Don't need a brew fridge for your Chronical anymore

[orlando]

http://www.brewjacket.com/project/ss-br ... ronical-7/

[vacant]

I had a quick look around the site. I couldn't see any technical info on reduced "Immersion Pro" energy consumption/test results indicating the jacket is any use e.g. the video suggests it's fitted at the same time as a blow off tube, but when the ferment heats up and the immersion switches to cooling, the jacket is working against the cooler.

Probably best to start with a £14 immersion jacket from screwfix. If that works, then spend $126 (ouch!) on something that looks nicer!

[orlando]

when the ferment heats up and the immersion switches to cooling, the jacket is working against the cooler.

It does, but in all similar solutions the change is very gradual so not really a problem. Superficially it looks like a potentially good solution for a lot of people with restricted places to brew and where temperature swings are considered "wild" by yeast. At a couple of hundred quid or so it competes quite well with other immersion type devices. I use a couple of Maxi 110's with radiator heaters and hacked STC 1000's running through internal cooling/heating coil in my conicals which is similar money but not something you would want to run in the house.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I run one in the house. Strictly during the day mind

.

Note the conical is insulated with cheap thermawrap. Nothing too exotic, but I might level up the insulation later.

Wasn't totally cheap to setup either, with an exterior cooling coil.

[sladeywadey]

so does this just handle cooling? what about where we would want to raise the temp for a diacetyl rest near the end of fermentation for example?

[vacant]

so does this just handle cooling? what about where we would want to raise the temp for a diacetyl rest near the end of fermentation for example?

The "Immersion Pro" ($299) heats and cools. The jacket is simply insulation.

[Matt in Birdham]

Pretty cool, but it would have to work extremely well at that sort of money (about $500 all up for a chronical kit - a bit of an ouch at today's exchange rate..). A larder fridge/tube heater/brewpi setup can be put together for a fair bit less than that, with unparalleled temperature control IMO and a fridge doesn't really take up a lot more space than the chronical..

[sladeywadey]

So tempting - I like that a lot.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

The half barrel Chronical is a bit on the porky side for many larder fridges. It can squeeze in but you may struggle to fasten the spring clips for the lid.

In theory a contact coil or an immersion coil provides better temperature control during active fermentation, than convection cooling with a fridge. You are likely to only see that with higher gravity beers or big volume fermentation.

Best value for money is the combination you mentioned. The setup above was not cheap.

Heating is achieved by a youngs brew belt that I had hanging around. Soil heating cable would be a better choice.

[Matt in Birdham]

The half barrel Chronical is a bit on the porky side for many larder fridges. It can squeeze in but you may struggle to fasten the spring clips for the lid.

In theory a contact coil or an immersion coil provides better temperature control during active fermentation, than convection cooling with a fridge. You are likely to only see that with higher gravity beers or big volume fermentation.

Best value for money is the combination you mentioned. The setup above was not cheap.

Heating is achieved by a youngs brew belt that I had hanging around. Soil heating cable would be a better choice.

Agreed on the half barrel (although I think someone on this forum does use one in a fridge?), but this unit only works on the 7g - and also you lose about 3 inches of headspace with the custom lid, plus the nice tri-clamp fitting on the original lid..

The Brewpi provides effectively perfect temperature control at any stage of fermentation - indeed, one of the coolest (unexpected) things about it is how much information it gives you about the fermentation activity - it is often holding the fridge lower by 3C or more during the most active period. Immersion systems can give this level of control as well, of course, but the standard STC1000/chamber solution either suffers from extreme overshoot due to lag (when measuring in a thermowell) or controls chamber temp with much less lag, but at the cost of not measuring the "real" temperature in the middle of the beer - so some manual judgement and adjustment is required.

[kev93_10]

That's me!

Half barrel Chronical in a fridge.....




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[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I didn't like losing my Chronical lid either, hence the DIY insulation job. You can take my tri clamps out if my cold dead hands etc etc

I am curious though: how long does it take to bring the half barrel down to 2C from 20C using a larder fridge?

The maxi cooler setup is more vulnerable to ambient temps. It's taken a while to get it down to 7C, and I have it on good account, that 24 hours is required to get it down to 2C with excellent insulation.

[kev93_10]

I can beat 24hrs but not by much. I'd say 18 or so hours.

I have graphs from brewpi I can look back at and give you an exact number when I'm home.

K


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[Matt in Birdham]

I can beat 24hrs but not by much. I'd say 18 or so hours.

I have graphs from brewpi I can look back at and give you an exact number when I'm home.

K


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That's pretty good going - more than fast enough, I'd say. I have recently taken to ramping down instead of crashing, just because of something the yeast book says about rapid chilling shocking yeast into expelling esters. How true that is, and how fast is too fast, I have no idea but I do a 36 hour ramp down which also means the compressor isn't running continuously.

[kev93_10]

That's where brewpi is excellent. I can set it to go down to 2c over 36hours easily. Just leave it to do its thing.

K


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