Fermenting Freezer Crapped out - But lives new life!!!

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EdWort

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Almost 2 years later after being in my hot garage for 3 hot summers, my Amana afc1005bw chest freezer crapped out. It has power and the lights come on, but no compressor sound and no cooling.

Bummer. I need to brew my Oktoberfest Ale this weekend and it 100 degrees outside again. :(
 
Ugh man I totally know how this feels! Last weekend my orange fridge (look at my gallery) went out on me...right after I pitched my yeast on my Kona pale ale...Luckily I found a good deal on Craigslist the next day
 
That's a bummer Ed. Guess you'll have to replace it with something bigger, more robust....commerical-grade!

At least you can still use it as a warming chamber with your light-bulb setup. ;)
 
You won't get a much better insulated fermentation chamber, so if you are even temporeraly back to the ice bath method it should be uber efficent...
 
I'm going to check on replacing the starter relay and see what happens. In the mean time, I have a freezer in storage that will be coming out tonight to take its place for my Oktoberfest Ale.
 
Well, I've moved forward on using the defuct freezer as a giant cooler for this weekend's brewfest. I'd like to have 6 or 7 KEGLoves, but don't have enough for all the beers. My experience with the Zealots picnic with the high temps and all that beer line exposed to the sun and heat just doesn't sound good to me, so I added a 2x10 collar to my freezer. It was pretty simple to build. I used one 12' long 2"x10" from Lowe's and had them cut it to my specs. I glued it with Liquid Nails, then clamped it and put 3 2.5" deck screws into each corner. It's very solid without any brackets.

Kegerator-Collar1.jpg


We're going to have 6 beers at the brewfest, perhaps 7. I know I can fit at least 6 cornies in this puppy and with a 10" collar, I can even fit a corny on the compressor hump.

Kegerator-Collar2.jpg


If I have to, I'll add a faucet to the sides next as this is designed for a crowd to have access to it, hence the spacing between faucets.

I'm confident after we load it up with cornies and about 100# of ice, the beer will stay nice and cold till the last keg floats that night.
 
Well, the giant keg cooler/kegerator is ready for its inaugural run tomorrow.

BigKegCooler.jpg


Since everyone is supposed to bring a sixer of microbrew I thought I'd install a couple of bottle openers on each end. This should keep the brew cold for the duration.
 
This worked out fantastically! What a night. 5 kegs of homebrew floated plus 3 gallons of Apfelwein. SWMBO drove home and there was till half a Sanke of local micro pale ale going.

Overall, the dead freezer performed as I expected. People kept asking how we kept the beer cold. Lift the lid and look at the ice. After the kegs were gone, the bottle openers on each side came in very handy.

Pictures to follow in the morning.
 
ED...You are ALWAYS money ahead to have the repair man work on that compressor for you than to scrap the entire thing. Look for the the guy that works on freezers in his spare time....I paid $12.00 to have my freezer fixed the last time it pooped parts.

Good Friends, Good Drink, and Good Luck!
 
Well, the giant keg cooler/kegerator is ready for its inaugural run tomorrow.

BigKegCooler.jpg


Since everyone is supposed to bring a sixer of microbrew I thought I'd install a couple of bottle openers on each end. This should keep the brew cold for the duration.

nice 6 pack and ice chest.
 
Here's the new "Six Pack and an Ice Chest" set up for the party.

2008Brewfest1.jpg



The trailer made it so much easy to move around. I just loaded it up with the kegs and strapped it down to take to the party.

2008Brewfest2.jpg


Austin's Newest Brewery, (512) Brewing, filled a 5 gallon corny with their IPA for the party. It was a hit!

2008Brewfest5.jpg


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Because the RSVP list grew to over 200 folks, we picked up a 1/2 barrel of Pale Ale from North by Northwest. That's the black tube going into the keg cooler/kegerator and is dispensed by faucet #1.

#1 NxNW Pale Ale
#1 TEA (Typical English Ale, Bitter)
#3 BCB Haus Ale
#4 Saison du Mont
#5 (512) IPA
#6 Saison

Plus 3 gallons of Apfelwein and loads of bottled beer.

#4, my Saison du Mont, blew first, followed by the Haus Ale. There were some Canucks at the party and when they tasted my beer, they said it was just like Don de Dieu. One guy tasted it and said Don de Dieu and asked his buddy, and he said Don de Dieu! What a hoot! I'm glad I still have another keg of it!
 
Everyone was supposed to bring a sixer of microbrew, so we never ran out of beer to drink. Any leftovers are split between the brewers.

2008Brewfest9.jpg


KEGLove just came out with their 3 gallon product, so I picked up the sleeve and two ice blankets. It made for my most portable "Beer 2 Go" system ever. Worked like a champ again in 90+ heat. The ladies had 3 gallons of Apfelwein gone long before the ice blanket was melted. I'll be selling my Cooler Kegerator.

2008Brewfest6.jpg


Here it is just getting started.

2008Brewfest7.jpg


The rope lights worked out great after the sun went down.

2008Brewfest10.jpg
 
The ice lasted all night long and I pulled the plugs on the drain so melted ice just dripped out and dropped into a pan under the trailer.

2008Brewfest11.jpg


The system worked flawlessly and all the folks wondered how we kept the beer cold. :D
 
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