108 replies to this topic

[brewman]

ITS ALIVE, kinda.Put on the other side today and insulation today, Its now totally insulated and boxed in but the doors.Cut out the support floor. Its that stuff you find on the back of entertainment centers, that brown press stuff. I covered it with 2 layers of poly to seal it.Started the wiring, I will post a schematic later when its all done. In this first pic you can see the wires coming from the compressor going to the terminal board (TB), Plus the main power cable coming in to the TBIn these next few pics you can see the wiring for the fans. The temp probe will also go in the hole on the top and just down about an inch.I gutted an old DC power supply I had laying around for an old phone or something. Im going to use this to power the fans but it will be wired into the TB so I dont have to have two power plugs going to the unit. I put it inside a project box I had and will attach it to the side of the unit. You can see the two screws sticking out of the wood above the TB in one of the pics.In this last pic I have the power run from the TB to where the DC power supply will mount.I have not run the lines from the temp controller yet so I powered up the compresses directly and powered up the DC power supply to check that all is working. The compressor came on and was nice and quiet. Using my infrared thermometer I check the cold place after about 3 minutes of running and it was 24 degrees. (SWEET)I tried to get the fans to work but the DC power supply is not working. Looking at it I think I broke a solder run when I was taking it apart, no problem, Ill just fix it tomorrow at work.Im also going to run two digital thermometer probes into the chamber to attach to the fermentation buckets to be able to check there temps.Tomorrow Ill start the doors and finish the wiring I hope.Dan

Edited by brewman, 11 March 2012 - 07:07 PM.

[gnef]

looks great so far, thanks for all the pics!

[brewman]

Working mostly on wiring last night. Wired up the temp controller, routed and secured the wires, turned it all on and did a temp test.At first when I turned on the controller the compressor wouldn't turn on. I thought something was wrong and I was looking over all my wiring to see if I had something wrong when all of the sudden it kicked on. I forgot all about the compressor delay. As you can see from the last pic I filled the door holes with insulation to see how it would cool. There were so many gaps in the front that cold air was coming out everywhere. I also need to get the fans wired in cuz after about an hour of running the bottom of the chamber was at 52 while the top wall still 69. The cold plate frosted all up due to the leaks and the high humidity yesterday. Drip plate is next to put in after the doors and fans.Dan

[Mynameisluka]

that's a pretty bad ass chamber you have put together.

[brewman]

Once the top, doors are on, its stained and the trip is put on its going to look bad ass.Dan

[brewman]

I dont know why I keep putting off making the doors but Im running out of other things to do. Last night I removed the single power supply and installed a plug and just used two transformers for the fans, I also installed the fans. Did another temp test with insulation over the doors and with the fans on it cooled down much faster. It dropped from 80 to 57 in about 30 minutes.Here are some pics of the fans I installed. The fan with the lights is installed between the two doors up top. You can get a good idea of the placement from the pics I took from inside the chamber. I had to get small to fit in there. The second fan draws in air from one of the large flat sides and shoots it out the small side. I have it hanging behind the cold plate. In the pic that shows the wires coming in from the top you can see the temp sensor from the controller.Dan

[BlKtRe]

Is that what I think that is dangling down?

[brewman]

If you red the text you would see that its the temp sensor.Dan

[BlKtRe]

If you red the text you would see that its the temp sensor.Dan

You would be better off not monitoring ambient air. That will freeze up the ac unit faster than you can shake a stick at it. I have my sensor in vial of cold pack gel for just maintaining temps. When I was fermenting it was insulated on the side or in a thermowell. Just passing on a few years of experience with mine is all.

[brewman]

I plan on putting in two other temp sensors that will be attached to the side of the fermenting buckets.Dan.

[brewman]

Built the doors tonight. They came out ok in my opinion. Tomorrow Ill insulate them and I hope hang them.Dan

[brewman]

Tonight I attached the doors, not perfect but much better then I thought I'd do. I also make the safety cover for the terminal board and taped up the fan wires inside. Still need to insulate the doors, Ill get that done this weekend.Dan

[brewman]

ITS ALIVE

And she is doing well. Yesterday I finished the seal, added the door locks and insulated the doors. Now the doors only have one layer of insulation right now but I can add the other two layers at any time. Ill probably do that today while brewing.As you can see in the pic's I used double locks for each door. The seal is perfect and there is no light leaks. I used an infer red thermometer to check for leaks around the doors and nothing, not a one.I turned her on last night around 7:30 and set to for 68 degrees and waited a few hours before I started timing the on/off cycle. When I left around 10:30 the average on/off cycle was as follows.3 minutes of compressor on time to get to temp.24 minutes of compressor off time.I have my temp controller set with a +/- 2 degree range.Here are the pics from yesterday.Dan

[brewman]

All that's left to do is sand, stain and put on the trip. I'm not going to be doing that for a few weeks. I want to let it run for a while to make sure I don't need to do any changes to the box and mess up the finish.Dan

[brewman]

Here is a pic of the insulated temp probe that I have on my ferm bucket.Dan

[brewman]

UPDATEThis week or next I'll start the sanding and staining of the chamber. It has passed its trials and is ready to be dolled up.Pics to come.Dan

[SchwanzBrewer]

Dan, you absolutely need to get some vinyl or something down on the inside of the chamber. Luckily I was smart enough to use the epoxy paint on all the inside wood, but I'm putting in vinyl this weekend. You will have spills and blow off from big fermentation. protect the inside REALLY well or it will mold and rot. My chamber is empty at the moment so I am going to work on it this weekend and get it finished. it was usable before, but now I want it truly done.

[brewman]

Oh trust me I am. I'm getting the 4 x 8 sheet of plastic sheeting and will wall in the inside with it.Dan

[Jdtirado]

Oh trust me I am. I'm getting the 4 x 8 sheet of plastic sheeting and will wall in the inside with it.Dan

How about I fly you to Virginia. I want a wine cellar, and your the man to do it!

[brewman]

LOL, This was the biggest thing I've ever built and I learned a lot doing it. I would do it so different If given the chance.I wish I had a cellar, or even a basement.Dan