Fermentation Coolroom

[Peter Wadey]

G'day Doc,
What will you do if the A/C bothers the neighbours?
By law you'll have to switch it off after 10PM if they complain.

Rgds,
Pete

 

[Doc]

Finally as the daylight hours are getting longer, and the days warmer, the fermentation coolroom is starting to come to life.

It has taken a bit of tuning, but I think I have it set optimally at the moment. The key has been a 17degC setpoint with 2 degC hysteresis and a 10min compressor delay (on the Mashmaster controller).
I did have a 2 degC hysteresis set, but the way the airconditioner works it wasn't blowing just cold air continuously even though set to max coolness. As such it would almost get down to set temp, then things would warm up a little as it reduced its cooling output causing the unit to run longer that was really necessary.

The attached chart shows what I mean. Yesterday it was on a 4degC hysteresis until mid evening (even though I admit I was in and out of the coolroom yesterday causing it to loose cool air), whilst today it is cycling about once an hour.



Beers,
Doc

 

[fraser_john]

Doc,

whats the dimmensions of your "coolroom" and how much power does the air conditioner use? I can get my hands on a whole coolroom of panels for nix and think it would be a good spring/summer project to get going on.

 

[Doc]

Hey FJ,

Checkout my blog on AHB here (under Blogs) and there is an entry with the design of it.
As for how much power it uses. No idea. It is coming on about once an hour for a few minutes. It is a grunty little 15A unit.

Beers,
Doc

 

[Doc]

Definitely much happier with the 2degC hysteresis.
Even though yesterday was a little cooler it didn't seem to have to work too hard even with an active ferment starting.
Good to see it didn't even come on over night too.



Doc

 

[trevc]

I wonder if I could section off part of our apartment to build one of these...

Sounds like your setup is working well. How many fermenters are you planning to have filled at once?

 

[Crunched]

Doc, can I ask how you measure and graph temps? I'm in the process of writing a script to graph temp inputs from a probe in my fermenter to produce a similar result as your graph - but if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

 

[Doc]

Sounds like your setup is working well. How many fermenters are you planning to have filled at once?

As many as I need to.
I could easily have have 6 going if need be.
My base grain is also stored in the cupboards, plus there are some bottled beers, and misc AG equip.

Doc, can I ask how you measure and graph temps? I'm in the process of writing a script to graph temp inputs from a probe in my fermenter to produce a similar result as your graph - but if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

This topic and post has all the details of how I setup my temp logging and monitoring.

Beers,
Doc

 

[JasonY]

It's a nice background to be sure Doc, but its crap for making the graph easy to read

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

It's a nice background to be sure Doc, but its crap for making the graph easy to read

+1 :lol: .


But on another note I can only dream of such beer making extravagance.

 

[Doc]

It's a nice background to be sure Doc, but its crap for making the graph easy to read

When I did it in 2002/3 opacity was a bitch.
Now, yes I could probably redo it and improve readability. However I'm the only one that has the URL and has to read it

Doc

 

[dr_fuct]

Years ago I built portable site offices out of coolroom panels and the way we cut the panels was with an air chisel with a three pronged attachment (two upper fingers and the middle finger pointing downwards ) we would cut through one side(the two upper fingers of the chisel blade on top of the wall of the panel the middle one under and the piece between the two fingers would roll up like opening a sardine can) hope this makes sense turn it over cut the other side then saw through the foam with a big knife

 

[amiddler]

On the back of sirdrinksalot, for cutting coolroom panels I have always used double cutting sheers and can now come as a drill attachment making them quite affordable. They have a fixed 2 pronged fork like section and a moving middle blade that like SDA said, cuts and rolls a 5mm section of waste. Would still need to cut both sides then run a large sharp knife down the centre to separate the foam. Very neat job and the foam doesn't start to melt on the edges from the heat off the circular saw.

Shears

These also able you to cut the panels on a 45' for a perfect finished corner. Just finnish off with a little flashing if you need one at all.

View attachment Foam.bmp

Just info for everyone else who wants one, including me.

Drew