I found an upright freezer on CL for free. Will this work to ferment?

The shelves ARE the cooling unit, so I think I'll have to bend them in order to use it. Has anyone else done this with success?

Also, a ferm temp controller will still work on an upright freezer right?

Be extremely careful bending them...the slightest crack or split, and it's game over!

Another disadvantage of vertical units is that the cold air will drop out every time you open the door. Not a huge problem though. And the price is certainly right!

Your controller will work fine.

Yeah, I got one of these for free and was able to kind of bend the shelves out of the way, but it wasn't pretty. Right now it has a corny in it, but once I fill up a second I'll need to move it into the chest in my garage.

So it's possible, but be very gentle and accept that the best you can do is get them out of the way enough to cram in a carboy. Well, maybe you can totally reshape it in a way that works, but 'good enough' was sufficient for me in this situation.

Seen an upright at a yard sale yesterday. They wanted $35 I think. No shelves. Too bad I already got one.