Fermentation Chamber - Chest or Upright Freezer

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stvcoburn

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1st off I am new into home-brewing. After listening to quite a few episodes of Brew Strong, I am going to take Jamil's advice and focus on fermentation temperature control before anything else. I currently use the swamp cooler method, but my wife wants it out of the house and in the garage, which will soon be way too hot considering I live in Arizona. I decided on either a refriderator or freezer, leaning towards a freezer. The freezer/fridge will be in the garage so space is not an issue.

My first question is what size freezer should a purchase? I would to like to ferment at least two carboys at once. Does a larger freezer use much more energy than a smaller one, I don't think it would cost that much to hold temperature of air (unused space). Will I really need to ferment more than two carboys at once? I would like to brew at least once a week.

My second question is what are the advantages of a chest freezer to an upright freezer or chest to upright?

Thanks for the help.
 
Upright = easier to move carboys.

Chest = dangerous to lift carboys!!

That said, I still use a chest freezer. I just put my carboys in handled containers that make it easier to lift out. It is still heavy as a *****, and just slightly safer. But I would have to build a strong shelf to accommodate two carboys. I often do a mutli-batch of lagers so I can knock them out at once.
 
Agree.
Also, if you choose upright and put it high enough you can easily siphon beer without disturbing yeast.
 
Ok. Thanks for the help. On craigslist they are only slightly more expensive than chest freezers.
 
In defense of chest freezers, they hold their temp better since the cold spills out all over floor with uprights while it stays inside a chest freezer. Plus you can use better bottles as opposed to glass and if you let your beer sit for 3+ weeks you won't disturb the yeast too much when racking. Nothing wrong with an upright though.
 
The other advantage of a chest freezer is that it fills with CO2 during fermentation and just sits there...singes the nostrils.
 
Anybody use a fridge for fermenting? Around here they are way easier to find on CL. Freezers, especially chest freezers, go fast and are usually at premium price points and it's usually just better to buy new. That said, I need to ferment two carboys at a time and was wondering if I could do so in a large enough fridge.
 
I too am deciding what to get. Since I have a bad back (it always hurts after brewing )I'm leaning towards the upright.

So just to be sure, with the proper temp controller, you can keep a freezer at 65 without damaging it?
 
I too am deciding what to get. Since I have a ****ty back (it always hurts after brewing )I'm leaning towards the upright.

So just to be sure, with the proper temp controller, you can keep a freezer at 65 without damaging it?

Yep I do it all the time... Ranco or Johnson controllers work just fine. You could also use a BCS or Arduino based temp sensor/controller if you were so inclined.
 
I use a freezerless fridge that I found on Craiglist. I have a plug and play 2 stage temp controller and I added a light bulb in a paint can for a heater. It fits 4 carboys with very little modification. I like the setup so far and the footprint is a bit smaller than a freezer so it works for me.

Temp controller.
http://www.etcsupply.com/ranco-etc211000000-stage-prewired-temperature-controller-p-110.html

Refrigerator.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_04660722000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1
 
So just to be sure, with the proper temp controller, you can keep a freezer at 65 without damaging it?

Depends on what you mean by "damaging." The way we homebrewers use fridge or freezer compressors is outside what they were intended for. Having said that, I bought a used 15cf chest freezer (I would go upright if I had a conical or something; otherwise I prefer chest) for $100 over two years ago and it's been going very strong as my ferm chamber ever since. Given how plentiful they are on Craigslist or whatever, even if they only last a few years it's not a big deal.
 
Fridges work as well. Plus you have a freezer to store hops and stuff up top. If that is the style you are buying. But the problem with fridges is that they are usually sold because the condenser went out. Just do as you would the freezer and put a controller for temps on it. I just don't get them because they don't hold as many kegs as I can get in a freezer. But if you are only fermenting 5-10 gallons at a time I don't see a problem. I usually lager 10-20 when I make mine. I suppose if I fermented in cornies I could fit them in, but I don't.
 
Mine is an upright refrigerator. It has a freezer box that is inside the main compartment (one door like the old style fridges). It works great.

I forgot to mention...mine was FREE. I put a little ceramic safety heater in it during the winter. My ranco digital does heating or cooling. I wish it were two stage but it works.
 
h2joe said:
I use a freezerless fridge that I found on Craiglist. I have a plug and play 2 stage temp controller and I added a light bulb in a paint can for a heater. It fits 4 carboys with very little modification. I like the setup so far and the footprint is a bit smaller than a freezer so it works for me.

Temp controller.
http://www.etcsupply.com/ranco-etc211000000-stage-prewired-temperature-controller-p-110.html

Refrigerator.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_04660722000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1

I got a floor model all fridge from hhgregg for $350 and was so excited to use it for fermentation but couldn't get away from using it as a serving fridge.

Six kegs and room for a few 12 packs was hard to pass up. I ended up getting a small freezer to ferment 10 gallons instead of 20.

image-3563337931.jpg


image-3739941317.jpg
 
Yes. I have a 16 cu ft chest freezer that is my kegerator but i also use it to ferment beers (hard going for a week without beer on draft but it makes the fermentation much cleaner) and all that the temp. controller does is act as a relay and turns the entire freezer on or off. It turns on and off the same amount of times if not less at higher temperatures than at lower because its heat loss rate is still the same. So its not like you can burn it out from doing that. If it does burn out it most likely wouldve happened anyway.
 
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