small fridge for first Lager?

I pulled an unused small refrigerator from storage to see if I could fit a 5 gal carboy in it. I had to take off the door shelves and re-attach the door seal with duct tape but yes, it worked and the carboy with 3-piece airlock just barely fit:



I have been fooling around with the temp control and can get it warmest without turning off 55 degrees; coldest, well it will freeze.

I would really like to get an Oktoberfest Marzen lager going in time for the fall. If I monitor/control the temp closely, will this small fridge work for fermentation? Is there anything I should look out for?

Many thanks -

John

i would unscrew the freezer unit. that black plastic part should just come right off giving you more room. those temp ranges seem about right for a lager. you may think about getting a Ronco ETC so you don't have to actually monitor the temp.

Looks like it should work well

TipsyDragon said:

i would unscrew the freezer unit. that black plastic part should just come right off giving you more room. those temp ranges seem about right for a lager. you may think about getting a Ronco ETC so you don't have to actually monitor the temp.

Click to expand...

Thanks for this idea, but the base of the freezer is where the coolant circulates. It is attached in the back with tubing that look a bit too difficult to relocate. Thoughts?

im not suggesting you remove the cooling element just the black plastic box "freezer" at the top... if your saying that the cooling element is actually attached to the black plastic box you might be able to just cut the box and leave the parts that are attached to the cooling element.

if you ever plan on turning this back into a mini-fridge this might not be a good idea.

It will work, but for lagering I recommend a chest freezer with temperature controller. To maintain the low temperature that fridge will probably be running almost all the time.

Beer also doesn't freeze at 32°F. I made a lager this past February and lagered in my garage in March. I don't know the freezing point of beer, but I held that SOB at 31°F SOLID for a couple weeks.