splitting chest freezer for serving and fermenting?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

twd000

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2010
Messages
825
Reaction score
191
Location
New Hampshire
I am considering buying a ~10 cu. ft. chest freezer and converting for use both as a fermentation chamber, and keg server.

A search turned up another brewer who used a mixed cooling/heating cycle. I was hoping I could just take advantage of the cooling, using two temperature controllers.

I figure my target temperatures will always be below ambient (75 F). I would use a foam board and gaskets to divide the freezer into two compartments. The inner wall would have a cutout for a 2" computer fan that only runs when the warmer side needs to be cooled.

But this depends on how the cold air is delivered to the freezer. Is there a fan that blows in the cold air, similar to refrigerators? Or does it cool directly through all 5 walls? Does a frost-free freezer have a fan? If it is cooling though the walls, this idea is not going to work.
 
frost free essentially means it shuts off and auto defrosts on a consistent basis. the chest freezer i have cools directly through the walls.
 
When I use my chest freezer for fermentation control of ales I'll just fill some 2 litre bottles with whatever I was serving and put them in the fridge for drinking. I keep them carbed up with the homebrewed tire stem carbonator cap.
 
When I use my chest freezer for fermentation control of ales I'll just fill some 2 litre bottles with whatever I was serving and put them in the fridge for drinking. I keep them carbed up with the homebrewed tire stem carbonator cap.

that sounds like a good compromise. Aren't you concerned about temperature-cycling the remainder of the kegs - taking them down to serving temp, then letting them rise back to room temp?

My current brewing schedule would have me using it as a fermentation fridge about 50% of the time, which would mean a lot of disruptions to pull kegs out and fill the 2-liter bottles.
 
I have a 9 cu ft freezer and it will hold 3 kegs and 2 carboys (1 on the hump) so I rarely have to remove a keg. I'm not concerned about the temperature swings as it doesn't seem to change the beer too much. I've even bottled my lagers (lagered at 33F) post keg and stored them at room temperatures with no problems.
 
I have a 9 cu ft freezer and it will hold 3 kegs and 2 carboys (1 on the hump) so I rarely have to remove a keg. I'm not concerned about the temperature swings as it doesn't seem to change the beer too much. I've even bottled my lagers (lagered at 33F) post keg and stored them at room temperatures with no problems.


so do you pick one temperature for both fermenting and serving? seems like ale fermenting temps would be too cold for serving
 
Plan B - what about this same idea using a side-by-side refrigerator? It already has divided compartments, with a cutout to pass cold air. It maintains temperatures that are ~20 F apart. I would need a large fridge to ensure the freezer side is big enough to hold a couple corny kegs.

Has anyone attempted this?
 
twd000 said:
My current brewing schedule would have me using it as a fermentation fridge about 50% of the time, which would mean a lot of disruptions to pull kegs out and fill the 2-liter bottles.
Do you realistically need to ferment in the fridge every time? I know its a nice thing to have in the summer or for a lager, but in the fall and a good part of the winter garage temp works great for me..
 
so do you pick one temperature for both fermenting and serving? seems like ale fermenting temps would be too cold for serving

Fermentation temps take preference. I ferment ales in the low 60s and lagers @ 48. When fermenting ales I use the 2 litre bottles in the regular fridge. When fermenting lagers I just let the served beer warm up a little in the glass before drinking. I only do the ales for 1 week and then they come out to finish at room temperature. If nothing is fermenting then I usually drop the temp to 33F for lagering or cold crashing.
 
Do you realistically need to ferment in the fridge every time? I know its a nice thing to have in the summer or for a lager, but in the fall and a good part of the winter garage temp works great for me..

You're right, I don't need it all the time for fermenting ales. I am able to maintain about +/- 4 degrees F with a swamp cooler and fan in our guest bedroom. I'm hoping I can do a bit better with digital control.
 
Back
Top