Curious about building a collar on my 7cf freezer for fermentation

[bboyeruga]

I've seen a lot of great Keezer builds in here, but I haven't yet stepped up to kegs. I need to build a collar on my existing 7 cf freezer in order to fit 2-3 fermentation buckets/carboys without tilting them.

Questions:
1. Is it still possible to maintain fermentation temps down to lager temps once the collar is on?
2. What kind of wood would provide the best insulation? Should I use styrofoam as well?
3. Should I just buy a bigger freezer and save this one for kegging when the time comes?

Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

[TyroneSweetlick]

Yes, you can get to layering temps if your collar is well made. Use some weatherstripping on the top and bottom of the collar and insulate the collar. Wood only has an r-value around 1 per inch of wood.

Can't answer that last question for you, but I ferment (lagers) and lager in the same keezer I serve with.

 

[millstone]

I used 3/4" pine for my collar and added 3/4" foil faced foam board to this sides and top. As Tyrone said, add weatherstripping to the bottom of the wood collar. Also, I used clear silicone caulk to secure the freezer lid to the collar leaving the original weather seal in place, and attached the hinges to the collar. This way you have plenty of elbow space to add or remove your buckets, carboys from the ferment. Think about adding a small fan to help keep temperatures consistent. My fermenting chamber is in my garage, outside temps go into the 100's during the summer and below 0 in the winter, and the fermenting chamber has held lager and ale temps.

tom

 

[jhay_x7]

1. Is it still possible to maintain fermentation temps down to lager temps once the collar is on?

Yes.

2. What kind of wood would provide the best insulation? Should I use styrofoam as well?

Wood doesn't matter, as stated above, the R-value of wood is not relevant. For my collar, I used 2x4 pine and made it the same dimension of the cooler (pine is flush with the exterior cooler wall). I then made trim out of 1x6 cedar and attached it to the internal pine collar, mainly for aesthetics but it does help the collar stay snug to the cooler.

To help with insulation, I did use silicon caulk around all gaps of the wood and also lined the inside of the collar with 3 layers of extruded polystyrene (the pink insulation board).

3. Should I just buy a bigger freezer and save this one for kegging when the time comes?

Depends. With mine I use it for fermentation and serving but it is large enough to hold two carboys for fermentation and four kegs. I keep the freezer at 32 F and I place fermwraps on the carboys along with two t-shirts and a sweatshirt for fermentation temp control and it will keep the temperature steady all the way up to 68F for fermentation.

 

[jhay_x7]

Oh BTW... ROLL TIDE!

 

[bboyeruga]

Oh BTW... ROLL TIDE!

Haha, you got lucky last year! Can't wait to face you guys again. Thanks for the info!