Question on the Johnson thermostat

I just recently bought a Johnson Controls thermostat for my beer making and a couple of questions just popped into my head. First off i have a second refrigerator/freezer that i use the refrigerator only for beer. The freezer has actual food in it though. My question is that if the thermostat is at 50 degrees, will that effect the ambient freezer temperature as well? Also does anyone do ales in controlled fridges, and if so would that effect the freezer a great deal? Thanks for your replies.

The freezer if it is on the same power supply as the controller is, will go through a freeze/thaw cycle as the controller kicks in and out to control the temperture where the probe is located.

chefmatt34 said:

I just recently bought a Johnson Controls thermostat for my beer making and a couple of questions just popped into my head. First off i have a second refrigerator/freezer that i use the refrigerator only for beer. The freezer has actual food in it though. My question is that if the thermostat is at 50 degrees, will that effect the ambient freezer temperature as well? Also does anyone do ales in controlled fridges, and if so would that effect the freezer a great deal? Thanks for your replies.

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I'm confused here. If you have a refrigerator/freezer compo why would you need the Johnson control in the first place? The control is only used to raise the temp in chest or upright freezer as the thermostat highest setting is well below freezing temps.

On my kitchen refrigerator I can control the temp in the freezer and refrigerator independent of one another because the air for the refrigerator side is blow in from the freezer side by a fan. So the freezer may call to drop the temp in there but the refrigerator temp stays the same.

So if yours doesn’t work like that it will affect the freezer temp

springer said:

I'm confused here. If you have a refrigerator/freezer compo why would you need the Johnson control in the first place? The control is only used to raise the temp in chest or upright freezer as the thermostat highest setting is well below freezing temps.

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Probably because he wants it to control the temp more precisely for fermentation. Most refrigerators don't go up 50°F, much less 54°-59°F for fermenting lagers.

Used purely in a storage and dispensing capacity, a fridge would work fine but for temp. control for fermentation it needs additional temp control.

To answer the OP's question, yes it will mess with your freezer and you probably shouldn't keep food in it. Or, better yet, buy a brew belt and use that with the temp controller.

The way the controller works is basically like a light switch. When it's on, power goes through it, when it's off no power.

In this analogy, it's like the combo unit is plugged into a outlet controlled by a switch (switched outlet) you are the controller and thermostat. You get too warm and you flip the switch to pass the power to the combo fridge/freezer. Toocod, yuou switch ot off.

So, when the controller is in the off state, it's like you have unplugged the fridge/freezer.

The freezer should stay colder than the fridge but since you are monitoring the temp in the fridge portion, I doubt the freezer will stay cold enough long enough to keep your foodstuff frozen.

This is why many of us use the upright or chest type freezers or a straight up fridge.