Summer Temp control for $16.00

[Anna]

Alright Al you have me convince and the overlord here is happy there is no more dripping towells on the floorboards.

I shall pick one up soon. I know you use the shorter more squat coopers fermenters so does anyone use a cooler bag yet with the taller brewcraft type of fermenters?

Not that my saison will need to stay cool, in fact Ill prob need to add a hot water bottle to it LOL

Bunnings settlement rd or Northies?

Yeah, I've got the taller type fermenters and they are about 6 inches taller than the Bunnings coolers, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. At the moment I've got 3 frozen soft drink bottles around the fermenters with a DRY towel over the top and the temp. gauge on the fermenters is a good steady 20 degrees. Incidentally, I made cider yesterday and discovered that the empty 3L juice bottles, frozen, fit even better around the fermenters in the coolers 'cause they are slimmer! No problems with leakage by the way. Best things since sliced bread IMO.!

Thanks again ALAN. Anna

[chadjaja]

Well I got some foam today anyway so I can now plug the top of the cooler trapping in the cool and achieving better and more even temps I'd say. Turns out my brand new wrapped in plastic cooler had some loose stitching hence the leak. Some tape and its all good though.

EDIT.

I just cut the foam to size so it fits around the fermenter snug and and when pulled down to the right height it is not only above the wort line but sits snug on the top of the cooler pretty much sealing it. Put some frozen bottles in it and in now time the space was damn cold and fermenter thermo had dropped from 30 degrees to 16 air temp. Doubt I'll lose much cooling thru the top of the fermenter and lid with it surrounded by cold air where it matters.

Tomorrow it gets 20L's of honey wheat beer and the saison sits at room temp which here in Melb means over 25 degrees thats for sure

[SuperBroo]

Hey Mick,
You are probly right - and I'll probly end up going down that path eventually, i guess its a big advantage when the outside temp is not always warmer or colder than the fridge...

cheers,,,
Chris WA

[Bigbott]

G,day all,

This is my heat box for winter time but i also use it for the summer as well
It holds 4 vats & has a heat lamp coming up through the bottom works a treat,

As you can see from the photos it also doubles as a fridgemate i just reuse the kit tins & freeze them you just change
them over every morn & night 6 of 7 do the job & keep most beers around the 16 to 18 deg mark
even on the reel hot days over 35 deg ,

The reason this is possible is ive lined the inside of the box with foam and it acts like an esky so to speak ,

Ive also been useing a cube for a while now to do my brews see the vat in pic on right they work realey good because
you can put the mix in & just put the lid back on & shake the shit out of it no spoons needed
& when you go to clean them i rinse it out straight after the brews finished & put 2 lts hot water
& chuck in a power ball tablet for the dishwasher shake it up & leave for a few day
just turning upside down every day after a week or so bingo it comes out clean as a whisle of
course you need to rinse it back out before the next brew & ive never lost a brew yet











Cheers Rob.

[svyturys]

Well I got some foam today anyway so I can now plug the top of the cooler trapping in the cool and achieving better and more even temps I'd say. Turns out my brand new wrapped in plastic cooler had some loose stitching hence the leak. Some tape and its all good though.

Wouldn't the best move be to exchange it?

[drsmurto]

Ive also been useing a cube for a while now to do my brews see the vat in pic on right they work realey good because
you can put the mix in & just put the lid back on & shake the shit out of it no spoons needed
& when you go to clean them i rinse it out straight after the brews finished & put 2 lts hot water
& chuck in a power ball tablet for the dishwasher shake it up & leave for a few day
just turning upside down every day after a week or so bingo it comes out clean as a whisle of
course you need to rinse it back out before the next brew & ive never lost a brew yet

Cheers Rob.

My 2 c

Waste of a powerball tablet.

If you rinse straight after you empty the beer out of a fermenter/cube/bucket you don't need to soak it.

Leave it upside to drain completely. If its dry you have less chance of growing bugs.

Sanitise prior to use.

Another tip - yeast is abrasive. Use the slurry at the bottom of the fermenter to remove the krausen mark.

Very nice setup though Rob, i love how ingenious HBers are!

Cheers
DrSmurto

[Bigbott]

Yeh Doc,

The box is sitting up off the ground on a timber stand as well so you not moveing vats very much
when transfering into the cubes or kegs for cold chilling or gasing !!

The other thing is when your not brewing i use them for ice bricks for the beer i take when camping ,




Cheers Rob.

[Finnagann]

Keep an eye out for free fridges on freecycle.

I've picked up 2 that way, both now used for fermenting. The most recent acquisition is big enough to fir 2 fermenters in side by side!

Attach a fridgemate/tempmate to them and it's set and forget. Both my fermenting fridges and the keg fridge have an external thermostat. Only the lagering/conditioning fridge doesn't at its set on a very low level which keeps it about 1-2C.

As pointed out on another forum, the energy required to constantly freeze water is far more than that used by a fridge operating at fermentation temperatures. It's a false economy.

Perhaps where you are it is, my balcony works as a giant freezer. At least there's some up side to this bloody climate

[rotten]

Gday all, try brewing in 40c+ temps. i keep mine in a laundry cupboard, no cooler bags or ice required with temps staying constant at mid-high 20c. Only ales brewed though with appropiate yeast. How does the temp mate work and can i use it with a coopers fermemter, i do have trouble in colder months, using towels works at the moment.

