Beer Forum

So I'm planning on building a fermentation cabinet, wondering how much of a benefit adding foam inside of the walls. Cabinet is going to be about 2'x4'x4', between the inside and outside walls going to be about 2.5ins of dead space i can fill with foam board.

I would fill the space for sure. Leave as little air gap as possible. The thicker and more insulated the walls are the more stable the temperature inside the cabinet will be. You will get less fluctuation due to the outside temperature of the cabinet.

Grizz wrote:I would fill the space for sure. Leave as little air gap as possible. The thicker and more insulated the walls are the more stable the temperature inside the cabinet will be. You will get less fluctuation due to the outside temperature of the cabinet.

+1 Caulk and or tape the gaps and seams too.

Yep, definitely get some caulk and either expanding foam or the styro insulation.
Reminds me when we went to Menards to pick up the stuff for my kegerator collar. My friend Stuart asked the clerk if he knew where to find some caulk. Dear lord, the look on that guys face was PRICELESS!

Heh, so will take pictures of the (over)build when I get started (hopefully this weekend).

Curious what would you use to heat it. I was thinking Brewbelt till I realised I might be running multiple fermentors needing the same temp, and was wondering if something like a terrarium heater would work.

I used a ceramic reptile heat lamp in the chest freezer I converted to a fermentation cabinet.

I use a seedling heat mat in my fermentation chamber (chest freezer.) Although I hope not to ever need this bonus, they can handle getting wet. I wouldn't put it under the carboy, like it's used under seed-starting pots, though. Best to just put it off to the side. It will only heat 10-20 degrees above ambient, but that's plenty for my indoor use.