son of fermentation chiller

[Nasase]

you should also run and airlock tube through and outside of the chiller, will remove warm bubbles

[HansenKai]

Why do you use two ice chambers, instead of just one?

[brewyourown4life]

@HansenKai depends on the out side air temp. you may need to use several jugs of ice to get to the desired temp.

[MrMrtiki]

That foam cuts way better with a hot wire using a battery charger

[brewyourown4life]

@MrMrtiki sounds good any video of it in action?

[MrMrtiki]

@brewyourown4life Just use a piece of heavy wire like baler wire or mechanics with the clamps on the ends the width of the foam cuts like butter put one end on the foam on line use gloves wire will get red hot pull tight on line right thru 2 seconds done breaks on line only go one way pull off clamp to cool or get help off power

[Archtronics]

what was your room temps to achieve 45f?

[brewyourown4life]

@Archtronics i believe it was around 68-70f

[talljetsfan]

last question.....did u sand the dowels at all? i got the 3/8" also and they only go in the grommets about a 1/4".

thanks again!

[brewyourown4life]

@talljetsfan no i didn't sand them. mine slid in pretty good. i did round the edges of the dowels where they were cut

[talljetsfan]

how many wires r coming out of the fan? Ken's plan shows 2, a black & red. All the pc fans I've been looking at locally have either 3 wires or 4.....Any feedback would be appreciated.......thx again!

[brewyourown4life]

@talljetsfan the fans i had only had 2 wires

[mourtegoul]

@talljetsfan Take the Red and Black wires, these are the power and ground respectively. The other one or two wires are for reporting the fan speed to a mother board for speed & noise control operation. (3 wires if it shares a ground with the power)

[talljetsfan]

It looks like your baffler piece goes all the way down to the bottom, does it?

[brewyourown4life]

@talljetsfan the piece between the ice jugs is 2-3 inches from the bottom

[talljetsfan]

thanks for sharing your chiller.....im i the process of building mine. Can you explain how to hook up the green light, is there a resistor you need?

thanks!

[brewyourown4life]

@talljetsfan i used a led with a built in resistor that i purchased at radio shack. just wired it so when the fan kicks on the light goes on

[talljetsfan]

will a 6 1/2 gal carboy with air-lock fit in there?

[brewyourown4life]

@talljetsfan it should, there is about 27 - 28 inches in height

[c0c0b33f]

how often do you have to change out the frozen water jugs?

[brewyourown4life]

@c0c0b33f  about every other day, it depends on the time of year.in the winter months i only use 1 jug on one side and that will last a couple of days. during the summer, 2 jugs one on each side changed every other day

[ThePhotosbydolph]

Nice job. Very clean. I already have a window A/C unit and recently acquired a Johnson thermo control so I will be doing something with that. However, If I didn't have those things I would go S of F.

Nice video description as well. Direct to the point. None of the uhhh, ummm, uhhh shite that you find so much on YT about home beer brewing.

Cheers

[ezmicrofiber]

Great Video....I have been researching how to make an inexpensive chiller. 

[bjcpc0337]

Is this general idea any goof for making a protable bar with taps/faucets? I see jockey boxes costing $250 for 2 taps and your keg still needs to be protected, so I want to set up kind of a kegerator/portable bar so I can pull it out on the patio, put a couple of cold kegs in, hook to 2 taps coming out the side and keep cook with ice. Anyone ever do that. Costs for chill coils or plates are outrageous, hoping that idea will work, anyone have suggestions??

[rawtofu666]

how much did this run you?

[brewyourown4life]

@rawtofu666 proably around 60$, the foam was 20$ and the thermostat was 25$ had the power supply, fan, and wood. the weather stripping was 12$ grommets and dowel 6$

[columnos]

could you please explain how the cooling chambers work? what is inside the milk cartons? thanks, and great video.

[brewyourown4life]

@columnos the milk cartons are filled with water and frozen, the way it works is the computer fan blows toward the fermentation bucket which in turns draws air in thru the hole" opposite the fan " gets drawn over the ice and pulled to the bottom on that side, passes to the fan side, thru a space between the two sides at the bottom and is pulled up over the ice and pushed out and fills the fermentation side with cold air and then is drawn back to the opening and the process continues

[Matta212121]

how did you put a prob on the thermostat

?? plz help

[brewyourown4life]

@Matta212121 there is no probe on the thermostat, the probe you see is from the thermometer, it's an indoor-outdoor model. there are plans and video's on adding a probe, steeljan has a good one that explanes it very well

[mjcat1123]

Can you post link to plans ? Is this original plans from Ken Schwartz? I would like instructions for thermostat wiring also.

Thanks

[mjcat1123]

Are these the original plans from Ken Schwartz? Could you post link to plans? Like to see instructions on wiring thermostat you have also.

[mjcat1123]

Are these the originalplans from Ken Schwartz? Could you post link to plans? Like to see instructions on wiring thermostat you have also.

[EdWort]

Great job! It's a great inspiration to all those who brew too warm!

Cheers

[montycone]

I feel like this is so much more work than just buying a chest freezer and temp controller... And probably not much cheaper. My fermentation freezer costs $36 a year to run, and I can put things on top of it without caving in...

[Tahlorn]

Thanks for the vid and explanations! The general link given for the plans doesn't seem to work anymore, but I think i can use this video as a guide on how to make one. Is there any reason why you don't have a fan on the second hole going to the other frozen gallon jug? I thought maybe for circulation, but the two cooling chambers are completely sealed from each other. Seems it would be more efficient with a second fan to help out.

[HomeDistiller]

dont you have fridges in the USA?

[OPE08]

@HomeDistiller -alot of people ask that, or something near it.

Here's a few facts to consider:

This project was first put out in 95', things have change ALOT since then.

Even if you got a frige for free you would still have to buy a controller to make it truly useful for fermentation instead of simple cooling of finished beer.

Used friges tend to be costly to run.

This unit, or the one I built, hold one or two carboys so they are generally less than a quarter the size of a frige.

[HomeDistiller]

@OPE08 well technically you are still cooling this down with a freezer anyway. it uses energy to freeze the ice so the cost of running argument is redundant, in fact the fridge would be more efficient than this (due to poor insulation etc) so the running costs would be less, also the cost of a controller would be about the same as all the foam etc you used for this unit, and you can normally get working fridges for free if you look hard enough

[OPE08]

@HomeDistiller - Oh, agreed, its not the best answer by any means, but if I had to argue the point I would say that running an extra frige when I already have a freezer would be more energy, the chiller doesn't really have "poor insulation" as I can easily get it well below my target temp and the temps inside the box do not swing as much as a frige.

But mostly, as I mention in my videos description, if I wasn't a bit of a tinkerer I wouldn't be a brewer in the first place!

[maubrowncow]

This came out great. Thanks for taking the time to post this.

[paleowarrior1]

Has anyone tried using other materials? Like, Double Reflective Foil Insulation, with some hardboard walls?

[Mickg34]

Wow! Very nice! Did you say there were plans on line to build it? Could you tell me where? Man is that impressive! I know it doesn't look difficult, but I'm not very good with building things like that, but I'm somewhat inspired right now. Any infor you give would be great.

[navcrowds]

Google "Son Of Fermentation Chiller Plans"

[brewyourown4life]

navcrowds is right, just google it.the only thing i would do different is i would not recess the grommets into the foam just put some glue on them and push them in.if it doesn't work to good then recess them

[brewyourown4life]

proably around 60$, the foam was 20$ and the thermostat was 25$

[benshomebrew]

How much did this cost to build? Looks good. Nice LED modification.

[dynablow10]

Very Nice