2 Chest Freezers vs. Stand-up Freezer/Fridge

[UT-Alex]

I tried searching for this and only found one thread that was only kind of useful and I was looking for people with experience with these set-ups and if you have a preference and why.

I have a friend who has a stand-up freezer/fridge he's willing to sell me along with a Johnson's temperature regulator for $60.

I've priced a 5 cu.ft. chest freezer also for $60 on Craigslist. A buddy of mine told me that if I'm going to brewing the same time as I'm serving then I'd need another freezer if I go the small chest freezer route.

I'd prefer the 2 chest freezer route for asthetics and portability. Are there pro/cons I may not be considering? Would 2 temperature regulators be necessary for the stand-up freezer/fridge?

This will be my first time brewing so I'm very new to this. If there are other questions I can answer that would help me make an easier decision I'd be glad to answer.

 

[Paps]

It would depend on how wildly different of temps you will want when brewing. What temp do you want to serve beer xyz @.
Are you doing a lager and an ale style at the same time,ect,ect.
Ask yourself how you would use each set up if you had them and then decide which is best for you.

 

[notyal]

$60 for fridge AND a Johnson temp control is a deal. Buy that and a chest freezer. Use the chest freezer for fermenting and turn the fridge into a kegerator.

 

[Twins_Dad]

^ +1

 

[fimpster]

^^ +2

 

[MattyIce]

$60 for fridge AND a Johnson temp control is a deal. Buy that and a chest freezer. Use the chest freezer for fermenting and turn the fridge into a kegerator.

This is the route that I took. I can fit a 20# CO2 tank and five corny kegs in the fridge section of my fridge/freezer. The nice thing about using this unit for kegs is that you maintain use of the freezer as a freezer.

My 7ish cubic foot chest freezer can fit two 6.5 gallon fermenting buckets and whatever else I can fit on the compressor hump. I could do yet another fermentor if I ever decide to build a collar for this freezer.

As far as regulators go, you can probably get away with the Johnson for now. The trouble is that it is likely a single-stage...meaning you basically have to choose between cooling and heating at any particular time. I recommend using an STC-1000 for at least the ferm chamber. I have one wired up for my kegerator, but I tend to just use the factory temp controller for it. You can sell your Johnson and have cash left over after putting together an STC-1000 setup.

ETA: Just realized that you were probably not looking at using kegs just yet. Either way, serving bottles out of a chest freezer is less than ideal. Harder to see labels since you'll be looking at caps, and not too many smaller chest freezers have a light.

 

[Natdavis777]

$60 for fridge AND a Johnson temp control is a deal. Buy that and a chest freezer. Use the chest freezer for fermenting and turn the fridge into a kegerator.

This is my exact setup and love it.

I used to have an upright freezer for fermenting, but it recently took a poo on me. Converted over to a chest freezer for my ferm chamber. Only con I have is having to heave the carboys into the chest freezer (had to install a collar to allow 2 carboys). Its not that big of a deal for myself though.

Also, I dont use a temp controller on my kegerator. Just my ferm chamber.