Temperature controlled fermenter fridge.
Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:50 am
Hi folks,
Nothing new here but I thought I’d show you my old fridge that I use to control fermentation temperature. I’ve had the unit for years for warming honey in buckets when it crystallises. I found it to be ideal for keeping a 30l fermenter at a constant temperature over the winter months. Wish it was a bit larger so that I could hold two fermenters at the one time. The setup is quite simple. An STC1000 controls two 40w spot lights and turns them on and off at a predetermined temp.
Built a simple wooden box to house the unit and fitted a double power point to the back of the box. This power point is turned on and off by the controller.
Inside the fridge 2x 40w spotlight globes supply the heat. A 12v computer fan (powered by a plug pack) circulates the air and provides a more even heat.
As you can see, I’m actually warming a couple of buckets of honey at the moment. When I use it for fermenting, I simply remove the shelf and the fermenter slides in nicely.
It’s getting harder to find suitable bulbs these days with everything heading towards LEDs but the big green shed keeps these.
I prefer to use two small bulbs to spread the heat a little rather than having it concentrate in one spot. If you have a qualified sparky as a mate, he could wire all this unit up really quickly. Playing with 240v is not a good idea and it would be safer to leave it to the experts. Hopefully this may give a few members some ideas. This is an inexpensive build as much of the stuff I used was second hand. The STC1000 can be picked up on flea bay for under $20.
Nothing new here but I thought I’d show you my old fridge that I use to control fermentation temperature. I’ve had the unit for years for warming honey in buckets when it crystallises. I found it to be ideal for keeping a 30l fermenter at a constant temperature over the winter months. Wish it was a bit larger so that I could hold two fermenters at the one time. The setup is quite simple. An STC1000 controls two 40w spot lights and turns them on and off at a predetermined temp.
Built a simple wooden box to house the unit and fitted a double power point to the back of the box. This power point is turned on and off by the controller.
Inside the fridge 2x 40w spotlight globes supply the heat. A 12v computer fan (powered by a plug pack) circulates the air and provides a more even heat.
As you can see, I’m actually warming a couple of buckets of honey at the moment. When I use it for fermenting, I simply remove the shelf and the fermenter slides in nicely.
It’s getting harder to find suitable bulbs these days with everything heading towards LEDs but the big green shed keeps these.
I prefer to use two small bulbs to spread the heat a little rather than having it concentrate in one spot. If you have a qualified sparky as a mate, he could wire all this unit up really quickly. Playing with 240v is not a good idea and it would be safer to leave it to the experts. Hopefully this may give a few members some ideas. This is an inexpensive build as much of the stuff I used was second hand. The STC1000 can be picked up on flea bay for under $20.