making a lager beer fementor box.

[caosesvida]

I havn't posted here before mostly do comercial. I want to make or adapt a box 30" square or an old referigerator to have more accurate temperature control. I need to take the beer down slowly maybe a couple of degrees at a time from the low 60's down to aourn the mid to upper 30's this will take a couple of weeks or so. I have access to some coils and I also have a couple of old water fountians. I guess I could use chilled water or something. Anyway any sugestions on this experiment would be appreciated. thanks.

[icemeister]

Get an old domestic refrigerator that works and rig up a Ranco ETC electronic t'stat to monitor and control your temps...........i.e.; keep it simple.

[baub]

Originally posted by icemeister
Get an old domestic refrigerator that works and rig up a Ranco ETC electronic t'stat to monitor and control your temps...........i.e.; keep it simple.

Agreed... and keep any extra space loaded with water jugs. That way you can keep the delta T low on the stat, and still not short-cycle the compressor.

[yvairguy]

what is the brew contained in during this time?

[caosesvida]

the beer will be in 7.5 gallon glass containers, ie. carboys. They will fill the lower level of a small refer. Thanks for the advice on the t-stat. I will look into that, I am planning to brew the batch this week, I have the refer already, just need the t-stat, If my feeble mind can remember I will let you know how all that worked out.

[icemeister]

Not to worry, we'll remind you......as we expect free samples of your work. ;)

[clydemule]

What if you usee a bottling bucket with a lid and air lock instead of a carboy and made then built a small chiller with your extra parts.

Make a special lid where you can drop in a wort chiller. Take the inlet and outlet of the chiller and make them go straight up out of the bucket lid . Cut two holes in the lid for the chiller connections to pass through. Then use a couple of compression fitting to seal of the bucket lid.

Then with your extra parts you can make a chiller that pumps water through the wort chiller. You have just made a take apart cleanable heat exchanger.

I would buy some 3/4" armaflex and insulate the bucket, and/or shove it in an old fridge or freezer and run the chiller water lines out the door or side. The thing doesn't have to run, just insulate.


For control, you can just use a regular thermostat on the chilled water, or you can buy a process controller. Buy one that has "ramp" and "soak" features. These allow you to program different setpoints that change to another setpoint after a preset time. They also have the ability to control the rate of change.

I don't know what kind of parts you have for pumps, but an old carbonator pump, grundfos circulator, or even an RV water pump (DC only) would probably work.

Good Luck.

Clyde

[caosesvida]

I don't want to run copper tubing in the beer for three weeks, I think there may be a taste issue, plus the cleaning aspect. Everything has to be sterilized before you put it in the beer. I was thinking about your idea but put it in a insulation box, or even run it in a five gallon bucket of water. thanks for all the help.

[clydemule]

I guess I didn't specify a stainless wort chiller. Sorry!

I built kind of the same thing using a regular keg. I welded on a couple of fittings for a drain and an airlock.

I just wrapped a copper coil around the keg real tight. Brazed it in a couple of spots to help the heat transfer andused thermal mastic in the rest.

Then I wrapped it with 2 sheets of 3/4" armaflex.

Heat transfer is not as good but it is easier to sanitize by not having something inside the fermenter. It is kind of like a poor man's conical.

I guess you could do the same thing with a 6.5 gallon carboy.

Clyde

[caosesvida]

clydemule i guess you made beer at one time also. did you try any lagering? I used the etc and it works fine with an old refer box. thanks for the reply/s

[clydemule]

Yes, I make beer. Only ales so far. I made this setup because I live in SoCal and I have had some ales go nasty because it got too hot.

I actually am not much of a lager fan which is why I haven't tried.

I haven't made much beer lately because I do some moch work for breweries in San Diego that I can get really good beer for free whenever.



Clyde

[caosesvida]

I have heard of using the keg as a fermentor, but how in the world do you clean it?