temperature control for converted freezer

I have the same issue right now. I'm interested to see the responses. I don't believe insulating the outside of the freezer will make much, if any, difference.

 

Insulation won't increase the temperature in the freezer. Indeed, it can't. The best you can hope for is that it will slow the drop a bit, but certainly not enough for your needs. A cheap solution is an incandescent light bulb inside the freezer. The smallest wattage that will do the job is all you need (perhaps someone can give you an idea of the proper size). Leave the temp controller connected.

 

This sounds way better than my idea, which was to brew lagers during the cold months.

 

A heating pad would also work it can stay on low. Be careful that if light comes in direct contact with the wort long enough (I am not sure how long it takes, and it is worse for higher AA beers) it can cause off flavors (skunked).

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

 

It only has to be turned on when the outside temp is not high enough to allow you fridge to cycle on and off.

 

You could also just cover your fermenter is a t-shirt, etc. Something that has some UV protection of sorts.

 

Absolutely. Just fair warning about direct contact.

 

I actually asked this exact question ~2 months ago. My chest freezer for fermentation is in my unheated basement where during the winter it sits around 50-55 degrees. It's not the cheapest solution, but I've found this setupt incredible. I'm not longer moving the carboy around the house to take advantage of different ambient temperatures in the house, as well as easy warming to finish fermentation and crash cooling.

I use this for temperature control: http://www.etcsupply.com/ranco-etc211000000-stage-prewired-temperature-controller-p-110.html

Coupled with this for heating: http://morebeer.com/view_product/16674/102282/The_FermWrap_Heater

I taped some doubled up insulation tight to the carboy and slip the temperature probe in the foam pocket. This system gives high precision.

 

I ran into this same exact problem this winter in my basement. It was too cold for me to do ales at ambient temperature so I needed heat. I took my johnson controller that I use on my fridge for lager's and opened it up and plugged in the little black heating mode clip per the instructions. I then hooked up my johnson controller to a space heater pointed at my fermenter about 3 or 4 feet away. I taped the temp probe on the opposite side of the carboy as the heat source and put some makeshift insulation over it like i do in my lager fridge. The space heater would turn on/off as needed and worked out great. If your temp controller doesn't have a heating mode then that probably wouldn't work out for you. This isn't as accurate as a dual stage controller like nathan is describing but worked out much better than no temp control.

 

$10 worth of generic parts from your local Radio Shack clone (a 120 volt relay and a 14 gauge extension cord, suitably hacked) will add a heating mode to any temp controller. It's only one stage, but, as long as the ambient temp is consistently lower than your desired fermentation temp, that's all you really need.

 

No, and especially if your freezer has a defrost cycle.