Mini Fridge for 6.5 gallon carboy fermenting? Vassani wine fridge from Home Depot?
 

I apartment brew so space is a huge factor. I'm trying to find a fermentation chamber that will fit a 6.5 gallon carboy + 3 piece air lock. Thread searches seem to pop up two options:

- Avanti 2.5 cu ft fridge - requires you to cut the fridge door shelves off (not really an issue), and it kind of hard to find. Won't fit 3 piece air lock with 6.5 gallon glass carboy?
- Vassani 52-bottle wine chiller from home depot - Not sure it gets cold enough for lagering.

When I buy a house, someday I plan to build it into a chamber that can fit 3 carboys, but I don't have the space now and just need enough space for 1 at a time.

Anyone have suggestions for a fermentation chamber?

I use the vassani as my fermentation chamber and it does the job. It'll get down to mid 40s quite easily with a 6gal carboy in it. The airlock will either need to be pushed down to avoid the lighting on the top, or just use a blow-off tube. There's even a convenient little ledge on the back of it to hold the blow-off jar. Best part of the vissani is that when i get the deep freezer built out, i still have a wine fridge enough to hold a lot of beer with modified racks. Lack of space is a bit of a problem, but (for ales) I keep brewed batches in the fridge for a couple of weeks at appropriate temps and then just swamp cooler them with a 2L ice bottle in a big thermo-bag (like the kind you get for picnics at sam's). It'll slowly warm up to maybe 68 over the course of a week in a texas house.

Hi

Are you stuck for floor space or for volume space? There are a lot of creative solutions depending on exactly what you can put where.

Bob

I use the Vissani as well. Here's the link to my build thread:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/vissani-fermentation-chamber-290663/

Floor space really. As I said I'm in an apartment and my roommate puts up with my hobby for the prospect of beer to fill my keezer, but I try to keep the equipment out of his way and in my room.


Does it get down to lagering temps?

Ack I should have read your entire thread first. I see you bypassed the thermostat. That should be simple enough, although I prefer a solution that just keeps the thermostat at it's lowest setting and switches power with the controller.

I have a lead on a Sanyo 4912 on CL, but if that doesn't pan out, this may be just what I do. I like the heat tape too, I was wondering how I might heat it.

Your best bet is to find a 4.4 cf fridge of clist for $50 and build a small collar

Most fridges should fit one carboy, I use SS 6 gallon pots and stack them. rather than airlocks, i recommend blowoff tubes, they fit where airlocks dont as well as prevent blowoffs.

Could the thermostat on these wine fridges just be adjusted the same way that people adjust the thermostat on chest freezers? that would help avoid the re-wiring.

Yep