt thrown in so I can see whats going on from my phone. Only issue is when my wife puts ice cream in the freezer when i have an ale cooking!

 

[Louz]

As long as people are excited at the prospect of camoflaging their brew equpment, here are a few other pics of the green machine, otherwise known as a ferm chamber.

I ran a couple of bulkhead shanks through the side (after carefully drilling a pilot hole and probing w/ a piece of wire to ensure I wouldn't hit a coil or something). They let me "pass gas" in or out of the refrigerator.

One I connected to a CO2 tank and regulator that's outside the fridge. The other is to hook up tubing to pass fermentation gas from a fermenter to an airlock jar on the outside.

I can force carb, or just leave carbed and on the gas to serve from using a picnic tap. I can monitor the bubbling from outside the refrigerator instead of having to keep opening it up.

View attachment 595249 View attachment 595250

I really like your little mason jar fittings for your tubing. Where'd you find those?

 

[Louz]

I scored a chest freezer for $40 off craigslist, got me a ferm wrap heater, inkbird, and small fan.
Ran a test carboy full of water the last couple days at 70degrees. Works great.

What are you guys doing with your fans? Mounting them somehow?
Also is it ok to just run the cords out the top and close the door on them, Or is there a better way?

 

[Henbrew]

I use a 8 watt reptile heating pad that I just stuck to an old pizza stone that had broke (to act as a heat sink). When making Saisons, I have no problem getting into the upper 80's in my 5.2 cu.ft. chest freezer. I use a little usb computer fan as well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G05A2MU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[mongoose33]

I really like your little mason jar fittings for your tubing. Where'd you find those?

Well, to be honest, I made them. I had some reusable canning jar lids that I used, drilled holes into which I put rubber grommets, then used tubing cut from a bottle filler to go through them. Some 5/16" silicone tubing is used for the rest.

I think something like these would work as well:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SSN3L2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

They're available for regular and wide-mouth jars.

I originally tried using regular canning lids but I was unable to effectively drill holes through them without tearing. If you have a drill press it's possible you might be able to do that.

 

[balrog]

Just be careful about using something too powerful as it'll heat too fast, overshoot, cause the fridge to cycle to cool, etc -- "ping ponging". Small nice gentle seductive heat.

 

[Nate R]

I really like your little mason jar fittings for your tubing. Where'd you find those?

Gotta plug a sponsor of HomeBrew here.. check out Norcalbrewingsoultions.com ( https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Canning-Jar-Equipment.html ).
Jay is a sponsor of this site, and i am from close to where his shop is. Drop by if you are im redding. It's beautiful.

 

[Nate R]

Found this thread- glad i did.
I just got an upright freezer that i have been using with an inkbird. I have a conical fermentor with a thermowell. I pit the probe in there.
What i have found is the freezer drops the temp well below the set point- i.e. i set it at 70, but it will drop to 66.
Is this swing too much for the beer? Should i get a heat lamp to help off-set the cold? I dont qant to fry the beer- or the compressor!

 

[mongoose33]

Gotta plug a sponsor of HomeBrew here.. check out Norcalbrewingsoultions.com ( https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Canning-Jar-Equipment.html ).
Jay is a sponsor of this site, and i am from close to where his shop is. Drop by if you are im redding. It's beautiful.

yeah, I've bought some stuff from Jay and it's always good stuff. I just think the krausen catchers are a bit pricey for what they are.

 

[Bostrows128]

Well, to be honest, I made them. I had some reusable canning jar lids that I used, drilled holes into which I put rubber grommets, then used tubing cut from a bottle filler to go through them. Some 5/16" silicone tubing is used for the rest.

I think something like these would work as well:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SSN3L2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

They're available for regular and wide-mouth jars.

I originally tried using regular canning lids but I was unable to effectively drill holes through them without tearing. If you have a drill press it's possible you might be able to do that.

can I ask what those jars are for? Not familiar with using Co2. Is that even what its used for?

 

[mongoose33]

can I ask what those jars are for? Not familiar with using Co2. Is that even what its used for?

It's just an airlock. Originally I was using them to collect CO2 thrown off by the fermenter, then when I cold-crashed, it would feed CO2 back into the fermenter instead of just air (which has 21 percent oxygen in it, and that you do not want in your beer).

