I Need A Beer Frig To Store AND Ferment!

boltsfan · 02-07-2012, 05:40 PM

Been reading through the forums and lots of debate on a frig vs. freezer to ferment and store beer.

Here is my problem… beer ferments too high in a better bottle even when kept in a cooler filled with water, wrapped in a towel and rotating out frozen ice bottles. At best I can keep the temp at around 70-74*.

Due to space issues in my garage and a bad back, I will need to go with a frig (freezerless).

I am leaning toward this 16.7 Kenmore frig at Sears.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_04660722000P?prdNo=2&blockNo=2&block Type=G2

It seems to be good size and have glass shelves which is what I want, so that bottles store safely. I have had the wire shelves collapse before when stacking beers for a party and let’s just say… it was a disaster.

I would plan to remove the bottom two drawers and the first shelf, so that I can hopefully store at least 1-2 carboys with airlocks and blowoff tubes. Then use the top 3 shelves to store beer (22oz bombers and random store bought beers).

I guess my concern is wanting to ferment AND store beers in the same frig. Obviously, I would want to store beers at cooler temps then what I would ferment them at. Would be ok to raise frig temp to a ferment temp (65-68*) with bottled beer in the frig and then bring back down again after fermenting beer has been removed?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!!!

HopsMan · 02-07-2012, 06:00 PM

Not a pro here, but I would think the main questions would be:

1. How long are talking about "storing" beer? Are looking at random six packs you will drink regularly, or store bought beer that you want to store/age for months at a time?

2. How often will you be using the fridge to ferment? Do you constantly have beer fermenting, or do you brew once to twice a month?

If you're looking for a place to just hang a few six packs that you drink relatively often, and you only brew a couple of times a month, I think your set up would be fine. If you want to age the beers over months, and you're constantly fermenting, it might not be the setup you want.

boltsfan · 02-07-2012, 06:09 PM

Thanks for the reply HopsMan.

1. I am just storing random six packs and 22oz I drink regularly plus my homebrews. The small frig out by my bbq is not cutting it anymore especially when I brew a 5g batch and have 24-26 22oz bombers that I need to store. At any given time I may have 12-20 beers on hand, not counting when I brew a batch.

2. I only brew about 3-4 times a year right now but would like to more often to work on and improve my process. Just want a better environment to ferment in.

I just do not want to move beer out of the frig when I am fermenting so just wondering what increasing the temp from say 40* to 65* for 2 weeks would do.

Also just found this upright freezer so maybe get this to ferment and the other to store beer?

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_04629502000P?mv=rr

Thanks!

HopsMan · 02-07-2012, 06:13 PM

Yeah, if you want to go with both, it certainly would take care of any issues you might have. Otherwise, from what it sounds like you want to do, and how often you brew, I would think you'd be fine using the fridge on it's own.

**banesong** · 02-07-2012, 07:27 PM

I would be careful - the fridge you post about in the OP has wire shelves, not glass, and they really can't be removed. We looked at that fridge ourselves and disliked it. The door storage was useless - the shelves wobbled and were flimsy.

We ended up going with http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_04621712000P?prdNo=5&blockNo=5&block Type=G5

It is convertable from a freezer to a fridge, so the best of both worlds.

boltsfan · 02-07-2012, 08:18 PM

Oops... I changed the link for the frig to the one with the glass shelves.

I'll check that convertible freezer out though... thanks!