Rockstar Energy Fridge = Perfect Single Bucket Fermenter!

So, a fellow brewer and very good friend of mine scored a couple of these for free.... They're basically a cylindrical mini-fridge.



We both immediately thought they would make perfect fermenters... and boy will they ever (after some help from you guys). Regular 6.5 gallon Ale Pales fit perfectly with an airlock. Nice amount of room above, below, and all around.



As they are, we could use them as lagering tanks. They hold 45*F perfectly with no controller, but there is no temp control. So what I'm asking from you guys, is for some temp control recommendations so I can ferment at ale temps. I thought I knew what I needed... a love controller... until I got on their website, and I was immediately clueless. I have no idea which model would be right for this project.

A couple more questions...

In this case... when I use a non-stock temp controller, all I will basically do is interrupt the power source of the compressor and have the temp controller turn the unit on and off, right?

Any mounting recommendations? I have no idea what the clear lid is made of. My only guess is acrylic. Is it possible to cut a mounting hole in acrylic? Cutting through the sides is not possible. There are obviously coils in the sides. Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance for any help. I am really excited about being able to control my fermentation temps. I live in South Georgia, and the room my buckets sit in is generally around 80*F in the summer due to outside temps hovering in the high 90s low 100s (recently our heat index was 110*F). I can definitely tell the quality of my beers is dropping with the raising temps.

Want 43210

holy cr@p that's awesome!

I wish I could score a couple. Nice. I use the analog Johnson Controls model which I picked up off the bay for $34 shipped. Works great, easy to wire. Any of the commonly used ones around here should work.

SowegaBrews said:

In this case... when I use a non-stock temp controller, all I will basically do is interrupt the power source of the compressor and have the temp controller turn the unit on and off, right?

Click to expand...

Yup.

SowegaBrews said:

Any mounting recommendations? I have no idea what the clear lid is made of. My only guess is acrylic. Is it possible to cut a mounting hole in acrylic? Cutting through the sides is not possible. There are obviously coils in the sides. Any other ideas?

Click to expand...

Through the bottom? Building a dolly with some casters would be nice I think and give you room to go underneath.

Cutting the top should be easy though. I would notch the edge of the lid and seal around your probe with a bit of weather stripping.

I picked up a Honeywell 678A on ebay for $25 with free shipping. It works great and wiring is as simple as wiring a light switch... There are several different brands that are all essentially the exact same controller.

Buuuuut, if you're looking for the easiest method that is still cost efficient I suggest this new to the market cheapo controller..

Freezer Conversion Thermostat - Remote Bulb Freezer Conversion Thermostat [Thermostat External - KC] - $36.00 : CHI Company ball lock kegs for sale, Home brewing and vending, beer kegs, Pepsi vending machines, flavor strips and vending labels

e-bay has them. Pricey tho'.

MMW said:

Through the bottom? Building a dolly with some casters would be nice I think and give you room to go underneath.

Cutting the top should be easy though. I would notch the edge of the lid and seal around your probe with a bit of weather stripping.

Click to expand...

The lid has a small slit right in the middle where it hinges and I think I can get the probe through there. I think I'm going to order the unit clept posted and velcro it to the side or something.

Thanks for the help guys!

I'm eyeing one of these on craiglist, but it looks like it would be a pain to pull a full 6 gallon Better Bottle out of one of these. Have you tried this?

Brewhauler FTW!

944play said:

Brewhauler FTW!

Click to expand...

Yep, that'll do it. Thanks.

It's time to revive this thread. I ended up buying the RockStar cooler and it worked for a while, but now it is overheating on my, raising my Irish Red from 64 to almost 80 in the process . It seems to cool for a while but then the inside gets warmer than room temperature. Has anyone experienced this or have any idea of how to fix it? It probably didn't help that I had my bucket carboys sitting right on top of the cooling cone at the bottom (which eventually poked a hole in my fermenter, but that's another problem). Could that have damaged it? Any ideas of how to fix the overheating?

In case anyone else runs into this problem, I found a knob underneath the cooler that I guess regulates how cold it gets. Mine was cranked up all the way and turning it down a bit seems to have helped. It got down to 45 degrees yesterday and hasn't heated up at all so maybe that's all it takes.

I just found one of these on Craigslist, $75 and it rules. And yeah, there's a temp knob on the bottom, holy crap that's great - I don't have to hook up any sort of temp control or anything! In Hawaii, a fridge is pretty much the only way to ferment.

The only bummer was not being the first guy to think of it ;-)

- j