Cold room

sdixon · May 01, 2013, 09:02:39 PM

I built my cold room this weekend. It's 4'x8' and 7'6" tall. I framed it with 2x4 and sheethed it with gyproc. Insulated with fibreglass bat between joists and 1.5" rigid pink foamboard on the inside. Taped all seems with tuctape. I built the door (4' wide to have rooms for 40 gallon tanks) with fibreboard and glued pink foamboard to the inside. It fits nice and tight. I also sheethed the ceiling with foamboard, but haven't done the concrete wall yet. I will do the outside walls soon. I built an opening for my old window airconditioner. I'm going to try it out without the coolbot first to see how it works and if I need the coolbot I will get it later. I have 2 x 30 gallon fermenters + 2 x 40 gallon fermenters + 1 x 40 gallon brite tank. I can fit 1 of each 30 gallon and 40 gallon tanks and my brite tank at the same time. I'm also planning to build a shelf above the tanks so I can store kegs for my accounts.

Here are some pics.

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Untitled by sdixon669, on Flickr[/img]

Kyle · May 01, 2013, 09:08:41 PM

Nice!!! No shortage of room there. Would that get it cool enough for serving? My in window unit air-conditioners only go to 66F without modification

sdixon · May 01, 2013, 09:12:47 PM

I'm sure I am going to have to modify. I just finished tonight and turned on the air conditioner so I will have to see how cold it gets. But I assume I will have to go the coldbot route if I want to get down to 32F.

Fhilo · May 01, 2013, 09:33:04 PM

Very nice... Looking forward to seeing the progress!

fakr · May 02, 2013, 08:20:13 AM

Very Nice Steve! looks great!

What's a coldbot?

Chris Craig · May 02, 2013, 08:22:44 AM

Awesome job Steve!!

Quote from: "fakr"What's a coldbot?

http://www.storeitcold.com/

fakr · May 02, 2013, 08:23:31 AM

yeah, just read it...forgot I can just google search. pretty neat rig!

Chris Craig · May 02, 2013, 08:24:11 AM

Quote from: "fakr"yeah, just read it...forgot I can just google search. pretty neat rig!

Pretty price though.

chrismccull · May 02, 2013, 09:20:52 AM

Yeah, there must be a cheaper controller than that. It wouldn't have to be PID.

brew · May 02, 2013, 09:31:40 AM

That is a beautiful setup. I've often thought of doing that with my "cold room" under the front stairs.

fakr · May 02, 2013, 10:25:20 AM

Can't use PIDs for cooling...they turn the compressor on and off several times a minute and will burn the compressor out.

Chris Craig · May 02, 2013, 10:52:42 AM

Quote from: "fakr"Can't use PIDs for cooling...they turn the compressor on and off several times a minute and will burn the compressor out.

I'd never really thought of that. Good point.

Kyle · May 02, 2013, 11:34:08 AM

Looks pretty awesome, although, couldn't you just take the air conditioner's temp sensor and place it outside of the cold room (thus making the air conditioner stay on) and then plug in a Johnson temp controller in series with the air conditioner wall unit to accomplish the same purpose? I don't know how much frost would build up, but it might be worth investigating.

Chris Craig · May 02, 2013, 11:38:26 AM

I've read up on this before. Seems that the biggest problem people have is freezing up the coils. But, since this is in a basement, it should be ok...especially for ale temps.

Richard · May 02, 2013, 12:23:55 PM

Quote from: "Chris Craig"I've read up on this before. Seems that the biggest problem people have is freezing up the coils. But, since this is in a basement, it should be ok...especially for ale temps.

Some basements are pretty humid... might need to have a dehumidifier on the warm side, too.