Ferm Chamber

I have narrowed down my choices in a ferm chamber to be either an upright freezer or a chest freezer. Excluding cost consideration, which would you go with and why?

For fermentation I would go with an upright. Easier to move the fermenters in and out rather than having to lift them up and carefully place them inside, while leaning over.

But in terms of storage you can get more space to put fermenters in an equivalent chest freezer than you will from any upright. Although, I suppose you could put in some sturdy shelving to remedy that.

Chest freezer... without a question. When you open a upright all of the cold air dumps out onto the ground. With a chest the chilled air stays put, pretty much.

I used one for my kegging system. I can change out kegs, wipedown and close it back-up without it even turning on.

I just got a temp controller and am going to make a ferm chamber out of one also.

Chest freezer user here and I love it. Just wish I bought a bigger one to do more than 1 fermentation at a time. Maybe I'll buy a bigger one some day and make this a lagering fridge.

FooFan said:

Chest freezer... without a question. When you open a upright all of the cold air dumps out onto the ground. With a chest the chilled air stays put, pretty much.

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True, but the temp loss you see with a chest freezer is dependent on the temperature differential inside vs. outside.

For ale fermentation, An upright freezer is probably preferable. You don't have to life up/over, and the temp loses are minimal since ale temps are somewhat close to room temps typically.

If serving or lagering, you might go with a chest freezers since the temp differential will be higher. It might be even worth the extra effort with lifting fermenter up/over.

Ture and good point , for most cases. My fermentation cooler will be outside in a shed. Living in Atlanta we can see temps in the 100s for a week in the summer.