In my mini ferm chamber there isn't room for a conventional airlock on top, so I just use a drilled stopper with a piece of rigid plastic tube I cut from a bottle filler, then run a 5/16" silicone hose from that to the jar. Works the same as an airlock and it's outside the refrigerator so I can see what's happening w/o opening the refrigerator.

 

[Bostrows128]

It's just an airlock. Originally I was using them to collect CO2 thrown off by the fermenter, then when I cold-crashed, it would feed CO2 back into the fermenter instead of just air (which has 21 percent oxygen in it, and that you do not want in your beer).

In my mini ferm chamber there isn't room for a conventional airlock on top, so I just use a drilled stopper with a piece of rigid plastic tube I cut from a bottle filler, then run a 5/16" silicone hose from that to the jar. Works the same as an airlock and it's outside the refrigerator so I can see what's happening w/o opening the refrigerator.

View attachment 596505 View attachment 596506

I get it now! So how did you know where to drill your hole without hitting the freon tubes? Also is there somewhere that showed how to build these (I think I seen it on here but I’m not sure).

 

[mongoose33]

I get it now! So how did you know where to drill your hole without hitting the freon tubes? Also is there somewhere that showed how to build these (I think I seen it on here but I’m not sure).

Those small fridges dump heat through tubing buried in the sides. You can feel where it's hot/warm when they're running. Nothing felt warm on the top, plus I was pretty close to the front.

The safe way is to drill a 1/8" hole just barely through the skin, then probe around inside with a piece of stiff wire. In my case, I was pretty certain there was nothing there, plus I was pretty close to the front of the fridge. Here's a pic of how that looks close up:

 

[Bostrows128]

Those small fridges dump heat through tubing buried in the sides. You can feel where it's hot/warm when they're running. Nothing felt warm on the top, plus I was pretty close to the front.

The safe way is to drill a 1/8" hole just barely through the skin, then probe around inside with a piece of stiff wire. In my case, I was pretty certain there was nothing there, plus I was pretty close to the front of the fridge. Here's a pic of how that looks close up:

View attachment 596508

Ahh ok I’m definitely doing that with mine now.

 

[mongoose33]

Ahh ok I’m definitely doing that with mine now.

I ended up taking the grommet out for the silicone tubing--doesn't really need a grommet, and it slid through there much more easily.

 

[balrog]

Found this thread- glad i did.
I just got an upright freezer that i have been using with an inkbird. I have a conical fermentor with a thermowell. I pit the probe in there.
What i have found is the freezer drops the temp well below the set point- i.e. i set it at 70, but it will drop to 66.
Is this swing too much for the beer? Should i get a heat lamp to help off-set the cold? I dont qant to fry the beer- or the compressor!

If the thermowell is showing that then I'd personally not want a 4+ degree swing. But simple controllers like STC or InkBird can only do simple control--higher than setpointplussetrange? Turn on cool until setpoint reached; similarly for heat. You'd have to go to a PID controller to get predictive heat/cool, as it "learns" what the overshoot is and turns off the heat/cool before a simple controller setpoint is reached and coasts to the setpoint. See, for instance, BrewPi.

What you could *try* would be putting the probe on the outside of the fermvessel and log thermowell temp versus various partial/lesspartial/morepartial covered outer temp and see what works better. Having the probe on the outside would "feel" the fermchamber change faster than inside the middle of the beer volume.

Definitely put a fan in the chamber to stir things up.

 

[Nate R]

If the thermowell is showing that then I'd personally not want a 4+ degree swing. But simple controllers like STC or InkBird can only do simple control--higher than setpointplussetrange? Turn on cool until setpoint reached; similarly for heat. You'd have to go to a PID controller to get predictive heat/cool, as it "learns" what the overshoot is and turns off the heat/cool before a simple controller setpoint is reached and coasts to the setpoint. See, for instance, BrewPi.

What you could *try* would be putting the probe on the outside of the fermvessel and log thermowell temp versus various partial/lesspartial/morepartial covered outer temp and see what works better. Having the probe on the outside would "feel" the fermchamber change faster than inside the middle of the beer volume.

Definitely put a fan in the chamber to stir things up.

These are great ideas/ points! Thank you!