I started brewing with a mini-fridge that barely fit a 5-gal homer bucket, and now have moved into what I'm hoping will be a box big enough to hold four, 6.7-gal buckets. Living in central Florida I don't have the luxury of being able to ferment in the basement. Heck, even 'room temperature' for me is about 10 degrees warmer than what most people mean here on HBT . Anyway,
I busted the cooling element on my original mini-fridge, but lucked out on a Craigslist find for only $20. The coils are all on the back instead of inside the walls so I decided to see if I could cut it back to make more room inside my box.
When all you have is a hammer.... well, all I had was a pair of pliers. This thing looks like a big can in need of a can opener.
I was finally able to peel off the outer, metal layer and get to the foam underneath.
Much better!
I used an old coffee table that my wife had transformed into a play table for the kids. The plan is to split the top and bottom and add the fermentation chamber in the middle; raising the top 26-28 inches.
(that's it in the lower left)
This is as far as I've gotten so far. Tomorrow I hope to get a sheet of the 2-inch foam-board insulation and start cutting it to make the box.
You can barely see on the right side of the image, but that's what I'm currently using to ferment in - a 3.5-Cu. Ft. chest freezer. Once I get my new chamber built, the chest freezer is getting a collar and will become a nice keezer
I've been using one of the STC1000's to control my temperature and haven't had any issues. I'll be ordering a second one probably this week for the keezer project.
I busted the cooling element on my original mini-fridge, but lucked out on a Craigslist find for only $20. The coils are all on the back instead of inside the walls so I decided to see if I could cut it back to make more room inside my box.
When all you have is a hammer.... well, all I had was a pair of pliers. This thing looks like a big can in need of a can opener.
I was finally able to peel off the outer, metal layer and get to the foam underneath.
Much better!
I used an old coffee table that my wife had transformed into a play table for the kids. The plan is to split the top and bottom and add the fermentation chamber in the middle; raising the top 26-28 inches.
This is as far as I've gotten so far. Tomorrow I hope to get a sheet of the 2-inch foam-board insulation and start cutting it to make the box.
You can barely see on the right side of the image, but that's what I'm currently using to ferment in - a 3.5-Cu. Ft. chest freezer. Once I get my new chamber built, the chest freezer is getting a collar and will become a nice keezer
I've been using one of the STC1000's to control my temperature and haven't had any issues. I'll be ordering a second one probably this week for the keezer project.