Ferminator

[Chris_S]

Has anybody got any first hand experience in using that new product from Get Er Brewed, the Ferminator?

 

[umfana]

It looks like a nice idea. Especially for being able to dismantle and store (eg in a loft).

But for me it looks like a peltier cooler. They are notorious for being very inneficient for cooling. Almost down to 5%. Even if they managed to get this one to work and much better efficiencies I would doubt if it would get more than 10W of cooling power from the 75W of input power. Most optimistic back of envelope logic says that IF it has a cooling power of 10W, and IF the insulation is100% efficient (it's not), and IF there is no ongoing exothermic reaction from fermenting beer, then it would take more than 40 hours to cool 23 litres of beer from 20 degrees C to 5 degrees C at full chuff.

Unless it is a very small well packaged compressor and not a peltier device. But I can't see in the pictures any evidence of this.

 

[MikeBusby]

It looks like a nice idea. Especially for being able to dismantle and store (eg in a loft).

But for me it looks like a peltier cooler. They are notorious for being very inneficient for cooling. Almost down to 5%. Even if they managed to get this one to work and much better efficiencies I would doubt if it would get more than 10W of cooling power from the 75W of input power. Most optimistic back of envelope logic says that IF it has a cooling power of 10W, and IF the insulation is100% efficient (it's not), and IF there is no ongoing exothermic reaction from fermenting beer, then it would take more than 40 hours to cool 23 litres of beer from 20 degrees C to 5 degrees C at full chuff.

Unless it is a very small well packaged compressor and not a peltier device. But I can't see in the pictures any evidence of this.

I don’t have the unit yet, but it is in its way. I think you are pretty accurate in terms of the cooling. I think they quote about 48 hours to get from 20C down to about 4C. However, don’t most lagers ferment at about 12C?

 

[colm89]

I’ve just ordered one of these myself, should hopefully be here tomorrow or Wednesday latest.

Interested to hear if anyone else has gotten one since this thread was started and how you’re getting on.

Is there any reason you couldn’t add some ice packs or bottles of frozen water into the box to speed up cooling when cold crashing?

 

[MikeBusby]

I used it for the first time for a batch of hefeweizen last week. I have just bottled it today and everything went very well. That said, the fermentation temp was 22C, so not a major test for the unit. Seems to have worked really well though. Biggest challenge is finding storage space for it in the shed.

 

[MackemBrew]

Does anyone have experience of using the Ferminator from Brewolution?

Im going to be building a fermenting chamber shortly and was planning on just doing it with a larder fridge, inkbird and heater. However I use the 55l fermzilla unitank and the size means I'm struggling to find a fridge to use so looks like I'll be buying new. Price wise the Ferminator is about £100 cheaper than the fridges I've found which is a bonus however they advise that you may need an additional heating unit if you expand the ferminator, which if i do, would mean it would be about the same price as the fridges...


I have just thought about wrapping the fermzilla in an insualted jacket and attaching a seedling/reptile mat to the outside linked up to my inkbird which would be a significantly cheaper way of doing it! Just not sure if it would have enough oomph to change the temp

 

[LeeH]

Tefcold 1380 fits the 55L. Bit difficult at the moment but I sourced 3 over time from eBay.
Any commercial fridge will be ok.

 

[MackemBrew]

Tefcold 1380 fits the 55L. Bit difficult at the moment but I sourced 3 over time from eBay.
Any commercial fridge will be ok.

Cool, I've just had a look and can see a few on ebay but they're all £5/600, which is a bit more than I'd like to be paying!! I have seen one at argos which I THINK will do, they don't give internal dims, which is £300 new

 

[LeeH]

Yep commercial units are expensive. All mind were 2nd hand ones ranging from 100-250.

 

[MackemBrew]

Following this thread - I've just asked a similar question.

What size fermenters are you using? I have a 55l fermzilla so would need to buy the extra parts to increase the size. I brew in the garage so this would be used more for warming up the fermenter rather than cooling.

I was thinking I may need to purchase an extra cooling unit which takes away the price saving vs a larder fridge.

 

[LeeH]

My garage gets quite warm in the summer. Just a thought.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I have merged the two Ferminator threads, if you missed the September one please start at post #1.

 

[Roddy J]

Anymore thoughts on this Ferminator?

My 25l FV with the airlock looks to be too tall for the basic so will need one extension. The added bonus is this will also fit my 3 corny kegs for cooling but I'd probably then also need the SS base plate to protect the bottom of the unit so bumps the cost up.

Or my brother says he has a spare larder fridge going....hmmmm.

 

[MikeBusby]

I find the unit to be really good. I have done several brews now with it and the temperature control is excellent. Some people have questioned how long it takes to go from 20C to 3C for a cold crash, but it is less than 36 hours for me.

 

[Roddy J]

Thanks @MikeBusby. My cold crash currently is more of a cold skid as I just take it off the heat pad and let my cold Edinburgh garage do the rest. 36hrs is OK for me.

Mrs J wanted a suggestion for my 50th so this is going top of the list I think