Building a Ferment Chamber out of a dead freezer

thetonka · Post by **thetonka** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:01 am

Thought you guys would get a kick out of this. I am using the working freezer in a stand up fridge to cool a glycol bath which supplies glycol to a trans cooler in a dead chest freezer I am going to use as a ferment chamber. Got the inspiration from a NB thread.

http://tvhbajoomla.temeculahomebrewers. ... c.php?t=97

Enjoy.

backyard brewer · Post by **backyard brewer** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:37 am

That's cool. Your plan to add another radiator to the freezer is a good one. That should get you what your looking for or at least help quite a bit. The other will be having thermal mass in the fermentation chamber. If you had a sheet of steel in there that the cooler was mounted to, that might provide a larger mass to "store" some cold and help with the swings. Paint it of course to seal it from condensation. Even jugs of water or cornies full of water would help.

thetonka · Post by **thetonka** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:48 pm

The cooler is mounted to the side, which is metal so that helps. Good idea on the thermal mass, didn't think about that.

I was looking at adding another trans cooler, but I may just pick up a 10' length of copper tube and bed in up and mount it in horizontal passes on the back wall of the working freezer. The cooling tubes are behind the back wall which is removable. I figure if I pass the glycol thru 3-4 passes of copper tube from bottom to top then back into the glycol bath that should help with heat transfer to the freezer. I have a friend who is looking for a large aluminum tank for me to replace the tupperway.