JT’s Beer Equipment Page Links

38DD Mother of a Fermentation Chiller

Updated 8/16/2009

Part Two Building the Fermentation Chiller

After building a Son of a Fermentation Chiller and using it for a while.

I found the following problems:

· It would only hold one carboy

· The analog thermostat sucked

· It is a PIA to deal with the ice in deep narrow ice chambers

So I redesigned the controller first to use a digital remote sensing thermostat for under $25.

Then I redesigned the Son of a Fermentation Chiller to hold two 7½ gallon carboys

and two ½ gallon growlers for my blow off tubes.

This is the layout of the chiller with one side

removed and the top and front removed.

This is the top view showing the layout.

This is the cut layout for the pink foam.

New Discovery

A good grade of carpenters wood glue

works better than Liquid Nails. I used Elmers

Stainable Wood Glue Interior/Exterior Use. It does take

a little while to dry so you have to tape the parts together

so they don’t move while the glue dries. The base is in 2 pieces and is edge glued to form one.

One brewer who built the 38DD had better luck using a different glue. “Hey- thanks for the writeup on the build. Very cool. One thing though- I think you should recommend a different adhesive than the wood glue. For this type of foam, PL300 Foamboard adhesive works best. It comes in a caulk tube and is way better than the wood glue. I started out using wood glue, and then ended up pulling the foam apart and removing all of the semi-tacky glue. It was a mess. But worth it. The PL300 is nice and tacky right away, so it holds the pieces together well. Just a suggestion, but I think it would be a good idea to change that small part of your instructions.
Thanks again for the build directions and calculators!”
-Morgan

The New MoFC