Beer Forum

Hey all, been out of the brewing for awhile and thanks the TBN and the great guys (and gal) I decided to get back in. Of course, we all want to bring it big - I had problems with fermentation temperatures. Being in North Texas, our house stays at 75F, no basements here! I looked at getting a fridge, but space is limited and I would rather setup a kegerator with that. So, we built a walk in cooler. I had an old paint booth frame from a previous application I had, it had 8' walls that were 8' tall. I have a shop (in Texas we call them barns) that is 32x40 and is two stories. The bottom level is split into two 20x32 sections and one of those was a collection area for crap - a perfect area to setup a brewing area. We moved the frae into that area, squared it up and laid plywood on the outside of the walls. The frame was 2x4 on 24" centers, the only insulation I could find in a pinch was R-30 batting - which is 9 1/2" thick. Let me tell you, that sucks. We also bought foam paneling to mount over the batting and to the frame with a reflective surface - it doesn;t work with that thick a batting and that thin of a frame. Our next step is to get some 1/4" paneling to hold the batting in place then the foam will be mounted to the paneling (that will happen in the next couple of weeks).

The cooling system is a window air conditioner (un-modified at the moment) that holds the temp extremely well down to 64F currently. My next step is to source a temp control (probably from Johnson Controls) and bypass the AC's temp sensor so we can dial in any temp we need for fermentation. Anyone with experience on this that cares to lend a hand is greatly appreciated.

I'll take photo's this week and upload them for all that care to see it, and any questions or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks to everyone that helps us newbies brew beer better, I hope not to ask too many obvious (interpreted as stupid) questions and your patience and help are really appreciated.

Best regards,
Brian Emert
TBN Fantasy Football Team - Spicey Drunks

From the MoreBeer forum:
John Beere

With Jamil's help, I just finished my walk-in cooler and documented the process here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=11440
You can more quickly review the construction photos, but without any explanations, here: http://johnbeere.com/cooler

You are pretty much going to have to add a temperature controller to regulate the temperature. I used this diagram to re-wire my AC: http://franklinbrew.org/members/sj/walkin.html

Push Eject

Push Eject wrote:From the MoreBeer forum:
John Beere

With Jamil's help, I just finished my walk-in cooler and documented the process here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=11440
You can more quickly review the construction photos, but without any explanations, here: http://johnbeere.com/cooler

You are pretty much going to have to add a temperature controller to regulate the temperature. I used this diagram to re-wire my AC: http://franklinbrew.org/members/sj/walkin.html

Push Eject

Thanks Push - I have sen that one, I'll investigate further and see if it helps with the AC.

BTW - Love 5 O'Clock!

H2 wrote:BTW - Love 5 O'Clock!

Thanks, H2!
(btw, I drive a Hybrid that gets more than 50mpg. Doc makes fun of it. H2 bastards )

Push Eject

Check out Jamil's....

http://www.mrmalty.com/

Travis

Hey Push,

I have a dinky little car too, but I hardly ever use it. Mostly I ride a motor scooter that uses so little petrol that I never even bothered to work out the mileage. People in giant SUVs laugh at me too, but not as hard as I laugh when I see how much it costs them to fill their tanks at the gas station. 1 $8.00 fill lasts me for 2 weeks...... now thats funny

Thirsty Boy wrote:Hey Push,

I have a dinky little car too, but I hardly ever use it. Mostly I ride a motor scooter that uses so little petrol that I never even bothered to work out the mileage. People in giant SUVs laugh at me too, but not as hard as I laugh when I see how much it costs them to fill their tanks at the gas station. 1 $8.00 fill lasts me for 2 weeks...... now thats funny

Well, to be quite honest, some of us business owners need the tax write off. It drives my CFO nuts sometimes when she sees the gas bills (equate CFO to my wife), but as they say - it is what it is. I get about 12.5 to 13mpg, not much worse than the truck I used to drive a couple of years ago. I am pressing now for the company plane (got my instrument rating 5 years ago and haven't got to use it since then - I started a business) and a more automated brewing system. I feel like I am copying Doc now, sorry! If the plane comes, I can load 10 people in and a couple of kegs and we can have quite the road trip (I'll have to hire a pilot for that one, I would want to have a beer and that is a huge no-no when flying, unless you fly for Northwest .

H2

I would want to have a beer and that is a huge no-no when flying, unless you fly for Northwest

Or FedEx.... Right Guch!