need a brew fridge

[Dextersmom]

i need a brew fridge so bad it hurts......my batches seem to be suffering due to changing temperatures. my mead had to have been hurt when temps went from 64ish to close to 80 a week or two back....and i don't want to brew this amber kit that i have until i have a nice sustainable area for fermenting.....Now i know theres all these conversions i can do to old fridges, freezers, etc but aren't there any premade fermenting fridges out there?

 

[DaleJ]

This isn't exactly "ready made," but easy to get to that point.

Use a Sanyo SR-4912M refrigerator with a digital controller.
All you have to do to the fridge is cut out the plastic door cover on the inside (the part for holding bottles, etc.)(You need the edge of that plastic to hold the gasket in place), and unscrew the light bulb.

It'll hold a pail or carboy or 2 cornies.
Doesn't take much space and works great.

 

[tnlandsailor]

If you are looking for something "ready made", then just use any fridge and put a temperature controller on it. One of these will allow you to change the fridge temp to something more in the range of fermentation - far outside it's normal capability. Morebeer has one for example:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/16663/

Be advised that by using this, your freezer compartment (if used on a fridge) will likely no longer function as a freezer.

There is a more do-it-yourself option that I'm particularly fond of called the Son of Fermentation Chiller. It was conceived by Ken Schwartz and is a very clever design. Plans to make one are here:

http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/chiller/chiller.PDF

Prosit!

 

[Dextersmom]

Thanks! i've seen these before...I was kind of hoping there were simply fridges designed for fermenting where i didn't have to use a thermostat override or build any insolation huts...

 

[BierMuncher]

Thanks! i've seen these before...I was kind of hoping there were simply fridges designed for fermenting where i didn't have to use a thermostat override or build any insolation huts...

The thermostat is easy. Just think of it as an extension chord that your appliance plugs into. There's no hardware work to do.

Plus, when you get your chest freezer for a kegerator (Which you will ), you can use the thermostat to keep your kegs cold.

 

[morrighu]

Get the thermostat. You should be able to get a fridge or freezer on the cheap from Freecycle or Craig's List. You might have to drive a bit to go pick it up or schoomze someone who owns a truck or van, but hey, you have beer. How hard can that be?

2 cents,

M.

 

[The_Scooch]

Buy a used chest freezer and add the controller from morebeer.com. I did this and spent a total of $150.

 

[cuinrearview]

Recently I discovered the water bath. I used a storage container with the fermenter in it about 1/2 filled with water. I rotated two frozen bottles of water twice a day to keep the fermentation between 60 and 64 degrees. Not sure if this will help your situation, but it certainly will keep stuff more constant with the added volume of liquid.

 

[Fenster]

I built Yoopers Lagerator for $45 recently.

So far the results have been very good...although you do have to change out ice bottles occasionaly (not daily though).

 

[Danek]

Out of interest - for keeping fermenters cool, would it be better to go with a fridge or a freezer?

 

[tnlandsailor]

Out of interest - for keeping fermenters cool, would it be better to go with a fridge or a freezer?

It's going to depend on some things. An upright fridge is probably only large enough for 1 carboy unless you can ferment in corny kegs - in which case you could pack several in there depending on the size of the fridge. A chest type freezer will fit 2 or 3 carboys or a bunch of corny kegs, but is a bit tricky to load and unload of full carboys with all the lifting in and out. You'll have to weigh the pros and cons.

As far as temperature control, it probably doesn't matter - although I recall a couple of people saying that because you run the freezer at such a high temp relative to what it was designed for, the resulting condensation can cause some rusting of components. But that is completely anecdotal and I don't have any experience with it. Any folks here have problems with chest freezers and ferment temps?

Prosit!

 

[TexLaw]

Any folks here have problems with chest freezers and ferment temps?

Not so far. I do try to keep an eye on it, though, and sop up any excess moisture often. DampRid (or just your calcium chloride pellets from any pool supply store) helps a bit with the humidity, too.

Like you said, the trickiest part is getting the carboys in and out of the chest freezer, but that got a lot easier after getting Brew Haulers and switching to Better Bottles.


TL

 

[D*Bo]

As long as you build a shelf over the angled portion in the back and trim the ledge off the inner section of the door, you can fit more than one carboy or two cornies

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[Fenster]

That is sweet!