I am getting pretty frustrated at how long I have to leave beer in primary before it clears (I don't really have the space to rack to secondary, and I am a bit concerned about oxidation/contamination).
Latest brews have been on the cake for like 6 weeks now, and are only starting to clear.
Most brewers I know have temp controlled fermentation, but I dont think I have the space for it (I brew in the kitchen). Mostly though, I would skip temp controlled FV for now, just to have a crash cool solution.
I haven't had much luck with swamp chillers and the like (they seem to work best for carboys). The http://cool-brewing.com (http://cool-brewing.com) fermentation jacket looks good, but they dont have a european distro.
Looking for something that is not too invasive, that would achieve the same effect. Especially if it was actively chilled. Any ideas? Or links to DIY products?
It's winter. put it in the shed once primary fermentation is completed.
Was going to suggest a peltier design system. This guy talks about it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XApTATLNEcQ
Peltier would not be good enough enough. It's ok to keep stuff cold but impractical to get it cold. AFAIK
Peltier system is used in 12v car coolers/fridges.
And they are actually struggling to keep temperature 4*C lower than ambient temp.
Not the best choice :(
The examples of the small peltier's is what is on the clip but can you build up a bigger one to then build a fermentation chamber :-\
Heres a Peltier...
http://www.unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=27_37&products_id=456
20 quit is what decent second hand fridge is.
Dont have the space for another fridge, and I live on the 4th floor of an apartment, so garage crash cooling is not an option either.
is there a roof or a cold corridor ;)
I don't have space for a fridge either so I've come up with something that might be of use to you. I'm still working on the design, but it doesn't take up space and I've just brewed two lagers on it so it does work, but needs improvement.
I've never attached pictures before so I hope you can see them. The basic design is the the fermenter has a stainless steel cooling coil suspended from the lid together with a 9" SS thermocouple so the temperature being measured is directly from the centre of the batch (I suppose that part isn't strictly necessary, but I feel that it is).
(//)
The cooling is supplied to the coil from a 5L insulated plastic container with a fountain pump inside - the picture only shows the pump without either the insulated container or the tubing connecting to the coil but you should get the idea. Using an STC-1000 controller to switch on the pump when cooling is required and a brew belt for heating you've got total control over the fermentation temperature.
The big issue is keeping the temperature of the cooling water container down - even with ales during the really active stage just the water isn't enough, so I have two holes cut in the insulated lid to accomodate two frozen bottles of water. TBH for normal gravity ales you only need one bottle changed twice a day, but for lagers it's a different story, you're looking at changing out two bottles two or three times a day during the active period, so you can get over-temperatures when you're out at work or at night while asleep. I've been looking at using Peltiers to either replace or assist the frozen bottles on this, have made some progress but still need to do more work to get the heat removal I'm looking for, have a few ideas I need to play around with on this first.
Temperature control is really good while the yeast is active and moving - you can control temperatures very accurately. However, at the start and end of fermentation when there is no yeast activity and therefore no mixing in the fermenter the temp control is a lot less responsive. Have an idea on this as well, but I need to try it out on my next batch.
Like I said, still a work in progress, but it means I can still brew in the little cupboard I have available and have reasonable temperature control - the additional equipment doesn't really take up that much space.
You could pump cool water from a water butt.
Could do - I've got a water butt so I've done this a bit but very nervous of drilling holes through the external wall to make it permanent (have had mice issues in the past when we relocated boiler pipework so herself would NOT be keen). Might be an option for TheSumofallBeers though if you have a balcony - if you lag your fermenter and relocate it outside fitted with a brewbelt to keep it from getting too cold you could use a water butt to recirculate and cool. Would work until the summer anyway.
I was thinking about the Cooling bit and how it could be applied to Wort chilling and also to this. My Fridge has a water font and when cleaning it with all the drawers out I copped the coil of pipe in the back of the fridge section used to pre cool the water fed to the tap.
So, a coil of JG pipe in a Kegerator or placed in the Veg drawer would pre cool the water for Wort chilling (couldn't recirc) and recool the water for FV Cooling using the Doctors design of immersion coil Coil, It wouldn't be on all the time so the Fridge or Kegerator would not be over loaded??? Yeah! ??
How about you use a styrofoam box.
This should work in the winter...
Use a heat belt to cool, Use a servo to lift the lid a bit to let heat out.
No pumps/water required.
peltier's cooling coils servo lifting heat evacuation lids I do love how our ingenuity is allowed to run away with ourselves in the pursuit of brewing the perfect beer. :) This is how the human race managed to leave the caves. ;D
There's a theory that one of the main reasons man stopped enjoying a relatively cushty life as hunter-gatherers and moved to farming (which involved a lot more work) was basically because farming meant more access to wine, beer, mead, etc. I don't know why they even bother debating any other reasons, this one is obviously the right one!
I have seen commercial products in the US that used immersion cooling methods like the photos (but were peltier based - there was no coolant). And they would improve in function more if you insulated the fermenter in some way.
Well I guess I will keep faffing about with tricks to insulate these. A large camping cooler might work for crash cooling, and I might be able to make space for that. But I am pretty stuck for space to do anything wrt crash cooling.
Hi,
I use Irish Moss in the boil and i never had problem with beer clearing out too slow. I keep it in the fermenter for 2-3 weeks, and i BIAB, so is pretty cloudy initially, but the beer turns out clear.
I also don't have space for racking to secondary.