Controlling fermentation temps on a budget

[jceg316]

Hey everyone,

The biggest weakness in my system right now is controlling the fermentation temperature of my brew. When I leave it inside my house it gets a bit too warm and the flavours of the beer don't really come out as much as I would like them to, and right now it's too cold to leave in my unheated garage as fermentation takes ages.

I was thinking of getting a working immersion heater (mine is not working) and wrapping the FV in insulation foil which I have enough of. I am interested to hear what other do to control the temperature or their fermentors, especially the cheaper end of the scale.

Thanks

[AnthonyUK]

Gorilla tubs are quite popular as you can put your FV in there and fill with water at the desire temp and use a immersion heater without having to worry about contamination or broken heaters.
For cooling you can put frozen PET bottles of water in the tub and change them as required.

[Charles1968]

You can buy second-hand fridges for literally pennies, then adapt temperature control to make a brew fridge. That's the best solution if you have space.

I simply put the FV inside a 4-season sleeping bag with frozen water bottles. It's surprisingly easy to keep a stable temp any level you want down to lager-making temps, provided you stick one of these on the FV: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crystal-Thermom ... eter+Strip

To keep the ice bottles next to the FV I use an Ikea shopping bag as an inner liner, with the FV and ice bottles inside that.

[gobuchul]

Surely a fermentation fridge is the answer?

Loads of information out there on building one and on this forum.

This is a good thread on another forum http://forum.craftbrewing.org.uk/viewto ... f=9&t=1212

Not sure what your budget is but what you need are the following:

Fridge £0 - £30 (varies but can be picked up for pennies on ebay)
STC 1000 £11 (amazon)
Greenhouse heater £16 (Toolstation)
Project box or similar £5
Sockets, electrical fittings and cable about £10
Computer fan £1.50 (optional but effective, run off old PSU)

So the cost would be about £50 - £60.

[Fil]

you may just want to try insulating the bucket to start with as it will help keep the ambient temperature fluctuations between night and day off the beer and as fermenting yeast give off a little heat themselves help retain that too.

if you have the room for it the fermenting fridge is the best possible solution
i think anyone building one and talking about it in here has been Very happy with the improvement it added to the whole fermenting business...

the only downside with mine is i cant hear the airlock bubble which was a nice sound to have around the house reminding me the yeasts are working tho these days i dont need that reassurance as i have the fridge

[jceg316]

Thanks for your help. In regards to the fridge, maybe a silly question, but do you put the brew straight in the fridge so the fridge is the actual FV? Of course I'm thinking chest freezer type fridge/put another fridge on its side, or do you still use something like a Young's fermenting bucket and place that inside a fridge?

I don't think I have the space for a fridge, and if I could keep the brews outside then that would be best, meaning I'd need to heat them not cool them. Sleeping bags gives me something to think about, but will try immersion heater idea.

[Fil]

yes you put the bucket in the fridge along with a heat source and perhaps a fan all controlled by a 10-£15 stc1000 or similar controller so the fridge or heater get turned on depending on which is needed to maintain your bucket of beer at the ideal optimum temperature.

beyond maintaining the ideal temp it lets you crash cool to help drop out more sediment before bottling or if brewing to more complex recipes performing diactyl rests and actual lagering..

assuming a suitable fridge can gifted from family friend or freecycle, the whole thing should cost less than £40-50
If you have to buy the fridge well then that can up the price significantly. but any old working fridge the bucket can sit in will do or if the bucket wont fit, look at alternative containers that will, i ended up using jerrycans and wine fermentors as buckets wont fit inside my fridge..

[jceg316]

Thanks Fil, it sounds like a really interesting project and something I definitely want to do in the future. I am currently building a second kettle and a three tiered shelving unit to place it on along with my HLT and MT. Once that's done I'm gonna work on clearing some space to do the fridge conversion.

[haz66]

These are a cheap yet effective way of doing it.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarium-Fish ... 4adce01f1f

[haz66]

This is what i was looking for, this is what i have.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300W-Stainles ... 1e7ba8572a

[jceg316]

Thanks haz, I'm gonna get one of those. They're pretty cheap and have a temp controller on, whereas my one doesn't which is kind of annoying.

Do you know if it's alright to leave in a bucket of beer for a week? I'm just thinking that a lot of seemingly innocent and useful equipment can't be used because it's not food grade or can't be properly sanitised, and if this is the case.

[Martin G]

That is where the suggestion by AnthonyUK comes in. Everything you put in the FV is an infection risk, but not always a high risk. Unfortunately the risk is higher in the first few days, which is when temp control is most important. The other consideration is whether you want a hot spot in the FV, the bath spreads and buffers the heating and cooling.

I use a fridge now, find it gives as much control as I want, fitted the controller in the side of fridge. Some people have developed PID based systems using liqid cooling and heating in coils around the outside of the FV.