Climate control Fermentation

Would a fridge work instead of a chest freezer my dads trying to get rid of a full size fridge.. for free working..

I have made great beers at 42F because that is the highest my fridge would maintain. It just takes longer. At that temp ferment and lager 8-12 weeks or get a heat belt or pad and insulate the vessel.

Get a temperature control unit (re: Johnson Control or Love control units) for it. What matters most is if it will have the room for more than one primary. Since it sounds like it will, use it.

IMO, most people go with chest freezers because they're smaller and have great insulation in them. They'll run a lot less to maintain the temperatures since they have more efficient/powerful cooling hardware inside them. But, a good fridge, especially for free, would do a good job too.

There are some threads of people converting vertical refrigerators into fermentation chambers. Some have gone more radical and cut the insides up so that there's more space (also allows the freezer part to provide cooling)...

It should work, as long as you use a controler to bypass the thermostat.

cool got it home last night need to clean it up what controller do you guys recomened

Johnson or love controllers, as listed above. Although I have never used these, it seems very popular among home brewers.
If you are into wiring and electronics, then your options are huge.

nilo said:

Johnson or love controllers, as listed above. Although I have never used these, it seems very popular among home brewers.
If you are into wiring and electronics, then your options are huge.

Click to expand...

any model numbers?

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=12193

this is what I use on a chest freezer,it works great.

how do i keep the temp around 68 if the ambiant is lower than that i was about ready to go buy one but where my fridge is its like 55 degrees outside of it?? could i throw a space heter inside? the fridge lol....

Some people just use a light bulb to provide a little heat when it's cooler outside than you want the chamber to be. Simply plug the light into the controller and it will turn it on/off as needed to maintain that temp. When it starts getting warmer out, switch over to the freezer from the light bulb... You won't have the freezer plugged into the wall while the light is connected, just to be clear...

There are some (I believe) controllers out there that have to connections on them. One for heat, and the other for cooling... I haven't been able to hunt them down in a while though.

i have a cheap space heater was wondering if that would just work hooked up to the controller..

This controller is a dual-stage. Meaning it controls a heater and the fridge as needed. You set one stage for the cooling temperature, and the other stage for the heating temperature. Allows you to maintain a very tight window. In my part of the country, I need cooling in the day, and heating at night, especially in the fall and spring. It's pretty much set it and forget it.