Hot Box - Wash Temperature

[Almanac]

I mentioned somewhere around here that I was building a 'Hot-Box' to keep my wash in while fermenting to maintain a constant temp and protect them from wild temperature fluctuations.

It's quite raw and functional but this thing is worth the 50 Euros it cost me because when I put a wash in there it keeps a constant temp that never wanders by more than one degree - 24-25oC.

Here's a few pics;









From the top the first pics are of the exterior and interior of the box and as you can see it comfortably accommodates 2 X 60lt fermenters. In the exterior pic you can see a 33lt fermenter which will give you an idea of scale.

The main material used is 2 inch foam insulation board and a roll of Duct Tape. The base is 3X2" timber frame filled with insulation board and with a plywood floor and castors. The sides butt together and are held in place with mini-bungee cords. This allows the box to be dismantled and flat packed for storage if not in use or for transport.

The middle pics show the thermostat and socket for the heater which is in the right pic. This is a standard fan heater, 1.5Kw and the thermostat turns it on for approximately 10 seconds three times every hour to maintain interior temp. The thermostat is a bog-standard room thermostat.

The bottom two pics are thermometers. The one on the left monitors the ambient temp inside the box and is set half-way up the front wall of the box. The other thermo has a cable which goes through the wall of the box and through the lid of one of the fermenters to allow me monitor wash temp at a glance. Each wash has its own thermometer - I bought those in IKEA for 7.50 Euros each. The small box thermo cost 6.50 Euros from Brewhaus in Texas.

If you have the time and must keep your wash in an uninsulated shed or garage I highly recommend building something like this as maintaining constant wash temp is always a problem.

AM

[YHB]

It may have taken a while getting there but I should be ready to start brewing in a short while.

This set up has given me plenty of food for thought.

One question - After your 50 litres has stopped fermenting and with the vessels being at floor level, how do you decant / syphon the wash out?

[Capt-Cudellez]

Nice work Aiden - glad that's working out for you. I've been looking for a commercial fridge to do something similar, nothing locally has come up.

I've settled for now in insulating the fermenters with a drop in immersion, also been playing around with soil warming cables that seem to be working really well.

BTW- do your air locks work? I put an air lock in one of those drums and never got a bubble - the lid wasn't air tight - so now I just put the lids on without the clamp.

One question - After your 50 litres has stopped fermenting and with the vessels being at floor level, how do you decant / syphon the wash out?

I Siphon the top 25L into a 33ltr bin - this make it light enough to lift the fermeter up on to the bunker to siphon the rest.
I will normally only fill the boiler 40lts on a strip - 45 if its very clear.

[Almanac]

Brian; Like CC I siphon half the wash into a 33lt then lift the balance onto a shelf beside the box, but because the 60lt is only a little higher that the other bucket it's quite slow so I'm considering getting a small pump to transfer the entire wash in one go.

CC; where the rim of the barrel goes into the lid there is a kind of foam sealer which I considered suspect so I put in some soft clear aquarium type tubing and the airlocks are bubbling away nicely now.

AM

[Jimmy]

Nice work Aidan, looks really good! I will definitely need to investigate something like this, I'm currently having to buy booze because my washes have all stalled due to the house being too cold. Moving soon but once I'm settled I will get to work and never allow this travesty to occur again!

[ant]

Very nice. As luck would have it I got some of that insulating board a few days ago. Would never have thought of building a hotbox with it. My sincere flattery will take the form of copying your good idea.

[YHB]

Being financialy challenged at the current time, I have not been able to have a trip to B&Q to load up with goodies to make something as fancy as this one, I have had to resort to re-cycling some bits & pieces.

I started off with a large cardboard packing case, removed the top and then turned it upside down.

I taped on 2 layers of insulation - cut from a continental quilt(14.5tog) that has been on top of the wardrobe for years because it is too warm.

Popped the insulated box over the fermenter, cut a slit in the box and dangled a light bulb through. I do not need the heat from the light during the day, I left it (100w) switched on over night but it was too hot when I checked this morning, I will use something smaller this evening.

It works, but it is definatly not pretty and not very photogenic, I will keep a lookout for something to skin it with, before I post any pictures.

[billmcc]

Good on ya Brian fermenting at last what you got brewing
Cheers

[YHB]

Bill

I needed something to stop me procrastinating and just finish things. So I have put on a Tomato Paste Wash basically just to give me some alchohol for a sacrificial cleaning run.

So I reckon I have about ten days to get it all wrapped up, give it a good boil, a vinegar run then the Tomato Wash, and I should be into the next phase of my learning process.

I am learning all the time - I have just learnt that I should have bought a bigger fermenter. I have this bloody red goo everywhere, it took off like crazy. My lovely white insulating duvet looks like something out of a Freddie Kruger movie.

Sorry Aidan - a bit off topic.

[Almanac]

No bother Brian, go on post us a piccy and give us a look!

Other than Tomato Paste, what kind of wash did you make - DWWG?

AM

[YHB]

No bother Brian, go on post us a piccy and give us a look!
AM

No Chance - I have my reputation to think about.

Other than Tomato Paste, what kind of wash did you make - DWWG?

AM

Can't remember what they called this one - it's probably a mixture, based on what was in the kitchen cupboard - in fact I only bought the yeast nutrient, my wife wasn't looking when I repurposed the rest.

5kg Sugar
200Gr Tomato Paste
2 tsp Yeast Nutrient
2 Vitamin B pills
1 tsp Citric Acid

OG 1.080 theoretical ABV(if it ferments out) should be 12.5% - cant get too exited about it, as I said - only for a cleaning run.

[Almanac]

The reason I asked if you made DWWG was because of my experience with that particular recipe. It foamed & foamed & foamed and I had to use a blow tube to allow it expand into another vessel in the early stages. The results were average and not worth the bother. Needless to say I only tried that recipe once - too much hassle.

AM

[Jimmy]

Don't be too harsh on tomato paste either, makes a nice drop of neutral with an ever so slightly sweet taste!