Question about temperature controlled setups.

[paulcav]

Hi all

I've built a new shed and I'll have more space for temperature controlled fermentation and conditioning of ales and lagers. I'm planning on modifying fridges ala Jims fermentation cabinet and the way I see it i'll need one for fermenting ales (say 18c) one for fermenting lagers, conditioning and serving ales (10-12c), one for lagering (0-2c) and one for serving lagers (5-7c). thats four seperate setups! Has anyone figured out a way of doing this but more efficiently?

Thanks in advance

Paul

[Wolfy]

For fermenting you can use a single fridge and an attached digital temperature controller set to the fermentation temperature/situation required.
With a some planning you can brew your ales and lagers at the same time to match the temperature requirements.

[bosium]

Well I mainly like to do lagers but still the occasional ale. I manage to get by with a medium size chest freezer set just below zero which I use for lagering, and a fridge set at 10C for fermenting lagers and serving my ales. If I want to ferment an ale I ferment in the fridge and just don't serve any ale until the fermentation is finished and the fridge temp is back down to 10C (both have temperature controllers, I use TC10's). I just serve my lager straight from the lagerator, but I have the option of putting it on tap when I'm not serving ale.

It's a bit of a compromise but it works for me. Ideally, if I had another temp controller, I could use it to control a pump to circulate cold water from a reservoir in the fridge or freezer through my IC in an external waterbath and then ferment my ales in this. There are lots of ways to get around the problem, you need to think what you will be brewing more of, ales or lagers and decide what to do from there.

[paulcav]

Thanks for the replies guys. I already have one fridge with a TC10 to do my lagers and currently do may ales in the cupboard under the stairs whis stays pretty constant. I want to move all my fermentation to the shed, with 40 odd litres of ales and lagers on the go at any given time, and just serve in the house. I can see this will take a bit of planning!