Chest Freezer Question

Those of you who use a chest freezer for temperature control of fermentations, how do handle getting containers of beer at the 5 gallon volumes or more into and out of the freezer?? That's a lot of weight and not the best for your back. What am I missing here??

Dr Malt

im pretty scrwany but i just lift them in and out i have a 6" collar on mine to and the freezer sits on a 2-4" ledge in my garage so its pretty high.

Im actually going to either put a half barrel or a pony keg in there eventually. also i have some big friends that can help me but i was thinking maybe bolting a pullie system to the ceiling joist above the kreezer (its in the garage if this was in a house i would NIX it) to lift them up and move them in.

15 gallons of beer in a SS KEG is way to heavy for me to lift let alone into something like a chest freezer!

*i just saw you where not talking about a kegorator but a fermenter! carboys are a PIA to get in and out of my freezer lol, they do make a harness system for them though made of nylon webbing.

It is actually very easy, and I will describe the steps below.

One, Open the lid of the chest freezer
Two, Place carboy or lagering keg in freezer
Three, close the lid.

When working with the carboys, it helps if you have a brewhauler or a milk crate to use to carry around that unweildy thing. When you are in the secondary fermenter, I like to use kegs as they already have handles.

For carboys, you'll want to use either a milk crate or brew hauler for sure. I have no problem with corny kegs. The handles are comfy and my collar goes up with the lid.

I only put kegs in. I grab the top & bottom, hoist it to the collar, then grip the middle & let it slide down. I built the collar is strong enough to support a keg without shifting or damage. This is at my physical limits (I'm 55 and a keyboard jockey) and I'm seriously thinking about attaching a block & tackle on a rail to the ceiling.

In California, I used one for hoisting buckets of sparge water.

Thanks for the comments. I am also thinking of changing to Better Bottles as the plastic construction would be safer and lighter. I recently had 2 glass carboys break in a month. They were about 6 years old, well used and empty, but it would not have been pretty if I were carrying them.

Dr Malt

Just make sure you get the big better bottles with the extra head room. When you pick the bottles up around the middle, you can squeeze the sides in forcing out the beer if you have filled them up to the top.