I got a Countertop Ice maker from a neighbor for free, but looking at Amazon, you can get one for about $90. I also got a submersible fountain pump from another neighbor for free, but those are around $10 on Amazon. I bought a few John Guest push to connect fittings and some 3/8 tubing from Home depot for less then $10, and I already had a Temp controller which works perfectly for setting and maintaining the temperature.
Here's how it works:
Let me know if you have any questions and I hope someone finds this helpful!
Thanks
Mike
Here's how it works:
- Fill the water reservoir for the ice maker with water and remove the ice tray which sits on top of the reservoir. What this does is cause the ice that's made to continually dump into the reservoir and maintain a constant 32F water bath. (There is a sensor in the ice maker which will stop it from making ice if it gets too high)
- Put the submersible pump in the bottom of the ice maker reservoir and run the tubing into your fermenter, coil around inside the fermenter, and dump back out into the water reservoir. I used John Guest bulkhead fittings for the fermenter lid because it makes them easy to remove for cleaning, but if you are using buckets or carboys you could drill holes and squeeze the tubing through just as easily.
- As for controlling the temperature, I have a controller with a thermometer that I tape to the outside of the fermenter and I plug the submersible pump into it. It turns the pump on to cool it down and turns it off when it's at the proper temp to maintain 1 degree + or - the set temp.
- I currently have the temp controller set to 65F in a 72F Basement and it is maintaining temp extremely well. In the next day or 2 when I hit final gravity, I plan to see how low I can get the temp. I'm hoping to be able to cold crash it eventually, but probably not with my current setup.
Let me know if you have any questions and I hope someone finds this helpful!
Thanks
Mike