Otto Von Blotto Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 Yep a fridge is not only the simplest, but also the best way to control fermentation temps in a home situation anyway. Of course not everyone can have one for various reasons but given you have a spare one sitting around and the space, it seems like the perfect idea to use it. That's how I got mine actually - it was already here, in its current place, just not being used for anything. If you're not confident wiring an STC-1000, a sparky could easily do it of course or you could grab one of those pre-wired keg king ones. I don't know what the minimum temperature differential is on the KK ones, on the STC it's 0.3C, so for example my ale brews fluctuate between 18 and 18.3C through the fermentation. I prefer this small amount over something like 1C, just seems more logical to me if you're using a fridge to keep it as stable as possible. I don't disagree with setting temperature profiles like that KK one allows although personally I prefer to decide when I change temperatures because every fermentation is different really. Also agree about using a heating device that doesn't need to be strapped to the FV. A fermentation fridge is all about controlling the air temp inside the fridge to maintain the fermentation temp, even though you're measuring the temp of the wort/beer itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joules Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 Just buy one already built $69.95 is pretty good actually. I'd probably sell mine I built for $100.00 (not kidding). I still gotta put together one with the E1000 parts+labor would be +$100.00 if I was going to sell that one. Can't beat made in china production lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graculus Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Here's mine. I can just fit a Coopers FV in with the collar, although I realise the collar isn't necessary for most brews. Reptile heater as suggested by Headmaster in another thread. Held on by little suckers which are meant to hold up some of our Christimas lights. Computer fans added, although I think they're a bit fast. I've bought a speed controller to slow them down for the next brew. I only get the fans to come on during heating too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 The fans are a good addition. Nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zargonb Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 yeah like that fan setup. Might do something similar with mine. I've just completed my second round of brewing in my new brew fridge. Its a daewoo...I put together my STC in a case I 3d printed. Before the fridge I was using a peltier (thermoelectric) cooler/heater which I did as a project to play with an arduino and related things. It just couldn't handle the cold crashing but its fine for maintaining both a lager and ale fermentation. This is the old peltier system: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Hey zargonb, your old system is really cool! That is something I wouldn't mind building ... I'm a software developer and did a bit of microprocesser coding in uni so the Arduino stuff looks doable although it would probably take me a long time. Must've been a bit of work figuring out the thermoelectric cooling unit though. Haha I can imagine the look on my wife's face ... she would be like 'I wish I just let you buy a brewing fridge' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zargonb Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 she would be like 'I wish I just let you buy a brewing fridge' and you might too by the time you finished it. I helped a friend build one based on my design and it didn't go without incident. In the process I found many undocumented changes I made along the way but the schematics and stuff are up to date now thankfully. Only blew a few transistors and diodes here and there... It's horribly inefficient, horribly expensive for the purpose - but aren't all hobbies? Im an electrical engineer and found the mechanical side of things very hard to wrap my head around. Like how to sandwich a peltier in between two noctua heat sink units. But got there in the end. I want to get thermowells installed in my FVs and do some liquid temp measurement in the new fridge. I've got lots of temp logging gear and really want to log the internal ambient, contact, IR and liquid temps to see the differences between them all. Helps to understand whats going on in the process control. Arduinos are great but I'm really into using Electric Imp as it's IoT cloud connectivity is so simple to use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Thanks for the reply zargonb, the mechanical side sounds well beyond me ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 I put together my STC in a case I 3d printed. That's a bloody great looking case -- do you own a 3D printer or have access to one through work? Following some light renos' date=' I've had to overhaul my old fridge controller to adapt it to a DIY BrewPi shield, since the new location of the fridge makes it tricky to have a network cable connected all the time. Will end up using a Raspberry Pi + wireless dongle + arduino instead, and just feed temperatures to the same logging/graphing service as before. Pics to follow when/if I finish before the end of the year, heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckie0121 Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Well I bought myself a fridge on ebay for $40 and an STC-1000 from there too and finally got around to fitting it all together. I really lucked out with the fridge...it was just around the corner from home to pick up and it fits 2 FV's including one with the Krausen. An old fan from the sons computer, some aluminium sheet from work, a few other bits and bobs...from work too oh and a nice stainless plate for the STC to hide my grinding, its all set to go [/img] Now to see if these taste better than when the temps were up and down all the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quadricorn Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Out of curiosity, what's the wiring details for the fan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Hi chuck0121. Congrats on the new temp fridge setup. Looks a beauty, & you've gone to the extra trouble of installing the STC-1000 into the fridge door too. Well done! Now to see if these taste better than when the temps were up and down all the time Absolutely they will. Controlling ferment temp is a BIG part of producing quality beer. Good luck with your future brewing' date=' Lusty.[/size'] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckie0121 Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Out of curiosity' date=' what's the wiring details for the fan?[/quote'] Hi Quadricon, its just a 12v computer fan. I cut off the header pins that would connect it to motherboard and I found an old 12v power supply that just plugs into a power board. It was just a matter of connecting it together...Im an electrician so not a problem...but some fans have 3 wires...the yellow wire isnt required, so red and black are used...the power supply may not show the polarity of the 2 wires. but 12v isnt going to make much of a problem if you get them the wrong way round...it just wont work. So swap them around and hey presto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckie0121 Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Hi chuck0121. Congrats on the new temp fridge setup. Looks a beauty' date=' & you've gone to the extra trouble of installing the STC-1000 into the fridge door too. Well done! [img']cool[/img]. I was lucky, the STC just fitted through the door. And i've still got to tidy a couple of things up but its all working well so far.. Now to see if these taste better than when the temps were up and down all the time Absolutely they will. Controlling ferment temp is a BIG part of producing quality beer. Good luck with your future brewing' date=' Lusty.