Beer Cooler Fermenter

[barneey]

No idea if you guys use beer coolers to control ferment temps but its one of my favourite methods to control ferment temps, basically a stainless coil sits in the fermenter and a radiator heater or beer cooler supplies either got or cold water to the aforementioned coil.

Thought I would show a few builds I have worked on over the last couple of years, together with the latest stainless beer cooler, to which I have fitted twin python pumps and a separate control box, ( I normally fit everything in the cooler).

The latest control box

The two python pump Cooler

 

[dicko]

Good looking bit of kit mate.....you sure like to build things

I think most on here wiill find it hard to go past a fridge with a temp controller and a heat pad or heat source of some kind.
I use a 25 w lamp.

Cheers

 

[klangers]

Looks good mate.

Did you make the cooler yourself or is it repurposed from some other fluid cooling application? I would definitely do this if I had some form of fluid cooler, but since I only have fridges I have to stick with those.

 

[gava]

Thinking of doing something along the same lines but never got around to it yet...

I was thinking of have one that ran through all my fermenters i.e. have electric ball valves on the inlet of the fermenter, so once you need it chilled it turns the pump and ball value on if the pump already running just to the ball value on etc.. i like the idea of free standing fermenter with a standalone chiller.

 

[mkstalen]

How does the coil sit in the fermenter? How do you maintaining a sealed environment to prevent introducing air born contaminants into the fermenter? Is it somehow plumbed into the lid of the fermenter?

 

[barneey]

I have 2 fermenter buckets (conicals) a smaller 45 litre and a larger 110 litre. The smaller one has a simple coil the larger one a longer coil, both were made with 3/8 od stainless tube wrapped around a co2 gas tank.

The "maxi" chillers are standard UK pub equipment basically its a compressor (fridge) running coolant around a water bath thereby cooling the water (or glycol) bath/reservoir. One or more stainless coils are submerged in this bath. Beer from a keg is then served but routed through one of these coils to chill along the way to the pump. Most chillers also come with a "python" pump which in simple terms agitates the water bath & provides cooling liquid to the beer pipes (along route) and will also provide that "extra" cold look to pump heads (condensation).

To control ferment temps we are only interested in the python pump circuit, this will provide a cooling liquid to be pumped around the coil, a radiator heater (150w) is also placed in this loop to provide hot liquid).

An STC1000 is employed to switch on either the cold or hot side (AS NECESSARY - the thing isn't continuously on) Relays are placed in the pump wiring to isolate the supply.