Mini fridge fermentation

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Stoutfield

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My girlfriend recently gave me a mini fridge for my home brew. I was wondering what kind of prep work needs to be done in order for it to keep a constant temp for a healthy stout fermentation.
 
Your mini fridge and all refrigerators have a control to keep the interior of the refrigerator at a specific temperature range.....but you need to keep the beer at a specific temperature, not the interior of the fridge. Get a controller that has a remote pickup (like the one above) and fasten that to the fermenter with a bit of insulation over it so it senses the beer temp and controls that.
 
How do you install the controller into the fridge?

Very simply. The controller has a plug that you plug your fridge into and then you plus the controller into the wall. The controller has a temperature sensor that you put in your fridge, taped up against your fermenter with something for insulation. You tell the controller what temp you want the beer at and it'll turn the fridge on when it gets too warm. Once it's cooled off, it'll cut all power to the fridge.

And now you have the easiest way to control fermentation temps.
 
yup. Just make sure you can fit your carboy and it's level. I had to make a mini shelf in mine because it came with a stupid plastic bottom tray. It wasn't anything fancy just some spare plywood, nails and glue. Worked great for holding temperatures and I even bought a fermwrap heater to go around the carboy in case I wanted to increase temperatures. Set it and forget it.

If you want to get fancy and be able to program different temperatures for different days you could check out the Inkbird 310. It allows you to set a specific temperature for X days then increase/decrease to another temperature. It removes the need for you to manually go change the temperatures.

If you have to bend the cooling portion for the freezer down just be careful not to kink the hose.
 
My next question is do I need to buy a heater for my mini fridge or should it hold steady by itself?
 
My next question is do I need to buy a heater for my mini fridge or should it hold steady by itself?

That will depend on where you keep the mini fridge. If you keep it in the house where the temperature will always be warmer than you want to keep the fermenting beer you don't need a heater. If you were to put it in my unheated garage where I expect the temperature to be about -5 tomorrow morning you certainly would need a heater.:rockin:
 
My next question is do I need to buy a heater for my mini fridge or should it hold steady by itself?

if its a mini fridge, there will be no room for a heater. you need to buy ferm wrap to wrap around your fermentation vessel

what will you be fermenting in?
 
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