Rockstar Cooler for fermentation????

I just aquired a FREE large rockstar round electric cooler that is able to hold a 5 gal bucket or carboy for cooling my brew to lager temps. Any one used this before? If so did it work or was it to cold?

pics might help?

I have been eyeballing one for sale on craigslist for the very same purpose. I would think that it would be to cold, but with a temp controler added it would be the perfect single carboy/BB set up.

Maybe tape a card board disk on the clear top, as to keep light out.

Yeah. Just buy a temperature controller. You'll be fine.

Reddheadedstepchild said:

Maybe tape a card board disk on the clear top, as to keep light out.

Click to expand...

I use black trash bags.

Is that rig big enough to hold a couple of kegs? There is a similar, Red Bull fridge for sale on CL locally.

NERCROMANCY!!!

So, I was in the booze-hut this evening picking up some beer and I mention to the guy (manager/owner?) that I had seen the ice-chilled Red Bull coolers on Craigslist, but not the refridgerated ones. That it would be cool to use one as a lagering chamber for my beer. These are the can-shaped ones, not the fridge-shaped ones.

He says, "I have one in the back I'm selling. Never been used."

So I ask him how much, expecting it to be a hundred-fifty or so. He shrugs and says, "Fifty?"



I plan on picking it up tomorrow. It's actually a RockStar one. Just looked them up online and they're going for like $300 on ebay.

I know without a temp controller, it will not be good for fermenting. BUT, if I just let 'er rip, can I at least crash-cool in it until I build out the temp controller? I figure I'll get a two-stage and line the inside with a fermwrap for when I do Belgians or Saisons.

I ferment in corny kegs and have two ten-gallon kegs I am planning on fixing up. I hope the ten gallon kegs will fit in there.

How well does one of these can shaped refrigerators work for lagers and ales?

EDIT: I got a red bull cooler off CL for $40. I cleaned it and plugged it in to see what temp it will hit. It hovers right at 32F. I think this is going to work really well.

I got a rock star can shaped fridge off of CL this weekend for $75. It has a temperature knob on the bottom and it started to freeze water in the glass jar I put in it. It is louder then the red bull fridge and seems to run more frequently -- I'm still trying to dial it in to just above 32F.

I got a digital Johnson controller(A419), plugged it into the wall, plugged the red bull cooler into the controller and put the set point at 64F, dif at 1. I put the anti-short at 0 since the redbull is very controlled/leisurely at taking the temp down to 32F(the rock star cooler seems more aggressive at cooling). I taped the probe to the side of the glass carboy, then covered it with bubble wrap. The cooler turns on at 64 and cools to 61 then turns off. This is working great, I looking forward to seeing how this batch turns out with the fermentation temperature control I now have.