Perfect fermentation chamber for apartment brewers

This is a Frigidaire FFC0522DW 5 cubic foot freezer. The average cost is $129. I got this one FREE! It fit's a 5 gallon glass carboy snugly (shown below) and a 5 gallon better bottle with a few inches to spare around the walls. It also is tall enough to fit the glass carboy with a 1" ID blowoff tube or either carboy/better bottle with an airlock. To the side you'll notice a small secondary. That's a portion of a witbier I just bottled. Racked a gallon off and put grapefruit peel and juice in it for the lady, she loves grapefruit. There is enough room on the ledge there to fit a capped (not airlocked) 3 gallon class carboy that I use for my secondary. 2 cases of bottles will fit on the ledge when nothing else is there. Also notice the 1 gallon milk jug. I don't have a temp controller yet so I keep two of these, one in the freezer and the other frozen one in the fermentation chamber. These last about 12 hours and keep the temp at around 64. My apartment is about 75 right now. Controller will be coming soon enough though. I brew 3.5 gallon batches (yes they fit in a 3 gallon secondary) which produce about 16 22oz, or 35 12oz bottles. Hope this helps anyone looking for a small setup. Oh yeah, that's a russian imperial stout in the primary.



It literally fit's in a small space between my love seat and closet. To be more accurate it's 27 1/4" X 23 3/4" and 34" tall.

I just scored one of these, 10 miles away for $20!!! Waiting for my dual thingy switch. Works perfectly and is mint. Good score.
pao

It cools super quick and the energy guide estimates $26 a year for operation which will be cut drastically down considering it's not freezing. I pretty much love it.

I would really appreciate it if you would check the measurements of clear space on the shelf area: I use both 5 and 3-gallon better bottles, and that freezer looks like it could hold one of each: 5 in lower area, 3 on the shelf where you have the 1-gallon jug. Just curious as to whether the shelf would hold the 3-gallon BB with an airlock.

Thanks in advance.

Will it hold 6 gallon BB? Doesn't look like it, if that's a 5 in the bottom

Marchborne said:

I would really appreciate it if you would check the measurements of clear space on the shelf area: I use both 5 and 3-gallon better bottles, and that freezer looks like it could hold one of each: 5 in lower area, 3 on the shelf where you have the 1-gallon jug. Just curious as to whether the shelf would hold the 3-gallon BB with an airlock.

Thanks in advance.

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16 1/2" X 11" and 18 1/4" tall. That's being safe about 1/8th"

WildOnions said:

Will it hold 6 gallon BB? Doesn't look like it, if that's a 5 in the bottom

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I don't know. What you're seeing in the pic is a 5 gallon glass carboy. My 5 gallon better bottle fits in there with a couple inches to spare.

Thanks, JD, I'll measure my 3-gallon BB when I get home tonight. Sounds like it might work using the BB cap and dry air-trap airlock (lower height than a wet air lock).

Cheers.

JDFlow said:

I don't know. What you're seeing in the pic is a 5 gallon glass carboy. My 5 gallon better bottle fits in there with a couple inches to spare.

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I think the 6 gallon better bottle is 11.5" wide and the same height as the 5 gallon. Can you measure to see if it would fit? Thanks!

WildOnions said:

I think the 6 gallon better bottle is 11.5" wide and the same height as the 5 gallon. Can you measure to see if it would fit? Thanks!

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10 3/4 X 16 1/2 and 28 1/2 tall. It might be closer to 11 on the first dimension, but it's hard to tell with the measuring tape down inside the freezer.

JDFlow said:

10 3/4 X 16 1/2 and 28 1/2 tall. It might be closer to 11 on the first dimension, but it's hard to tell with the measuring tape down inside the freezer.

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thanks

JDFlow said:

It cools super quick and the energy guide estimates $26 a year for operation which will be cut drastically down considering it's not freezing. I pretty much love it.

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Not that this isn't a really good find, I just wanted to point out that energy consumption will be based off the amount and length of cycles it runs, not temperature.

For instance, my freezer ran at freezing temps with the "stock" thermostat and cycled once every two hours maybe. Now I have a Love controller on it with a 2* differential and it cycles every 30 minutes. I'm willing to bet that my running cost has gone up.

#smalltechincalpoint

AmandaK said:

Not that this isn't a really good find, I just wanted to point out that energy consumption will be based off the amount and length of cycles it runs, not temperature.

For instance, my freezer ran at freezing temps with the "stock" thermostat and cycled once every two hours maybe. Now I have a Love controller on it with a 2* differential and it cycles every 30 minutes. I'm willing to bet that my running cost has gone up.

#smalltechincalpoint

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I was wondering about that. Still well worth it to have worryless control of my fermentation temp IMO.