Finally....some temperature control!

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cbauer210

cbauer210

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I live in a small NYC apartment so I feel like I face allot more challenges than the average backyard brewer. To make matters worse I have no control over the heating or sometimes lack-of for that matter. One day my apartmentwill be 85 deg and the next it will be 55 deg. After many years of fermenting my brews in less than ideal temperatures, I finally took control of the situation. This weekend I was at Home Depot and saw the Vissani 52 Bottle wine fridge on sale for $150.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads&locStoreNum=6175

Perfect! I jumped on the deal and went straight to my local brew shop (Brooklyn Homebrew) to get a digital controller. There I picked up a prewired Ranco ETC for another $100. Right now I have an american wheat beer bubbling away happily at a nice constant temp. I have the Ranco set to 62 deg with a 4 deg differential.

If anyone is looking for a similar setup I can say that this wine fridge seems to be a great value. Once you take the shelves out it easily fits a bucket or carboy without modification.


IMG_2051.jpg


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Nice job, looks great too. The link shows up as $199.

How did you get it at $150?
Also it claims to be able to only lower the them to 68F.
 
It was on sale in the store. May have been a store only sale.

I think that when they say the minimum temp is 68 deg, they mean that is the warmest cold setting on the fridge. It deff gets much colder than 68 because within just a few minutes of having it plugged in without the controller, it was chilled to the mid fifties. I haven't tested exactly cold it will get because I brewed an ale the same day I got it and it has been set to 62 since then. At 62 it seems to cycle on and off evrery 20-40 minutes with the probe taped to the fermenter.
 
Ahh them maybe the temp controller is not needed at all. I would wonder what the stability of the temperature controller is. If it could hold mid 50's you could ferment lager in it too.
 
Hate to be a spoiler, but...

From the specs: Minimum Temp = 68F. Seems oddly high, but it might be realistic because this is a wine cooler (and, if you read the reviews, at least one guy criticized the lack of low temps).

While that might satisfy your wheat fermentation, I would say that is very limiting for many other ales and prohibits fermenting lagers. Additionally, this will not allow you to cold crash your beer, which I do for all ales and lagers @ 30F.

While I congratulate you on this improvement, others should seriously consider whether this will satisfy their brewing needs.

[edit] maybe I'm just being stupid. Will the internal temp controller let the fridge get colder than 68?
 
I desperately need a temp controller for my setup. I like the small footprint on this one compared to a chest freezer. Does the temp controller allow it to get much below 68 F? Have you tested with an external thermometer? I also noticed that you set a 4 F differential, which seems kind of high to me. I wonder how it performs with a 1 F differential . If this isn't the best solution for temp control, does anyone have a better suggestion?
 
I guarantee you that figure is when the fridge is on the warmest setting. I had the fridge hooked up for 3 hours without the Ranco controller and set on level 1 (warmest) to see if the controller was even needed. The fridge hovered right around 66 deg according to the digital thermometer I put inside. When I turned the fridge control up to 7 (coldest) the fridge dropped to mid-fifties within minutes. I quickly assesed it would be to difficult to maintain a temp in the low 60's manually so I installed the ETC. Now....can the fridge hold a temp in the 30's or low 40's? I'm not sure because I haven't tested that yet. I plan to though once this batch is done. I'd love to throw a lager in there. I have no reason to believe it won't perform like any other mini-fridge. When it does cycle on it chills down in just a couple minutes tops.
 
passedpawn said:
Hate to be a spoiler, but...

From the specs: Minimum Temp = 68F. Seems oddly high, but it might be realistic because this is a wine cooler (and, if you read the reviews, at least one guy criticized the lack of low temps).

While that might satisfy your wheat fermentation, I would say that is very limiting for many other ales and prohibits fermenting lagers. Additionally, this will not allow you to cold crash your beer, which I do for all ales and lagers @ 30F.

While I congratulate you on this improvement, others should seriously consider whether this will satisfy their brewing needs.

[edit] maybe I'm just being stupid. Will the internal temp controller let the fridge get colder than 68?
Click to expand...

I read it as saying that on the lowest setting (1-7) 1 being the warmer, the temp will be 68. Thats poor literature but I read technical specs for a living. It would be pointless for wine lovers if it only went to 68F. I had a similiar fridge that would easily drop into the low 50s.
 
cbauer210 said:
I live in a small NYC apartment so I feel like I face allot more challenges than the average backyard brewer. To make matters worse I have no control over the heating or sometimes lack-of for that matter. One day my apartmentwill be 85 deg and the next it will be 55 deg. After many years of fermenting my brews in less than ideal temperatures, I finally took control of the situation. This weekend I was at Home Depot and saw the Vissani 52 Bottle wine fridge on sale for $150.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=202018109&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=202018109&ci_src=64119933&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads&locStoreNum=6175

Perfect! I jumped on the deal and went straight to my local brew shop (Brooklyn Homebrew) to get a digital controller. There I picked up a prewired Ranco ETC for another $100. Right now I have an american wheat beer bubbling away happily at a nice constant temp. I have the Ranco set to 62 deg with a 4 deg differential.

If anyone is looking for a similar setup I can say that this wine fridge seems to be a great value. Once you take the shelves out it easily fits a bucket or carboy without modification.


IMG_2051.jpg


IMG_2052.jpg


IMG_2054.jpg
Click to expand...

I purchased the same Ranco controller last week. Things must be more expensive in your area. I payed $73, But in any event its a good controller.
 
Yeah...It was $100 prewired. A little more than internet prices. It was from my local store in the city which is slightly more than some other places but there selection and service is top notch so I like to support them.
 
So now that you have had this for a bit how is it working out? Can you lager in it? They are on sale for $148 and I'm thinking about picking one up and attaching a controller.

Thanks
 
ingchr1 said:
So now that you have had this for a bit how is it working out? Can you lager in it? They are on sale for $148 and I'm thinking about picking one up and attaching a controller.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I would assume this is essentially a dorm fridge with a different door, racks, and thermostat on it. Simply bypassing the thermostat and just using the external controller would allow you to lager in that case.
 
Sam's club sells an apt sized fridge w/out a freezer for about $115. It will hold a 5 gallon bucker w/air lock but not the 6.5 ones. The Thompsons controllers are about $65.

My fridge will get down to the 30's. I've frozen beer in it so I could lager if I wanted to.
 
C-Rider said:
Sam's club sells an apt sized fridge w/out a freezer for about $115. It will hold a 5 gallon bucker w/air lock but not the 6.5 ones. The Thompsons controllers are about $65.

My fridge will get down to the 30's. I've frozen beer in it so I could lager if I wanted to.
Click to expand...

I'm looking for something that will hold 6.5 gallon buckets without modification. I'm thinking about getting two of these and stacking them on top of each other. This way I can have two separate chambers at different temps.
 
This would be badass if you could stick a large photo of a fully-stocked beer fridge on the inside of the glass.

Or maybe make it look like it's full of beer inside, with a nice head near the top of the glass door.
 

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