Freezer logistics

[cvstrat]

I decided recently to snag 4lbs of hops because hops direct is so damn cheap. The problem is I have roomies and our freezer is always full. So I've been looking at chest freezers for hop storage and am kind of unsure which way to go.

Right now I have the hops stored in my kegerator, which is preventing kegging of anything. I have considered I guess a 5 cubic ft chest freezer simply for hop storage but I hate the idea of buying a freezer w/o the ability to utilize it to control my fermentation temps. The house I live in is on average 72-74 degrees depending on the outside temperature so it's not horrible but I know I could improve several beer styles by a lower temp.

I live with the owners of the house. They are cool and said it was no problem to get a small chest freezer, but I believe a huge one would be a little too obtrusive. I already have a kegerator, brew gear, and 7 carboys full of beer taking up space. If it were my place I'd store the hops in the kitchen freezer and keep the chest freezer for fermentation, but they have too much food in the kitchen freezer.

Should I just get a small freezer for hops and forget about temp control? I don't wanna store hops near room temp and the LHBS still charges $3/oz for everything so I refuse to do that any longer. I love the savings of bulk hop purchases but having a freezer specifically for them is a PITA. What should I do?

 

[Chumley]

You could go the route of buying a small chest freezer for the hops and allow you roommates to use it for food as well, if their kitchen freezer is always full they'd probably appreciate that. Then get a dorm fridge or "son-of-fermentation chiller" to ferment in.
I suppose you could buy a small fridge and store the hops in the freezer part and use the bottom for fermentation, I'm not sure if the freezer would stay cold enough if you have the fridge temp controlled for ales (mid 60's).
Seems like you have nice roommates and that they'd be willing to work with you to solve this... especially for all the free beer you've been giving them ;^)

 

[MrH]

I second the idea of offering space in the freezer for extra food. But instead of getting another fridge for fermentation, just build a small fermentation chamber and use a duct to draw cold air from the freezer to cool it. Doesn't have to be fancy - you could make it out of 2" foam board and duct tape if you don't have access to carpentry tools. Since it sounds like you only do ales, you only need to drop the temp a few degrees, so the freezer won't have any problem supplying enough cold air to make it work. You just need to add a collar (just like you would for a keezer) and install the ducts through the collar with a temp controlled muffin fan pulling cold air into the chamber.

I used to do this with a small fridge and it worked great with ambient garage temps over 100F in the summer, so it should work even better with the freezer.

 

[david_42]

What do you have for a kegerator? Might make more sense to build out a 5 cu ft keezer and use the old kegerator as a fermentation chamber. I've got a 5 cu ft and I store hops over the compressor hump. The old fridge that used to be my kegger is now used for fermenting. Much easier to get the fermentors in and out than it would be in a chest freezer.