Heated Fermentation cupboard

[Springer]

Part of my brewery build had to be a heated cupboard for the actual fermentation and secondary fermentation of bottled beer. Mrs. S. puts up with one fermenter on the kitchen worktop and sometimes two but three would certainly be a fermenter to far. :x :nono: ( Never mind the thought of contending with a few dozen beer bottles............never had the balls to try that :lol: )
These last few months even the kitchen has not been warm enough during the night.
So the plan was to build an insulated cupboard, to take three five gallon buckets and strong enough to take my HLT on top. Unfortunately investigations showed that the brewery ceiling was to low, so I went for a two bucket size.
I am also considering a conical fermenter at some stage so I made the cupboard wide enough to take one of those. Plan was to use a 24 inch tube heater controlled by a room stat or maybe one of those digital thingamajigs . Got loads of 4 x2 feet x 5mm plastic faced ply as offcuts, 50p each, so knocked up a frame and panelled it both sides with the ply filled between with rockwool.

Side panel under construction

Mock up with buckets, wished it would hold three, never mind, have to get a conical sorted,

Very solid structure...........door shuts like one of those fancy German Cars :lol:

Beware,...........realised too late that 24 inch tube heaters are 26 inches long overall and would not fit across the diagonal So a 12 inch one is on order never mind half the power which I think will be enough with all the insulation, maybe will need some breather hole :?

Needs a spot of white paint around edges, heater fitting when it arrives and on to the field trials. Will report back later.
S

 

[Muddydisco]

OMG :shock: Don't you ever sit still! Cracking work, Bet you need a drink after the work your putting into this brewery! :drink:

 

[prolix]

Springer I love it. :

With the weather as it is my heat belt and ski jacket is no cutting it

 

[Bru4u]

Do you ever sleep or have you some secret elves tinkering away all night :shock:

 

[Springer]

Thanks for comments, always welcome, as is constructive criticism, we all learn by discussion.

Bet you need a drink after the work your putting into this brewery! :drink:

Certainly do, but cutting back a bit now Christmas is over :lol:

With the weather as it is my heat belt and ski jacket is no cutting it

Yeah, as mentioned that's where I was with it, big problems with getting the bottled stuff going, Think this project will be well worthwhile and give consistent results, which is where I am aiming

Do you ever sleep or have you some secret elves tinkering away all night :shock:

Some of the work has been going on for some time now, its just coming together at the moment, so I thought I had better post it up . Did Look into using elves, but there were Health and Safety issues :lol:

Problem is getting out into the workshop at the moment, especially for short periods when its not worth lighting the stove. Have just borrowed one of those infra red heaters, not cheap to run but ok for short periods and won't be noticed when those four immersions go on the bill. :grin:

One good trick I have started doing again when in the workshop is to slip on one of those warehouse coats, might not look the part, but very warm would you believe, easier to put on than a boiler suit and nicer to wear, ( bit like wearing a dress, how do I know that ? :lol: ) .....where was I ? and stops me getting a boll....ing from Mrs S when I wreck cloths .

S

 

[Vossy1]

Very tidy S, that's the fermentation sorted :clap:
Have you thought about blow off tubes for the fv's ? Well worth thinking about instead of using standard air locks. Very handy for containing over active yeast, especially with electrics in the chamber.

 

[Navin]

This is a timely topic, Im just about to construct something similar as my garage is way too cold to ferment anything at the moment.

I was thinking of constructing the box with solid insulation sheet like that used for insulating between rafters, there's a fairly dense orange-coloured type in the local DIY superstore in sheets 1200x500x52.5mm a pack of four could make a box/cupboard big enough for one FV (I'm only going to be brewing 5 gallon batches at the moment).

I'm also going to use a tube heater and spotted that the dimensions were a bit longer than the nominal size but I think it will go in diagonally.

 

[Springer]

Have you thought about blow off tubes for the fv's ? Well worth thinking about instead of using standard air locks

V Are we talking about a plastic pipe from the air lock to a container outside the cupboard here ?

I was thinking of constructing the box with solid insulation sheet like that used for insulating between rafters, there's a fairly dense orange-coloured type in the local DIY superstore in sheets 1200x500x52.5mm a pack of four could make a box/cupboard big enough for one FV (I'm only going to be brewing 5 gallon batches at the moment).

Don't know the stuff you mean, I wanted something strong enough to take the weight of my HLT with 15 gallons on water in it. Hope your design allows for the weight of a 5 gallon brew being shuffled about and hanging a door ? I wouldn't skim the sizes to much as you can also use the cupboard for secondary fermentation of bottled stuff.

I'm also going to use a tube heater and spotted that the dimensions were a bit longer than the nominal size but I think it will go in diagonally.

Real pain for me when I measured the heater, I had already made up the frames. I have a 60 watt 1 foot one on order now, but don't know where its got to mind, think a pigeon is bringing it :lol: I am pretty sure that will do the job in my cupboard and that it will need some sort of thermostatic control, as mentioned.
S

 

[Vossy1]

V Are we talking about a plastic pipe from the air lock to a container outside the cupboard here ?

Yes and no. I keep the container in the fv cupboard, but no good reason why it couldn't be outside :thumb:

I was thinking of constructing the box with solid insulation sheet like that used for insulating between rafters, there's a fairly dense orange-coloured type in the local DIY superstore in sheets 1200x500x52.5mm a pack of four could make a box/cupboard big enough for one FV (I'm only going to be brewing 5 gallon batches at the moment).

You can use anything really, I used Kingspan which is similar, see here

 

[Navin]

thanks for the replies,

better get down to the shops and buy some (more) stuff

 

[Sean_Mc]

Excellent work Springer and Vossy. SWMBO has said my wine and beer are stinking up the spare room so need to start something similar.

Cheers Sean