Cooling my fermentation chamber

[sonicated]

I haven't been brewing recently in the heat as my fermentation chamber in the garage regularly goes above 30C. It's basically just a big insulated MDF box that can hold three 25 litre FVs.

I thought about getting a mini fridge and butchering it, but looking online you can buy DIY semiconductor refrigeration kits. 27 quid and three weeks later it turns up from China. It's basically a small plate the size of a CPU that gets really hot on one side and really cold on the other, so cover it with heatsinks and fans and you have a DIY fridge. I'm planning on sticking it on the side of the FC. In tests it got a thermometer down to 11C in a 22C room.

Has anyone done something similar? I'll keep you updated on progress!

[vacant]

Brew Jacket might be worth looking at for copying ideas.

[IPA]

I haven't been brewing recently in the heat as my fermentation chamber in the garage regularly goes above 30C. It's basically just a big insulated MDF box that can hold three 25 litre FVs.

I thought about getting a mini fridge and butchering it, but looking online you can buy DIY semiconductor refrigeration kits. 27 quid and three weeks later it turns up from China. It's basically a small plate the size of a CPU that gets really hot on one side and really cold on the other, so cover it with heatsinks and fans and you have a DIY fridge. I'm planning on sticking it on the side of the FC. In tests it got a thermometer down to 11C in a 22C room.

Has anyone done something similar? I'll keep you updated on progress!

If I were you I would not bother. They work OK ish if you are trying to cool a picnic box but nothing else. Better buy a second hand ( or new ) tall larder fridge.

[chris2012]

Here's my failed attempt - https://www.anfractuosity.com/projects/ ... n-control/

I _think_ the main reason I failed to chill below ambient heh, was because the fan was pitifully poor for the 4 peltiers.

I would like to try again sometime with a better fan (I'm thinking one of the electro-ducted fans from Hobbyking

To start with if I try again, maybe I'll just use 1 of the peltiers and see if that works to some extent first, as there would be less heat being generated from a single 1.

Good luck with your setup though, be curious to hear how it goes!

[Hoppydaze]

I too have a fermentation cabinet in my brew shed. It is made of wood and insulated with 2 inches of polystyrene top,bottom,back and sides with a double glazed front. It holds 2 30 Ltd conical. Cooling is as follows:
Maxi 110 with the recirculating pump modified to be controlled by an STC 1000
A small car heater matrix/radiator, mine cost five pounds on eBay and came from a Smart car.
Two 4 inch computer fans mounted on the radiator
Feed and return pipe work between maxi and radiator as short as possible and insulated before it enters the chamber

When the stc call for cooling it feeds 240 volts to the maxi recirc pump and 240 volts to a transformer that feeds 12 volts to the fan

It will easily cope with 30 deg ambient in the shed during hot weather and keeps my chamber at a steady 19 deg.
No good for cold crashing though

[Dave S]

I'm with IPA, just buy a fridge, they're tried and tested. I've had two or three peltier-driven mini fridges for one use or another and they are crap.

[sonicated]

Undeterred I made a box out of MDF to house the power supply, fans and heatsinks. I cut a hole in the fermentation chamber and stuck it on the side. I'm pleased to say it's working, SWMBO had the tumble dryer on so it was 23C in the garage, the Inkbird was showing the FC the inside as 21.6 before I took the lid off to work on it. After 10 to 15 minutes it got the temperature down to 18.1C - so hopefully it will hold up to a 30C day.

Overall I'm pretty happy.

The new fridge on the side


The inside showing the Inkbird probe. The heatsink/fan is well on the inside but it's lined with 50mm of Celotex


The Inkbird showing 18.1C inside with the garage temperature at 23C.

[Fil]

Nice build.. watch out for condensation,, a weekly towel exchange to remove any condensation that pools may be worthwhile considering. also double check for any leaks as if you successfully chill the air inside it will simply drop out of any breaches in the box seal.

adding fans inside to keep the air moving will also help with the heat exchange to and from the beer too, and if it proves to be lacking in the warmest months, try adding/exchanging a bottle or two of frozen water to supplement the internal chill too.

good luck..

[sonicated]

Thanks for the tips Fil. I've got a USB fan in there to keep the air moving and the frozen water bottle is a great tip for the really hot days.

I've put foil tape all around around the hole in the insulation. A lot of water built up in just the short time I was testing it so I think I'll make a little well in the insulation and collect it in a pipe going into a bottle.

Now I just need to monitor the Inkbird settings to prevent it constantly going from heating to cooling!

[chris2012]

Are you using the peltier for cooling only or..?

[sonicated]

Yes it's just for cooling in hot weather. I have a greenhouse heater in the FC for heating, and a chest freezer for cold crashing / serving. It's going to be a keezer soon!

[sonicated]

I was a bit warm yesterday so went in the garage to get a beer. Given all the effort I went to with this chiller I was convinced that despite global warming we were going to enter an ice age. The last time it properly snowed was in 2011 and given all the trouble we had I bought salt and a snow shovel to be prepared for next time - the drive hasn't has more than half an inch of snow on it since.

To my surprise as I walked into the garage the chiller was running and the garage thermometer was reading over 26C. I was pleased to see the fermentation chamber was just 19C. I took the chance to throw my data thermometer in to see how it was going. I was really impressed looking at the results today.

The first up and down spikes are in the evening when the garage is hot and the Inkbird is kicking the chiller in and out of action. Then as the garage cools the chamber slowly heats up and cools naturally before it gets colder and the heater kicks in at 5am, and runs on and off throughout the day.

I'm really impressed with it's performance. I know the little fridges aren't great but this just maintains a warmish temperature and seems to work just fine!

[HTH1975]

Nice work, if it does the job for you then that is all that matters.

My own solution is based on trial and error - my stone-floored cellar averages 16-18C in the summer (winter is more like 8-12C (perfect for lagers). I also have a brew fridge that will crash cool or average 10C in the summer if I want to lager. It's all about knowing your setup and working within those constraints.

If you want absolute control at any time of the year you need to be a bit more creative. For me, I'm quite happy to adjust to the seasons - it's all part of the challenge.

[Fil]

Looking good for a brew.. SO Get a brew in there and give it a real test, the ambient temp isnt the only factor you have to contend with there is also the heat the billions of yeast cells will generate while they perform the fermentation for you.