what temp should I set my new chest freezer?

Hey guys... I just bit the bullet and bought a chest freezer so I can keep my courney kegs chilled. I picked up the 9 cubic ft. kenmore chest freezer from sears (its the white one for 249.00) I was going to go for the black one but its the same exact one except 100.00 more expensive which I found a little over the top... Anywayyyyys the temp gauge reads settings 1-7 (7 being the coldest) Since I am a noob at this, just curious what to set the temp. to? Any advice would help me out thanks!

get a temp controller or build one using the DIY section, and turn the freezer to full cold, control your temp with the controller instead of a random dial, you dont want to freeze the beer solid! you want it at that ideal serving temp for your specific beer.

What you want is a temperature control unit that is separate from the freezer itself that turns the power off of the freezer when it gets too cold because I believe even on the warmest setting, a freezer gets too cold.

You need to invest $5 and get a refrigerator\freezer thermometer. The dial on the freezer itself is not going to be a very good indicator of what the inside temperature is.

where can i find a good temp. controller? Depending on how hard it is to make one I could possibly do that too I just have never done that before....

I have a Johnson Controls 7051 thermostat which should do exactly what you want.
It works fine, but I switched to a digital version. If you want it for $30.00 (shipping included), send me a PM.

-a.

ajf said:

I have a Johnson Controls 7051 thermostat which should do exactly what you want.
It works fine, but I switched to a digital version. If you want it for $30.00 (shipping included), send me a PM.

-a.

Click to expand...

Take that. It's a deal.

thanks for the reply on my thread... I too started looking at digital, now that I know a little bit more about them... found one on ebay for 35.00 shipped also made by johnson.. think its a deal seeing as though midwest sells them for 75.00 If that falls through though I will let you know, and I might take thats off your hands. thanks!

A word of warning. If you use a digital controller with the probe in a thermo-well, they work great if the wort temperature is within one or two degrees of the thermostat setting. If the wort temperature is more than 3 degrees warmer than the thermostat setting, then you can get an overshoot, and cool the ambient temperature to well below what is required.
Taping the thermostat to the outside of the carboy for a day should overcome this problem.

-a.

ajf you have a pm.. I am going to take the temp controller off your hands... midwestsupplies just became out of stock on the digital version