LazyBrewer
Member
What is the smallest temperature controlled fermentation chamber/kegerator anyone here has ever built?
I am working on a project converting a secondhand 20 liter Peltier mini fridge to something I can use for for smaller 3-4 liter tests (pressure fermenting and serving/bottling from the same vessel).
Yes, I know all about the cons with Peltier cooling but the good thing is that you also get a way to heat the chamber when needed (very useful during the winters here in Finland because we have +10C in our heated garage at the moment).
Have already passed the proof of concept stage with only the fridge and the next step will be to drill holes for CO2 and liquid posts on the outside of the fridge (using carbonation caps as posts).
One cider, one carbonated mulled wine and one lager already fermented in the fridge.
I would say that this should work like a charm because in theory you should be able to get 18C under ambient or maybe 30C above, with these cheap fridges.
This means that in the winter I have no problem cold crashing in the fridge and every normal fermentation temperature is covered all year around.
In the summer cold crashing might not be an option but I can live with that as long as I can control the fermentation temperatures.
The only problem I had was figuring out how to control the temperature without drilling an extra hole for an Inkbird probe.
Solved this by using some cheap Tuya "toys" (a wifi thermometer and a wifi controlled power socket).
If anyone has built an ultra light/mobile fermentation chamber/kegerator I would be very interested to hear more about your project and what you learned from it.
I am working on a project converting a secondhand 20 liter Peltier mini fridge to something I can use for for smaller 3-4 liter tests (pressure fermenting and serving/bottling from the same vessel).
Yes, I know all about the cons with Peltier cooling but the good thing is that you also get a way to heat the chamber when needed (very useful during the winters here in Finland because we have +10C in our heated garage at the moment).
Have already passed the proof of concept stage with only the fridge and the next step will be to drill holes for CO2 and liquid posts on the outside of the fridge (using carbonation caps as posts).
One cider, one carbonated mulled wine and one lager already fermented in the fridge.
I would say that this should work like a charm because in theory you should be able to get 18C under ambient or maybe 30C above, with these cheap fridges.
This means that in the winter I have no problem cold crashing in the fridge and every normal fermentation temperature is covered all year around.
In the summer cold crashing might not be an option but I can live with that as long as I can control the fermentation temperatures.
The only problem I had was figuring out how to control the temperature without drilling an extra hole for an Inkbird probe.
Solved this by using some cheap Tuya "toys" (a wifi thermometer and a wifi controlled power socket).
If anyone has built an ultra light/mobile fermentation chamber/kegerator I would be very interested to hear more about your project and what you learned from it.