In my house keeping the ever expanding collection of beer stuff to a confined area is critical to making my wife happy and thus a happy life for me. I researched the BrewPi project over a year ago and have finally completed by dual chamber Keezer build and wanted to share with the community my success.
What is a dual chamber Keezer? Well, it’s part kegarator and part fermination chamber all in one compact deep freezer. Honestly I wasn’t sure it was possible due to the huge tempature difference between the perfect keg temp and ferm temp.
Dang the pictures are too big and will need to be compressed before I can upload.
Standard Keezer collar with the keg chamber capable of holding 4 5 GL soda kegs.
The 5lb gas tank will be moved to the back shortly and I’ll add the last two taps seen on the front.
I’m using an STC with modified firmware to keep a constant temp of 38-40 F. I’ve considered trying to use the BrewPi to run the fridge and the ferm wraps but don’t know if it’s possible yet with only one control loop.
The walls of the ferm chamber (right side) are lined with insulation board. I measured the temp of the carboy’s full of water and found a 8-10 degree difference, which mean the ferm wraps only need to heat the wort from 48-75.
I wasn’t sure they were up to the task but my testing with water worked perfectly.
I’m using thermowells to hold the temp sensors which give a much more accurate reading than an outside probe. The temp difference between the two carboy’s was also measured and was less than 1 degree.
Now for the BrewPi. I’m really not using the full capabilities right now but would love to hear how I can gain more control and setup two different temp control loops in the future. Currently I’m measuring the temp of one beer and using this as the input to control the SSR which has been wired to a standard two plug outlet. Effectively the outlet turns on/off which then turns the ferm wrap heaters plugged in on/off.
I holding the beer temp to within 1/2 a degree F and getting great results. I’ll post a pic of the BrewPi log shortly.
So community…how can I make this better?
I’ll post a few pics and highlight the areas that made it possible. Feel free to poke holes in the design and share your thoughts on how I can make it better.