[/size'] I can see this taking waaaay too much of my time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joules Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 $40!!! DAMN! nice one. $40!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 I can see this taking waaaay too much of my time ...and that would be a problem why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graculus Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Out of curiosity' date=' what's the wiring details for the fan?[/quote'] Hi Quadricon, its just a 12v computer fan. I cut off the header pins that would connect it to motherboard and I found an old 12v power supply that just plugs into a power board. It was just a matter of connecting it together...Im an electrician so not a problem...but some fans have 3 wires...the yellow wire isnt required, so red and black are used...the power supply may not show the polarity of the 2 wires. but 12v isnt going to make much of a problem if you get them the wrong way round...it just wont work. So swap them around and hey presto I took my fans out of an Apple computer. All the wires were black. I ended up sat there for a while connecting and disconnecting wires to see which work. Bloody Steve Jobs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quadricorn Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Out of curiosity' date=' what's the wiring details for the fan?[/quote'] Hi Quadricon, its just a 12v computer fan. I cut off the header pins that would connect it to motherboard and I found an old 12v power supply that just plugs into a power board. It was just a matter of connecting it together...Im an electrician so not a problem...but some fans have 3 wires...the yellow wire isnt required, so red and black are used...the power supply may not show the polarity of the 2 wires. but 12v isnt going to make much of a problem if you get them the wrong way round...it just wont work. So swap them around and hey presto Thanks for that. I thought you had wired to the stc-1000. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zargonb Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 I put together my STC in a case I 3d printed. That's a bloody great looking case -- do you own a 3D printer or have access to one through work? sorry for late reply...I'm used to forums alerting me when there are replies. Yes I have an XYZ Printing Da Vinci 1.0 printer that I got through Kogan. Rather then charging circa $2k for a 3D printer kit you build yourself, XYZ uses the ink jet business model of being not so expensive up front but you have to buy their cartridges (i.e. spools of ABS filament). Having said that I bought 5 cartridges with it and I reckon I'll be right for a few years yet before having to get more. Very handy for making cases and custom adaptor plates for this and that. Most of my prints are modified versions of things people upload to Thingiverse.com Looking forward to seeing your pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckie0121 Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 I can see this taking waaaay too much of my time ...and that would be a problem why? I'm still trying to think of a rational argument...but I can't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpack Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 Im after some advice to get the most out of my brew fridge. I bought this fridge thinking i would put the fv on the floor and then had room for approx 70 standing long necks on the two shelves above. I was thinking this way i could bottle condition for about 4 weeks at a temp between 18 and 20 deggrees at the same time as brewing ales before moving the bottles to a shelf where temps range more. I now realise down the track i could squeeze two fvs in and condition bottles for two weeks at controlled temps. I'm thinking that as the cooling plate is up high behind the bottle shelves i risk cooling the bottles below 18 degrees while attempting to keep the fv at optimal temp. So how can i get the best out of this set up? Where should i put the stc1000 probe when it arrives and what set point should i set for ale brewing? If i tape the probe to the fv and set it to run at 20 degrees do you think the bottles will cool below 18? Or should i hang the probe in the middle of the fridge and set it at 19 degrees? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 I would put it on the fermenter underneath some foam. The fridge will operate a couple of degrees lower than the fermenting temp of the beer - but this will depend on the activity of the yeast as well. If you want to keep the fermenter temp as stable as possible, tape the probe to it under some foam. What I'm getting at basically is it doesn't matter where you put the probe, the fridge temp will need to be lower than the beer in the FV because the yeast produce heat as they ferment, so the bottles either way will probably drop a bit more towards the fridge temp than the temp you're fermenting the batch at. If you ferment at 20C then it probably shouldn't be an issue but if you want to ferment at 18, they may drop too low. All that said, they don't really need to be at fermenting temps in the bottles anyway, if they're above 18 they'll be fine even if there is a bit of fluctuation in temp during the first few weeks, but as long as they don't go way too high they will be ok. My set up is similar although I don't condition bottles in the brewing fridge - they get stored in there once carbonated though. The other advantage being, if you decide to crash chill a beer, you end up with a fridge full of cold beer at the same time. Cheers Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpack Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 Thanks for your tips kelsey. Very helpful. At this time of year i risk exposing my bottles to 30 degree temps. I hope if i tape the probe to the fv and set the controller at 20 this will be a good compromise for both the brew and conditioning bottles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zargonb Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 the location of the cooling element probably wont impact things too much. Cold air drops pretty much straight down if there is no fan to make it do anything else. Technically speaking the bottom of the fridge will be colder than the top. But in practice with the door closed most of the time the difference will be insignificant to the outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacker Pastures Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 Just saw Aldi will be stocking a 239ltr upright fridge (no freezer) next week for $299. Little expensive compared to a used eBay job, but not bad for a brand new unit... Thought some people might like to know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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