Just wondering as to what some of you guys do for temperature control during fermentation. I want to explore new styles, but most of them desire a very specific (and colder than room temp) fermentation temperature. Are there some DIY ways of me obtaining something to use for fermentation temperature control? I.E. a converted old chest freezer or something?
Google 'swamp cooler' or do a search of this forum on that term. It's a regular topic here, and it's a DIY thing. A converted freezer or an old fridge will work too if you add an external thermostat control to get the appliance to maintain temps in the higher ranges that the built-in temp controls can handle.
The ideal way is to have a converted fridge or freezer. I've done the swamp cooler method but the main issue there is the potential for mold and mildew. My current methods are to try to make beer that is seasonally fitting in terms of the temps (so a lot of Saisons from June-August) and use a thermal bag to stablize the temperature so if you get 55 nights and 70 days, it's somewhere right in the middle and the fluctuation is so slow it doesn't affect the yeast much. I throw in a couple hot towels or ice bags if I need to nudge it a bit in one direction.
Another option for cold temperature is building a Son of Fermentation Chiller (SOFC). http://www.ihomebrewsolutions.com/son-of-fermentation-chiller/ I have built one and it works great!! Cheers!
Swamp coolers rank right up there along with using a rolling pin to crush your grains. Temp control methods will vary according to batch size. Controlling 2.5Gs is easier than 10. Basement might work. Jersey temps are cool this time of year so maybe an unheated garage.
IMO the best bang for the buck is a free/traded for/really cheap fridge and this http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pimp-my-system/build-temperature-controller/ Fridge over chest freezer, unless buying new then freezer over fridge due to price.
Get an external thermostat if you can afford it and have space for the extra fridge/freezer If not, fill a large tuppperware container with 10ish gal of water. Fill 5 or 6 2-liters most of the way full of water and squeeze the air out of them. Seal them and freeze them thoroughly. Add 2 to the 10 gal of tupperware water and change them out ever 10-12 hours for the first 3 or 4 days of fermentation.
I use the SS brewtech temp controller. It's a little pricy but it works unbelievably well, I think it's well worth the money.
I use a small chest freezer with STC-1000 temp controller. It will fit two buckets, but I only ever have one in it. If I was to do over, I'd buy one or two of the smallest chest freezers that would fit one fermenter. One for lagering...
I have a full size fridge I put my fermenter in. I then wrap the fermenter with a heat wrap and connect the wrap to a rancho digital thermometer. The heat wrap will keep the wort within 1 degree of target range. The digital thermometer and wrap is like $100.
Not for cooling, but I have propagation mats I place on a table enclosed by 1 inch insulation board open on the top and the mat is thermostat controlled . Caller stays in the 50s.
I took my old dorm fridge and put a 2x12 collar on it and mounted the door to the collar. I built the temp control module in the link above and I put a small light fixture in a paint can for the heating part. I put the temperature probe in a gallon jug of water. works like a charm
You mean tape the probe to the side or use a thermowell? I didn't want to spend the money on a thermowell and I figured putting the probe in a gallon of water is the next closest thing. The temp doesn't fluctuate as much as the ambient temp. The fridge kicks on ever 3 hours or so
http://s1275.photobucket.com/user/s...CA-1009-0000005B8ECED306_zps79379854.jpg.html I've been using this setup for years on kegs and fermenters. The pic shows a keg, but the idea is the same either way. This way you are reading more closely the temp of the fermentation. It's big rubber bands and foam pipe insulation. Just a suggestion. I'm not a fan of solutions in search of problems. This is an older controller, but you get the idea.
Because my fermentation temperature control is a bit out of the ordinary, I'd though I share it. It consists of a cabinet that I've insulated with styrofoam sheet and aluminized bubble wrap. The cabinet started out as a stock cabinet from Home Depot (or maybe Lowes), but I ended up extending its depth by 8" to accommodate some larger fermenters I later acquired. The cabinet has a Johnson A419 controlled cabinet heater for heating. A small fan that sits below the heater also turns on with the heater in order to circulate the heated air. It also has a small McLean ac unit controlled by a STC-1000 controller (not all STC-1000 controllers are created equal; make sure you get the one you want.) The ac unit I got from a fellow homebrewer who knew an HVAC person who was getting rid of several of these units. Unfortunately, these units do not appear to readily be available on the used market. The right thermoelectric cooler might be a good substitute. Most, if not all, consumer window ac units are would be massive overkill for a cabinet this size. The cabinet sits in my garage. In the winter the heater will allow me to hit any desired fermentation temperature. The cooler unit puts out air that is ~20 F below ambient, so I can do ales in the summer and lagers in any of the other three seasons. (As set up, the unit does not recirculate the air in the cabinet; it simply blows cooled air from outside into the cabinet. I could set it up for recirculation if I wanted more cooling.) I simply tape the temperature probes to the side of the fermenter, usually underneath some aluminized bubble wrap. The following three photos illustrate the setup. The first photo was taken before the styrofoam and ac cooler were added, but it does nicely show the cabinet heater and fan. As the second photo shows, I can fit two 7.9 gallon Speidel fermenters into the cabinet. The third photos shows the ac unit and the two controllers. Cheers!
