refrigerator or upright freezer

so im looking to buy a used refrigerator or upright freezer. Which would be better to use with one of those cheapo temp controllers? Would the controller be able to control the freezers temp enough to not freeze my beer and shock my ale yeast? As you can tell im new to all this. I think i would mostly be making ales too, but of course that can always change.

thanks
:cross:

I have both and have controllers on both... I personally like the upright freezer better as it was easy to clear the shelves out and have a flat surface to set my fermenter. If you are looking for storage space though, the refrigerator is most likely what you want.

Since you are buying used, it may come down to what you can actually find for sale....

I assume you are looking for fermentation control, based on your description?

Both will work. The refrigerator is going to have a freezer on top of it most likely, and the freezer won't stay all that cold (certainly not freezing) if you have controller on the power supply. I do believe you can store ingredients in it however.

The upright freezer may have refrigerant running through the shelves so it becomes difficult/impossible to move/remove them and not ruin the freezer. To me that is a definite no-go. If you can one with the refrigeration lines in the walls, that would be ideal. No lifting in/out like a chest freezer and you might be able to build/leave one shelf in and have capacity for two fermenters.

Hope this helps....

Make sure the freezer you look at don't have coils running through the shelves Many do and they cannot be removed. I have been offered many for free by my beer loving friends and I cannot use them.

I just started brewing here in Tucson AZ, at 120 degrees in the garage a frig or a freezer is a must here.

I purchased an upright freezer on Criags list for $50. Got it home and then realized that the coolant lines ran through the shelves. I carefully bent one of the shelf down and then secured it to the back wall. That got me space for two carboys, and room to condition 50 24oz bottles

However bending down will not work for the bottom shelf. I believe that with a pipe bender I will be able to bend that one up.

When this is done I will be able to ferment 4 carboys at a time. My wife is just going to love me when I get another freezer to condition all the bottles or kegs!!!

+1 on the freezer, just get a frost free model

I got lucky and picked up an almost brand new, $700 upright freezer for $200 last year. I love it. I had to cut some of the shelves out so I can fit my conical, but there's never been more than one beer in it at a time anyway. You'll love it. I even use it for fermenting ales now. It's hooked up to a simple Johnson Controller.