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Anyone Build a Temperature Controlled Fermentation Chamber?

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Anyone Build a Temperature Controlled Fermentation Chamber?

All,

I am very much interested in achieving a steady fermentation temperature for my next beer.  The temperature in my house hits 68 degrees during the day, but cools down to 64-65 at night (we lower the heat).  For my next brew, a Belgian Witbier, I want to start primary fermentation at 68 degrees and slowly increase the temperature to 72 degrees so the ambient temperature in my house won't work.  I am curious to how other experienced brewers control their fermentation temperatures in a home-brew setting.

Brewchez mentioned in a post (link below) that he has a "hot box" which he uses in the winter - basically an insulated box with a space heater - seems logical that this would be a good place to start.  Is this the most effective route?  Any other suggestions?

http://www.brewingkb.com/homebrewing/pr … page2.html

Thanks in advance,
Otis

 

Sorry the pics are so crappy, got a new phone and still working out the kinks, but this is what I use for control. I use a standard fridge, with a base built on the bottom, so I can fit 3 carboys and blowoffs at the same time. The temp is controlled by a 2 stage Ranco controller, so when it needs to be cooler than the setpoint the fridge kicks in, when it needs to be warmer than the setpoint- a heatwrap kicks in. When I set it correctly, it varies only 2 degrees, right now from 64-65 (fermenting an amber with us-04). My buddy does the same thing, and you can get a fridge off craigslist for no more than $40 if you look for a week straight.

Inside of the fridge
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc314/thirsty_02/fermheat.jpg

The controller
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc314/thirsty_02/teptroller.jpg

 

I do exactly what Thirsty does, except I got my fridge for free off Craigslist and I use a halogen light bulb in a clip on lamp as my heat source when I need to heat above ambient temps.  You can get those Ranco controllers pretty cheap off of Ebay.  They are cheaper if they are not wired and if you can read instructions it is easy to wire a extension cord into them.  Cheers!

 

I built a "hot box" over the summer for use this winter.  I'll try to post some pics but it's essentially an insullated box (R13).  5' long x 2' deep x 3' tall.  Two chambers each having a 500W space heater on the bottom with an expanded metal floor and a thermostat mounted to the ceiling.  About 2F difference floor to ceiling.  The room isn't heated so it's perfect.  Each chamber can hold either two 5 gallon tanks or 2-3 batches worth of bottles(stacked).  Currently I'm using it to carbonate 25 gallons worth.  It's overkill but I love it.

 

Thanks for the responses.  I am going to start looking for a second fridge...

Just curious if anyone has tried using a FermWrap heater attached to a temperature control with any success.  Link provided:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/b … n-kit.html

 

Otis wrote:

Thanks for the responses.  I am going to start looking for a second fridge...

Just curious if anyone has tried using a FermWrap heater attached to a temperature control with any success.  Link provided:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/b … n-kit.html

Look at my picture, the fermwrap is laid out inder the platform

 

If you want to slowly raise the temperature over a given time period and keep that set point for the remainder of the time, I would go with some sort of microcontroller.  The best bet is an arduino.  There are countless online sites and threads devoted to programming on these things, so you can find lots of people help you work out the code.  It uses C programming which is pretty easy to understand as far as the basics.  I am going to build a couple of cold boxes this summer using peltier solid state heat pumps and an arduino because my basement stays too hot for ale fermentation.

 

Dude, too complex. Going with the second fridge and ranco controller. Thanks though!

 

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