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FBC Fermentation Cabinets
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jonymac




Joined: 18 Dec 2014
Posts: 145



PostLink    Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2017 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


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That's freakin awesome! Need some video of that baby in action!

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dp Brewing Company




Joined: 08 Jul 2013
Posts: 664
Location: Midwest

Drinking: Chocolate Taco, Raspberry Mango Cider, American X, Sandy Dunes

Working on: Nothing


PostLink    Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 5:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Any updates on results on these glycol chambers? I'm interested to see if you would do anything different. Like larger transmission cooler. Also, were you ever able to get down to lager temps?
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McGruber




Joined: 12 Aug 2014
Posts: 237
Location: Idaho


PostLink    Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 11:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dp Brewing Company wrote:
Any updates on results on these glycol chambers? I'm interested to see if you would do anything different. Like larger transmission cooler. Also, were you ever able to get down to lager temps?

Sorry for the delay getting back. The cooling cabinets work great! I'd say my only complaint is dealing with condensation dripping off the glycol piping inside the cabinet. I don't think larger transmission cooler fins would give any benefit. Putting foam/ rubber pipe insulators on the PEX/ fittings inside the cabinet would help with condensation - I have yet to do it though. The fins themselves don't drip much due to all the air movement through them.

Regarding the condensation dripping - it's not a lot of water, and for some reason doesn't really condense inside the two fermentation chambers as much as it does in the wine and beer cellars. I've used those de-humidifyers from Amazon that you recharge by plugging into an outlet. They work well in the Ferm chambers, but every time you open the door to test gravity you do let a little more humidity in. There's no pooling of water on the floor of the cabinet though. Just some drops. I live in a relatively dry environment though, so your results may vary.

I'm worried about putting dehumidifiers in the "wine cellar" because I don't want to dry the corks, so in there my issue has been that condensation drips off the copper SharkBite connectors and has dyed the two or three wine labels directly underneath it that blueish green that copper tends to leave.

For some reason I get a lot more condensation in the "beer cellar" cabinet. The seal on the door seems as effective as the others, but there's constant humidity in there and some of the beers that have a cardboard box (Like Firestone Walker) have developed a small amount of mold on them and they feel slightly damp. Not sure if this is moisture that is getting around the caps of the beers? I'm pretty sure it's airtight and I don't open the door much, so I'm not sure why this one stays more damp.

As far as lagering goes, they have been performing great. I've chilled three different lagers (Mexican, Helles, and 'Merican Light) and they've all turned out great. Friends are asking for more! I'm actually adding a PolyClar/ Gelatin mix to my kegs of Light Lager as we speak (that's an experiment too).

For the light lager I was going to be out of town for a while, so I set the fermentation program as such:

C01 = 11
T01 = 9999
C02 = 11
T02 = 9999 (Step T1 and T2 is a 13.8 day hold at 11' C)
C03 = 11
T03 = 0
C04 = 16
T04 = 4320 (72 hour diacetyl rest with a natural rise from 11' C to 16' C)
C05 = 15
T05 = 7200 (Ramps cooling of 2.8' C per day over 5 days)
C06 = 1
T06 = 9999 (Chills to as low as cabinet can go (usually 9 to 10 'C) and holds until I get back)
C07 = 1
T07 = -1 (Returns program to Step #1)

I asked my wife to check on it occasionally and it chilled as I wanted it to. The coldest I've gotten the chambers to stabilize at is 9'C. If I adapted my conicals with a coil inside the beer (or had the SS Fermenters) or turned down the temp on my Glycol unit I'm sure I could get it colder, but I haven't needed to. Cooling would probably happen faster with an internal coil as well, but it I'm quite happy with its fast chilling response.

I transfer to kegs for prolonged lagering in my chest freezer - it has a Ranco control and I take it down a degree every two days from 11' C to 1' C and hold for two or three weeks. This process has been working well.
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GlennMcD




Joined: 07 Oct 2013
Posts: 51
Location: Louisiana


PostLink    Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 3:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How well does the transmission cooler with glycol do with cooling the chamber? What temps can you get the chamber itself down to? Looking at a non working 3 door merchandiser freezer to do this to if repairing is not feasible. As of now I have no glycol fermenters, but I am looking to upgrade in near future.
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McGruber




Joined: 12 Aug 2014
Posts: 237
Location: Idaho


PostLink    Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

GlennMcD wrote:
How well does the transmission cooler with glycol do with cooling the chamber? What temps can you get the chamber itself down to? Looking at a non working 3 door merchandiser freezer to do this to if repairing is not feasible. As of now I have no glycol fermenters, but I am looking to upgrade in near future.

On page 3 I wrote this to djosimd - "In the first page of this thread there are a few links. Here is one experiment I ran, and you'll want to look at the bottom graph on that thread (not the top one) here http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30538

In that trial I was able to chill 12 gallons of 86' F water to 46' F (40' change) in a 70' F room in about 48 hours. It keeps ales at 65'F no problem. I'd like to try doing some lagers, but will have to get back on how well it works - although hitting 46'F isn't too shabby. If I find there's trouble cooling lagers, I have a modification I'm considering that would pass glycol into a stainless tubing loop I'd put inside the fermenter to allow for more effective cooling. I had this thought during the build which, again, is why I used the more expensive food-safe glycol."

I recommend you check out the link for the data I collected. In short, the glycol/ transmission fan works great. See the notes above about some condensation issues I've had. Otherwise I have no complaints. I've been holding a 23 gallon batch of Dunkelweizen at 16'C (60'F) for the last week. The temperature hasn't budged more than 0.1'C any time I have checked it. As I mentioned I've been able to do several lagers as well, with temperature ramping up and down for diacetyl rest and controlled crash.

A three door freezer would be nice to have. You'll have to be aware that everything you have in there will be the same temperature obviously, unless you build in partitions (if it's the kind I'm imagining). I like that I have four separate zones so I can have different beers in different stages at the same time, but I think yours would work fine for just creating a big fridge.



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