Fermenter Temperature Control Jacket

[dizzypanic]

Hello All,

First off, I'm new to this homebrew lark and I live on an narrowboat. So no mains or space for a fancy fermentation fridge and ambient temperatures that drop to near freezing at this time of year. I looked around for a solution for a bit and was finally inspired by this:
http://fermentap.com/view_product/16674

So I got a cheap car heated seat cover and extracted the element. Note the thermal cut-out (small silver thing) that is built in so you don't cook yourself...that is important as it limits the element temperature to below 65C;

The heating element


At this point I decided to add a cooling loop (PVC tube cable tied to the element backing) so I can pump cool water through it in the summer.

Cooling loop added


Insulation, bubble wrap and gaffer tape used to make up a jacket that fits around a standard fermenter.





OK, now I needed a controller. Cheapest and easiest would have been to buy a 12V STC1000.... So I decided to make my own based on an Arduino controller complete with temperature logging to SD card.

(For those interested the code is basically that given in the book '30 arduino projects for the evil genius' with some extra routines added for the cooling relay, ds18b20 temperature sensors and SD card support)

Controller breadboard prototype


Controller transferred to veroboard and studffed in a box...


Make up a few cables and try it out:

All done and fermenting a Milestone 'Lions Pride' kit I got for Christmas. The whole thing runs happily off 12V and draws 2.5A when the heater is active, so about the same power as an aquarium heater. It is currently coping with temperatures of less than 10C.


If anyone wants any more info just ask or PM.

Cheers,

Andy

 

[robsan77]

:thumb: great work!

 

[graysalchemy]

Well Done. :clap: :clap:

How are you planning on cooling the water? It may also be more efficient to pump your chilled water through a copper coil inside the FV that is the common way of doing it probably more efficient. :thumb: :thumb:

 

[bobsbeer]

Looks like a great idea. Well done. :thumb:

 

[mattyhall22]

That is brilliant! :thumb:

I love reading build threads, and how people tackle problems differently :

 

[Runwell-Steve]

That looks a brilliant solution. I suppose for cold water you could just pump some out of the canal, around the jacket and back into the canal.

 

[dizzypanic]

Thanks for the kind words all!

Steve, yes that is the idea (come summer). I'll use a small pump to circulate canal water through the jacket. As Graysalchemy says, an immersed chiller coil will be more efficient....maybe Ill try a length of stainless pipe coiled up and immersed in the wort if the jacket can't transfer the heat quickly enough!

Andy

 

[graysalchemy]

I use 10m of 10mm copper attached to a beer chiller, that's in a 60l fv though.

 

[rpt]

I was wondering how to do this as I don't live on a canal. If I was to move to a larger FV from my current 25L I imagine I could use my existing brewing fridge to keep the 25L either warm or cool and pump the water round a coil in the large FV.

 

[brewtim]

Good job.

There is a product called Fabroc that is a flexible heating element that is sewn into clothing to make heated clothing such as motorbike jackets, heated gloves etc it's an innovation away from traditional wire heated clothing and runs off a 12v supply, this would be ideal for use around a heated FV.

 

[Fil]

I do like this,

I would also go for copper cooling tube, perhaps coiled around the FV.

I kinda hope u will use a deep draw from the cooler canal water as the cooling source come summer

might even be worth implementing now as you can then crash cool to aid clarity too :)

11 out of 10 tho :)

 

[Vossy1]

Great solution Andy :thumb: