Hazelwood Brewday
- Thread starter Hazelwood Brewery
- Start date
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To improve the temperature control for my brew-shed I’ve added extra insulation in the roof space. The shed has a sloping roof made from 20mm OSB covered in roofing felt and topped with shingles.
On a hot day like today and with the sun beating down on those shingles, they are too hot to keep your hand on. The underside of the roof is warmed by that heat. Inside the brew-shed, even 3” of Kingspan might not be enough so I’ve added as much more as I can. At the apex I now have 9” sloping down to 3” where the roof drops down to the internal ceiling.
Now I need to collect some more data to see if it’s made any appreciable difference.
On a hot day like today and with the sun beating down on those shingles, they are too hot to keep your hand on. The underside of the roof is warmed by that heat. Inside the brew-shed, even 3” of Kingspan might not be enough so I’ve added as much more as I can. At the apex I now have 9” sloping down to 3” where the roof drops down to the internal ceiling.
Now I need to collect some more data to see if it’s made any appreciable difference.
As the hot weather has truly arrived the glycol chiller is running pretty much constantly. Because it’s enclosed in a box, the exhaust fan I fitted to draw air through the box is also running most of the time. It isn’t loud (it’s a bathroom extractor fan) but it is certainly noticeable around the garden so I’ve built a sound dampening box to quieten it.
Before and after…
It’s made from a polystyrene box (used to deliver some Cornish pasties), lined inside and out with Mass Loaded Vinyl. The box is only placed against the shed (then I can take it away when grand-children are round, they run/scoot around the shed) so I’m quite impressed with how effective it is. You can still just about hear the fan but it really is just a whisper.
Before and after…
It’s made from a polystyrene box (used to deliver some Cornish pasties), lined inside and out with Mass Loaded Vinyl. The box is only placed against the shed (then I can take it away when grand-children are round, they run/scoot around the shed) so I’m quite impressed with how effective it is. You can still just about hear the fan but it really is just a whisper.
Once again I salute your skill and ingenuity - and your garden also puts mine to shame.... 
For cooling the brew-shed, I'm reminded of a couple of years ago when we were in Portugal (man, that was hot). In the town square they had an big awning rigged up, with a very very fine 'mist' spray going - must have dropped the temperature about 5ºc ; very effective
Probably not the effect you're looking for, but cheap enough and maybe something to build on...
![BREWING THERMOMETER STICKERS ACCURATELY MONITOR FERMENTING BEER & WINE LIQUID TEMPERATURES 5PCS HOME BREW SPIRITS WINE LCD ADHESIVE [US]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/311DDjo2X3L._SL500_.jpg)
Yes, I’ve seen that myself and it works a treat. The air under trees and other tall green leaved plants I’d also cooler where the chlorophyll takes the heat out.
Looks like a competitor to SpaceX!
H's next build....a great big mountain of "stuff"...like that chap in Close Encounters...
My (spent) grain mountain should do it!!
Well it’s been a couple of days since I added more insulation in the roof space and added extra data loggers. Here is the latest result…
I’m not sure how much you can see of the detail but the overall impression is far less erratic. The period covered is just over 2 days starting 3am Tue. The large rounded saw-tooth trace is the external temperature, the fairly constant line is my fermentation cabinet, the third trace in orange is the brew-shed. The cold-bank is still lasting only half the day but the temperature of the shed remains within my set range throughout (at least up to an external temperature of 27 degrees).
This morning (not yet shown) I’ve halved the differential temperature of the brew-shed from 2 degrees to 1 degree, and of the fermentation cabinet from 1 degree to 0.5 degree to see the impact. I have an idea how this might improve things but will leave that until the results are in.
It’s rewarding for me (and hopefully interesting to you!) to see that by logging the data and making changes in response I’ve been able to improve the performance of the system. Through continued monitoring and adjustments I’m now hoping to further “tune” the system to get the best from it.
I’m not sure how much you can see of the detail but the overall impression is far less erratic. The period covered is just over 2 days starting 3am Tue. The large rounded saw-tooth trace is the external temperature, the fairly constant line is my fermentation cabinet, the third trace in orange is the brew-shed. The cold-bank is still lasting only half the day but the temperature of the shed remains within my set range throughout (at least up to an external temperature of 27 degrees).
This morning (not yet shown) I’ve halved the differential temperature of the brew-shed from 2 degrees to 1 degree, and of the fermentation cabinet from 1 degree to 0.5 degree to see the impact. I have an idea how this might improve things but will leave that until the results are in.
It’s rewarding for me (and hopefully interesting to you!) to see that by logging the data and making changes in response I’ve been able to improve the performance of the system. Through continued monitoring and adjustments I’m now hoping to further “tune” the system to get the best from it.
Nice work 
Quick question by the way - how do you seal the door into the brew-shed? I've found it a problem area in my chiller cabinet build, even though I've put two layers of draft-proofing strip and clips all round to eliminate gaps...
With difficulty is the honest answer. If you can fit some kind of stepped mating surface between the door and frame you can apply draft-proofing at each step or trough.
I have a door that presses against the door jam and that has draft-proofing tape all round. At the bottom there is a step up into the brew shed and the bottom of the door presses against that step, again sealed with draft proofing tape. Then I have a sheet of insulation fixed to the door that closes inside the door jam and is a tight fit - I have to shove the door to close it.
Even with all this I can still hear the cooling fan quite clearly around the edge of the door which tells me I haven’t yet achieved the level of seal I’m looking for.
Latest decoration for the bar. I haven’t quite figured out where to put it yet so this will do for now 
Is that one of those witchcraft things?Latest decoration for the bar. I haven’t quite figured out where to put it yet so this will do for now
View attachment 48814
It is, hopefully to make my beer better. If it doesn’t I may have to up my game and try some kind of sacrifice!
It's all the rage: dry graining.
