What is better for lagering F/R?

Freezer or Fridge?
The only location I could put it is in the garage, in the south those get damn hot during the summer days. I am looking at either of the Gladiator units. Chillerator or Freezerator. The Freezer version can have the small fridge section converted to Freezer as well just be cranking the dial to max cool.

I just put a thermo out there and the reading is 89 degrees with a outdoor temp of 74. I will have to see what happens when the outside temp hits the upper ninteys and 100+. And down to as low mid 30s at the lowest temps in winter. This seems to be rather rough on most fridge/freezers. Would a freezer or fridge be better equipped to handle the necessary lager temps?



From what i read most Freezers/Fridges are ment to operate inside a house. I don't have the space to accomodate that in this house. Eventually I will have my own self-designed home to accomodate all my fetishes.



__rambling detected below__
Blackroom for Home Theater, no light peneatration from outside sources.

Brewroom for... well I suspect you know!

Woman's Land. Yes, eventually I will claim a unique one for myself and she will get her own room to do as she sees fit with... Beyond the rest of the house that I will only have a 5% vote in how its decorated.

Get a chest freezer off craigslist and a temperature control unit off any brewing website or from your LBHS. This is my option of choice and allows you to dial in the temp you need. My very old chest freezer has no problem holding 35 degrees and it should be fine in your garage as many people store chest freezers there.

Can't speak to your fridge/freezer question, but maybe is it possible to vent out some of that hot air from the garage? I have an attic fan that runs on a thermostat--it kicks on when the temp in the attic reaches a certain level. Maybe something like that could help take the "edge off"?

Attic fans wouldn't help much with an uninsulated ceiling, garage door or side wall. I expect my garage to easily hit 100 on the 90's days. Certainly feels like it does.

A chest freezer is better. The cold stays in better when you open the lid. An upright will loose temp fast when you open the door. My chest freezer has been in ambient temps well over 100F and the temp inside is as low as I set it with the analog controller.

unfortunatly i can't find a CL chest freezer, Lowes has a 12.8CuFt for 398 or a 14.8CuFu Energy Star for 398.. Both Fridgedaire. strange. at least i'll get 10% off any of them.

hmmm keep looking on CL, one will pop up, new ones are really expensive as you saw.

You need a freezer, not a fridge. I have to use a fridge, but it only gets down to like 38F except in the winter, so its something less than ideal.

I use chest freezer but I also have a older mini-fridge I modified to fit a fermenter. It goes down to 30F.

I have an upright refrigerator (lagers) and chest freezer (serving kegs) in my garage and it gets pretty warm here in Florida. Both are using the Johnson Controls controllers and both maintain the temps I set them at (~50 F and as low as 33 F in the keezer).

The temp setting is slightly affected by the ambient temp. As the ambient temp increases the interior temp decreases but it's only a small amount and is due to the short run of capillary tubing outside the keezer/fridge.