[bullfrog]

A TempMate connects to a fridge and regulates when the refrdgeration cycle clicks on. It also has an output for a heating device, as well, so that you can just set your desired temperature and forget about it, regardless of the ambient temps. If you don't have a spare fridge that you can use for fermenting, then keep your eye on sites like freecycle or gumtree and you're bound to find a cheap, if not free, one there.

[billybushcook]

You don't even need another fridge, just an insulated box to brew in & some scavenged bits & bobs.

I use a tempmate set up to pump cold water from my beer (drinking) fridge into the brew box & back for the cooling cycle, a simple light bulb for the heating cycle.

A simple, but very effective way to keep the box cool without needing an extra fridge.

It is just a $20 pond pump in the crisper with water & an old aircon heat exchanger (radiator) with a 12V computer fan in the box to cool the air & return the now warm water to the fridge again.

There are a million ways to F@#K a cat!!

Mick.

[squirt in the turns]

Mick, your set up sounds ideal - utilising the cooling capacity of the fridge while leaving the space inside free for beer storage or cold conditioning! What is your insulated brew box - something "off the shelf", scavenged, or built? Have you had to drill holes in the fridge for the tubing? Do you have just one heat exchanger in the loop? If so, I'm assuming it's in the brew box? How are you powering the fan - a regular 12v AC/DC power brick? Can this method give temps low enough for lager yeasts? Do you have any idea how much harder the fridge has to work to cool the brew box too? Sorry for asking so many questions!

I'm on the lookout for a cheap/free fridge, and will be getting a Tempmate. The "set and forget" approach is really appealing, while Doc's comments about freezing bottles being a false economy ring true with my environmentalist ideals.

I gave up brewing over the summer, and prior to that had my fermenter in a bath (large bucket), swapping 4 frozen 750ml PET bottles morning and night. I had big issues keeping the temp stable, though. Probably should have gone with some kind of insulation instead of the bath approach, and I'm ashamed that something like svyturys' saline solution idea didn't occur to me

[billybushcook]

Mick, your set up sounds ideal - utilising the cooling capacity of the fridge while leaving the space inside free for beer storage or cold conditioning! What is your insulated brew box - something "off the shelf", scavenged, or built? Have you had to drill holes in the fridge for the tubing? Do you have just one heat exchanger in the loop? If so, I'm assuming it's in the brew box? How are you powering the fan - a regular 12v AC/DC power brick? Can this method give temps low enough for lager yeasts? Do you have any idea how much harder the fridge has to work to cool the brew box too? Sorry for asking so many questions!

I have been using an old deep freezer or chest freezer for my brew box for about 18yrs,
Yes you will need to drill some holes for tubing.
The heat exchanger & fan are in the box.
The fan runs off a typ "plug in" transformer (cube) which is connected to the same outlet as the pump on the tempmate.

Lager temps are no problem in winter, I have not, nor would I try to hold 12 deg's when my shed gets up to mid 40's in summer.

I have noticed that the cooling element in the fridge gets iced up a little more than if it were not running the box cooler, I think this is more because of the water in the crisper, causing some vapour which is freezing on the element. As long as it is a frost free fridge, this is not a problem.

As for putting extra load on the fridge, which is more economical? running two fridges, one for drinking & one for brewing in? even if it is only running part time it still uses more power on startup than just running one fridge constantly.

Cheers, Mick.

[SuperBroo]

Just a note for anyone using a fridge with a basic temperature controller (say a thermostat), and having no way of warming it during these cooler months.

You can purchase a 240 volt fan, the type that goes in a computer etc, for about $30, and just run that inside your fridge down the bottom.

This provides 3 benefits...
1- The one I have is 14 watts, which provides a bit of warmth.
2- It circulates air very gently inside your fridge / freezer, helping to keep temparatures as even as possible throughout your fridge.

They also run very quietly, and use very little power, 14 watts means that it draws 0.058 amps, or 58 milliamps.
(As a comparison, a 50 watt light globe draws 0.2 amps, or 200 milliamps).

Temperature controller...
I am now using an advanced type available on epay here...

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/PROFESSIONAL-INT ... 3cac6ca367

You can use it control your fridge etc, (and also a warming fan at the same time), plus you can use its PID feature to control urn water temperature for mashing etc.

If anyones interested, I can help with wiring methods and setup etc, as I have just installed last week.
They are awesome for the price, about $57 including postage to Aussie from Honkers.

It may be a bit more technical to use than a temp mate etc, but its auto tuning features are ideal for mash strike water setup etc, and once you've had a little play, its well worth it.

Cheers,
Chris

[chadjaja]

Bump for the warmer weather coming.

I went to the big green shed today looking for more yellow coolers after other bunnings didn't have them. Found some with a clearance tag on them for sale at $11.98. Great deal when you consider the $$'s and time you put into even one brew and the results.

Mine were just about the last ones and were caked in dust so I cheekily asked for a discount and got one. $8 each I have a brew currently going at lager temps with a couple of frozen blocks keeping it at 10 degrees. I've found the largest flat blue ice blocks at the same green shed do the best job, take up less room in the freezer and take less time to freeze. They are only $3ea by memory.

Anyone looking for some cheap easy temp control I suggest you pick one up soon as I was told they are a discontinued item and I haven't seen a similar cooler for a decent price.

Bunnings murry rd northland should have two left in the esky section.