Fermentation Cupboard - thoughts

[Rick_UK]

Hi all

It's been about a year since I built my brew fridge and it's been excellent so far. The only issue is that it only holds one FV and I often brew 2 at once so end up using my aquarium heater for one of the brews which still works fine but it would be better to have something big enough to fit 2 FVs in. I brew in the garage and it rarely gets above ale fermenting temps except during rare summer heatwaves.

I'm therefore thinking about making an isulated cupboard with a heat source and a couple of fans for cooling controlled by an ATC. Just wondered if anyone has built anything similar or has any thoughts as to whether this would work ok. My main concern is whether the fans will provide enough of a cooling effect. Obviously a bigger fridge would be the ultimate solution but I don't see many around for free!

Thanks

Rick

[BenB]

Fans only cool wet (sweaty) things by increasing evaporation. Blowing a fan at a fv with a dry outer will do nothing in a closed environment to cool. In fact you'll be putting energy (heat) into that environment. If you have a heat or cooling source a fan will aid energy transfer from that but the fan itself does not cool as such. I built a fermentation cupboard. Basically a celotex box the size of two FVs with a desktop freezer at one end containing a tubular heater and some fans to help heat transfer out of the freezer into the chamber. Works well.


Your garage may not get warm but there are a couple of issues if you don't have active cooling. You'll need to insulate the chamber otherwise the heater won't be strong enough in winter. If you insulate it you'll struggle to get heat out of the chamber. Fermentation is an exothermic reaction so if you've insulated the chamber the interior will get warmer than ambient....

[Hogarth]

How about extending your brew fridge? i.e., remove the door and build a fermentation cupboard onto it. I think various people have done this successfully, including our esteemed host.

[Rick_UK]

Thanks Guys that's really helpful. I did have a hunch that the fans alone wouldn't really provide proper cooling in an insulated unit but Hogarth has confirmed with the science of it.

Extending the brew fridge sounds interesting / useful if anyone has any tips on how to do this. I assume it essentially means removing the door, building an insulated extension and re-fitting the door to the extension? I'd be interested to see how such an extension can be attached securely with enough strength in it, or is it simply a case of removing the door and effectively building a bigger insulated box around it?

Mine already has a small 12v fan in the roof would it need another?

Thanks again for any input.

Rick

[ciderhead]

I have 2 fridges with 2 carboys in each but they are constantly full of lagering german beers, my garage rarely get above 18 so I built a "redneck" box fermentation chamber using only kingspan a 60w tube heater running off and stc100 and a fan to recirculate. The fan is only there to distribute the heat quicker.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

it would be better to have something big enough to fit 2 FVs in. k

Or maybe just 2 fridges so you can put 1 fermenter in each.

This also enables you to set them both at different temperatures to experiment with what effect temperature has on the flavour of the finished beer.

[boingy]

Once upon a time some fella called Jim did this:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15172

But, as stated, adding a second fridge would give you more flexibility.


(I reckon Jim had potential. I wonder what happened to him...)

[Pinto]

How about selling your brew fridge on to some keen associate and putting acquired profits into making a new one using a tall larder fridge ? Im facing this very issue myself as my plans are going to incorporate using my 30l polykegs soon, so I need to be able to ferment full 30L batches and I'd like to be able to make more than one batch at a time....

[Rick_UK]

Once upon a time some fella called Jim did this:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15172

But, as stated, adding a second fridge would give you more flexibility.


(I reckon Jim had potential. I wonder what happened to him...)

That's awesome Boingy I reckon I could knock up sommat similar to that with materials I already have. 2 fridges would be better granted，but it took over a year before I aquired my current one (purely a stroke of chance - possibly devine intervention from the beer gods) and I can customise the size and shape to a certain extent this way.

With some clever partitioning and another atc I could probably have 2 sections at different temps if needed also...

Good stuff guys, your all stars

[boingy]

Just be mindful of the amount of condensation and damp (and spills) you will get so everything on the inside needs to be wipe-able and protected.

[Rick_UK]

Just be mindful of the amount of condensation and damp (and spills) you will get so everything on the inside needs to be wipe-able and protected.

Good point, I'll allow for this in the design. I'll primarily be fermenting between 18 and 22'C so shouldn't be too much condensation. If lagering or crash cooling I'll partition off the fridge section to contain this - I only ever brew 1 lager at a time.

I wonder if Jim's is still going strong?? (Jim - feel free to chime in!

[DC]

This is how I upgraded my brewing fridge to take 2 x 5 gallon brew lengths

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=59224

Cheers DC