I just started kegging about a month ago. I scored a 12 cubic foot chest freezer off CL for $50, hooked it up to a Johnson digital temp controller and set it in the garage. It's working great right now, but my concern is that I will freeze my beer during the winter. I live in upstate NY where temps do get quite cold. I would like to keep the chest freezer in the garage, if possible. Any advice?
Keezer in garage during winter
- Thread starter NYrunner
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Best method is to use a two stage contoller, use a small lightbulb or aquarium heater on the heat cycle to keep temps above freezing. This way temps will remain precisely as set on the controller. You could likely also put a small heat source like a small light bulb and run it only during extreme cold weather, but this will require a bit of attention on your part.
Or I guess you could unplug the keezer and run the heat source on the controller you have in heat mode during the coldest months of the year to stay above 35 - 40. But during a winter heat wave, your brew could get a touch warm.
A two stage controller will work the best and keep your brew at perfect temperature but will require another 100 bucks or so. Simply ruinning a little heat in there will keep things from freezing, but will require attention.
Or I guess you could unplug the keezer and run the heat source on the controller you have in heat mode during the coldest months of the year to stay above 35 - 40. But during a winter heat wave, your brew could get a touch warm.
A two stage controller will work the best and keep your brew at perfect temperature but will require another 100 bucks or so. Simply ruinning a little heat in there will keep things from freezing, but will require attention.
You can sorta turn your johnson controller into a two-stage like this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/chiller-heater-johnson-controller-w-pic-159995/
It works fine, but you can't plug in both the heater and the freezer at the same time because it would cycle too much. There is no hysteresis between the two stages because the controller is simply a SPDT relay.
If I were to do it again, I'd just get one of the two stage controllers that others have been using around here.
Cool...does anyone have a link to one of these two stage controllers?
