another "quick" question....

[bracconiere]

so i know if we were actually in person this would be simple.....but typing is hard, anyway....


i keep my kegs in a top freezer fridge, what's the best setting to keep the fridge the coldest, all i do is keep some flax seeds and sunflower seeds in the top freezer part, and it's been a day and my newly filled kegs are still at 60f! and their warming all my other kegs too!....should i set the dial to the warmest for the freezer, and coldest for the fridge? or some other combo?

 

[day_trippr]

All of the "cold" comes from the evaporator located inside the freezer compartment, with the temperature sensor governing the compressor in the food compartment, and typically using an adjustable damper in between to shunt the "cold" from the former into the latter. Given your usage mode I'd set that damper - or whatever equivalent you have - to bias the system heavily towards the food compartment...

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

so set the freezer to the lowest, and the fridge to the highest settings? i really only need to keep the flax and sunflower seeds refrigerated, but i NEED my beer cold!


going to change it.....freezer to lowest, fridge to highest......

 

[day_trippr]

Put plainly, set the freezer to its warmest setting, then set the fridge to whatever temperature you want...

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

Put plainly, set the freezer to its warmest setting, then set the fridge to whatever temperature you want...

Cheers!

well hell, i set the freezer to the warmest, and i want my beer as cold as it can get, as long as it still pours! 60f isn't cold enough! feel like i'm drinking english draught! like your nitro stout tap.....

 

[bracconiere]

well, it seems to be helping.....kegs were at 60f last night, this morning their down to mid 40's.....at least according to my IR thermometer


can't wait to see if it solves my problem with trying to get kegs down to serving temp quick....

 

[marc1]

I use a top freezer fridge for fermentation temperature control. I cut the divider out between the top and bottom. It takes about a day and a half for 11 gallons in the fermenter to go from 70 to 34 when cold crashing.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, both of my 17cf top-freezer units take ~ 40 hours to drop 11 gallons of beer from ~68°F to 34°F...

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

I use a top freezer fridge for fermentation temperature control. I cut the divider out between the top and bottom. It takes about a day and a half for 11 gallons in the fermenter to go from 70 to 34 when cold crashing.

you can do that? i'd love it if i could use a hole saw, or roto-zip and put a fan between them.....i mean if there's nothing in that floor of the freezer, i'll go and roto-zip a hole right now, and move my fan to the freezer part, blowing down on the kegs......

 

[bracconiere]

fwiw, both of my 17cf top-freezer units take ~ 40 hours to drop 11 gallons of beer from ~68°F to 34°F...

Cheers!

yeah, it's taking mine like 72 hours to even get to the mid 40's, from mid 80's.....

 

[bracconiere]

on a kinda off-topic note, what's the switch that says flick me if i'm wet do? lol

 

[marc1]

you can do that? i'd love it if i could use a hole saw, or roto-zip and put a fan between them.....i mean if there's nothing in that floor of the freezer, i'll go and roto-zip a hole right now, and move my fan to the freezer part, blowing down on the kegs......

The bottom of the freezer was plastic which came out fairly easily. Then thick Styrofoam which was messy. Then the top of the fridge layer was metal. I used an angle grinder. I'm not sure that all fridges would work like this, so take it easy if you try it. (Also, be careful of the fridge light wiring! ) I did this on a beat freebie, not a nice one.

It makes it easy to access the connections by opening the freezer section. And all of the cold freezer air goes to the whole chamber. You can definitely freeze the beer if you set the temp controller low enough.

 

[marc1]

 

[bracconiere]

Great tip, i'll tip you if it actually works! i still feel like people should be getting paid around here!

 

[bracconiere]

another 'quick' question, is that going to freeze my kegs, or can i still count on the fridge temp regulator? i got both an inkbird digital, and old analog controller i can put in there.......

 

[day_trippr]

As long as you place your controller's probe rationally, your controller will not let your beer freeze...

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

rationally

you and me both know i have a problem with big words like that....i'm wondering do i need the controller at all? it's just a low RPM fan in a small hole.....?

 

[marc1]

you and me both know i have a problem with big words like that....i'm wondering do i need the controller at all? it's just a low RPM fan in a small hole.....?

Could end up needing to plug the fridge into the temp controller. In the meantime you'd have ice beer

If you fridge is having issues chilling though, it might not have enough juice to freeze the whole thing.

 

[jseyfert3]

on a kinda off-topic note, what's the switch that says flick me if i'm wet do? lol

The section between the fridge and freezer sections not covered by doors is cold and in humid weather water will condense on it. There's a heating element in this section, turning the switch on will activate the heater, keeping the strip warmer so water won't condense.

This uses some amount of energy (10 watts or so I believe) so the switch is there to allow some energy savingns in dry weather vs running the heater 24/7/365.

 

[bracconiere]

The section between the fridge and freezer sections not covered by doors is cold and in humid weather water will condense on it. There's a heating element in this section, turning the switch on will activate the heater, keeping the strip warmer so water won't condense.

This uses some amount of energy (10 watts or so I believe) so the switch is there to allow some energy savingns in dry weather vs running the heater 24/7/365.

thank you for your response....had another frozen keg, but it only seems to happen to them when their low......


if i can find my bag of 200ohm resistors i got for my oven, i want to try and put one in series on the fan, as a perment temp controller...

 

[jddevinn]

How about a different approach? Can you cool the keg externally before placing it in the fridge? Do you have a large brewery sink, tub,clean trash can, ect? Largeish volume of ice water circulated around the keg with whatever pump you have for brewing should cool quicker than a fridge.

 

[bracconiere]

i do have a third fridge....eric gave me the simple answer "Yes" when i ask if cold crashing my fermenter first would make the kegs take co2 quicker.......but like my homemade meme of this....

got me thinking about a salt water jacket for the kegs....instead of the fan....allready got the hole for it...but the kegs kind fit tight in there....