So I have been looking at the various “pimp my system” pictures and setups (flat racks in particular) and I would love someday to be able to have the technical skills to justify this type of setup.
Brewing in Florida I still run into the future issue of keeping a big batch of beer cool during the summer. Aside from getting a second refrigerator for the garage, what other options are out there? Glycol?
could build a walkin cooler:)
I live in Florida too. If you have room for it, why not get another fridge? I have 4 in my garage and didn’t pay a dime for any of them. Seems older refrigerators are easy to come by (especially when you’re not looking too hard).
Then spend $90 on a Ranco digital temperature controller and you’ve got it. Otherwise in the hot summer months you’re going to struggle to keep your ales at good temps, even with a swamp cooler.
A couple home-built ideas.
Brewhemoth has directions on their site to turn a room air conditioner into a water chiller. You can then pump the water around whatever you need chilled.
There is also Son of a Fermentation Chiller, which is a box built out of Styrofoam insulation. The box has an interior baffle. You put ice in one side and fermenting beer in the other and a thermostat and computer fan regulate air flow between the two sides.
I like the design of people who take part of their garage and build a small cold room using a window air conditioner to cool the room. It’s probably not the most efficient use of energy but it would be awesome to have enough space to keep all my bottles cold plus fermentors and kegs without having a row of fridges in the garage.
A few years back I almost bought a foreclosed home that had a window AC unit build into the garage. Not sure if they had part of the garage closed off but I probably would have enclosed that part for brewing. It also had a half bath that faced the front of the house and there was a huge window right in front of the toilet. I guess you were supposed to watch people walk by while you use the toilet. I’m still sad I couldn’t make that house happen.