twd000
Well-Known Member
I've been homebrewing about 5 years; 3 years ago I modified a side-by-side fridge with two STC-1000 controllers to serve kegs from the freezer side and ferment in the fridge side. It's worked pretty well, if a little kludge-y. I realize that I can only fit 3 kegs in the freezer side, which limits my capacity to lager and carbonate while serving. And the fridge side it often empty if I don't have an active fermentation going. I can fit 2 carboys in there, but the one of the lower level is at the mercy of the upper carboy which has the temperature probe. Probably just as good to leave at room temperature after primary is finished.
So I'm getting ready to move to New Hampshire, and wondering whether it makes sense to bring the side-by-side kegerator/fermentor with me, or use this as an opportunity to upgrade to a better system? I think the kegerator technology has coalesced around the 10 cubic foot chest freezers; allows 6-8 kegs serving/carbonating/lagering. Tower tap system on the lid, and you're good-to-go.
Looking around, I still don't see a homebrew-scale fermentation system that solves the problems. Dorm fridges are too small to fit a carboy; I've seen some people tearing the fridge guts out and building a bigger chamber. Not looking for that scale project. Too cheap to buy a glycol-jacketed conical. What about a thermoelectric wine fridge? I basically need a well-insulated box that can maintain a setpoint between 50-65 F. Is there some sort of jacket/wrap that you can wrap around a carboy to cool and heat as necessary? I think I remember seeing a polycarbonate conical fermentor recently (FastFerment). Is there an option to add temperature control to that?
So I'm getting ready to move to New Hampshire, and wondering whether it makes sense to bring the side-by-side kegerator/fermentor with me, or use this as an opportunity to upgrade to a better system? I think the kegerator technology has coalesced around the 10 cubic foot chest freezers; allows 6-8 kegs serving/carbonating/lagering. Tower tap system on the lid, and you're good-to-go.
Looking around, I still don't see a homebrew-scale fermentation system that solves the problems. Dorm fridges are too small to fit a carboy; I've seen some people tearing the fridge guts out and building a bigger chamber. Not looking for that scale project. Too cheap to buy a glycol-jacketed conical. What about a thermoelectric wine fridge? I basically need a well-insulated box that can maintain a setpoint between 50-65 F. Is there some sort of jacket/wrap that you can wrap around a carboy to cool and heat as necessary? I think I remember seeing a polycarbonate conical fermentor recently (FastFerment). Is there an option to add temperature control to that?
