Cooling options

[auralabuse]

I'm looking at fermentation temp control and have decided to hook an stc up to a brew belt and a stainless steel coil for the cooling side. This will be hooked up to an immersed pump inside a chest freezer which runs at 2c. The pump Will of course be submerged in a tub of water. Does anyone use this diy option?. I'm wondering if there are any problems with the chiller being immersed in the fermenting beer with regards to contamination from the outside.

[armedcor]

That's basically how the ss brewtech temp controller works. With a ss coil in the fermenter.

[pob]

Could you not just put the fermenter into the chest freezer (with the heat belt) & let the STC run both. A lot easier to setup.

[auralabuse]

Could you not just put the fermenter into the chest freezer (with the heat belt) & let the STC run both. A lot easier to setup.

Interesting, the chest freezer is at 2 degrees, do you think a brew belt in that environment would be capable of heating the wort to 20c

[pob]

Yes. Well, it's not actually heating it to 20°C. The freezer just isn't cooling until it needs to cool.

Set your STC to ferment temp, eg 18°C.

STC switches heat on when it drops, switches cooling on when it gets too hot. Neither is on at the same time, temperature remains stable inside fridge/freezer; acts like a very big picnic cooler box.

See the BrewWiki on it, from about 1/2 way down.

[Dr Horrible]

I use a setup ad you've described above - no issues with contamination.  I drilled two holes for the coil inlet and outlet in the lid of the fermenter, fitted two airlock gaskets to them and pushed the tube through - gives a great seal.

[auralabuse]

Nice, thanks Dr horrible, think that's the option for me as I have everything there. Temp control is the last piece of the puzzle