Ferm Chamber/Kegerator in One?

[Walzenbrew]

I have neither the space or money to have one kegerator and one fermentation fridge.

Have any of you had success with doing it all in one? Like a larger chest freezer, with temp control, that you use for both kegs and fermentation chambers?

How did it work out?

 

[estricklin]

I've had limited success with it. I mean I chilled my kegs in the ferm chamber when I had to, cold crashed in it, did lagering and otherwise had to raise the temp for ales which didn't work too good trying to synchronize everything. If you don't brew a lot you could certainly do it though.

 

[jeff62217]

When I attempted to take a break from drinking for a couple months on new years I played around with the t-stat on my kegerator to bring it up to the 48-55F range to ferment my first lager.

After 3 weeks of not drinking while still brewing, I gave into temptation and started drinking again. I ended up making a very nice munich helles which I got into too early and wasn't able to fully enjoy.

I've only done that once, because I prefer my kegged beer much colder, around 38-45 degrees.. and my kegerator doesn't have the space inside.
I would love a dedicated ferm chamber/fridge but also don't have the space.

 

[estricklin]

There's always the family fridge to lager in at least. Not to mention the 2.5 gallon kegs fit in there, just juice them with c02 every few days and ya don't even have to leave the tank hooked up.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I just built a ferm chamber ontop of my keezer. I still haven't posted the details in the DIY forum, but if your handy you can have it all. I just built an insulated box (with divider) ontop of the keezer and keep one corney full of water in the keezer to pump around for cooling. three STC1000's later and I have a keezer controller, an ale chamber and a lager chamber. It's similar to the glycol systems people have set up I just use the keezer as my chiller.

 

[shetc]

I have used a single freezer with external temp controller for fermentation, cold crash and then to hold my keg. Worked just fine. Eventually, got another freezer so I can ferment and keg at the same time.

 

[ArthurDigbySellers]

I currently ferment in a small freezer which I am going to also use as a keezer once I brew my next batch of beer. I don't brew very often so it should work ok for me. If I start brewing more often (which I might since I now have the ability to keg) then I might have to start rethinking things. I think for the occasional brewer it should work fine.

 

[Walzenbrew]

I currently ferment in a small freezer which I am going to also use as a keezer once I brew my next batch of beer. I don't brew very often so it should work ok for me. If I start brewing more often (which I might since I now have the ability to keg) then I might have to start rethinking things. I think for the occasional brewer it should work fine.

I rarely ever have more than 2 different 5 gallon batches, so I'm thinking of that route as well.