Bad or good idea to make a 'collar' for a fermentation chamber?

[El Nino]

I see a lot of people online are making collars on chest freezers to make kegerators, but I was wondering if the same could effectively be done for a smaller 5 cu. ft chest freezer?

Right now I'm thinking of that as a possibility if I want to get two 5 gallon batches brewing at the same time. I can fit a brew bucket in the main part, but the part on the compressor hump is a couple inches short (thats what she said).

Build a collar for it, or upsize to a 7.1? I'm thinking this shouldn't be that hard of a DIY project. Anybody else done this with success?

 

[Miller4]

I repurposed my first keezer as a fermentation chamber. It has a collar, and I can fit a carboy on the floor and on the hump. Works well with the stc 1000 to kick on the freezer or a ferm wrap to keep temps.

 

[Gameface]

It's a perfectly fine idea.

 

[cswant88]

A collar will work just fine. If you’re buying a new freezer for this, compare prices. From what I’ve seen, 7.1 cu. ft. are not much more than 5.0. If the 7.1 suits your needs without modification, I would opt for that and save myself the effort.

 

[El Nino]

A collar will work just fine. If you’re buying a new freezer for this, compare prices. From what I’ve seen, 7.1 cu. ft. are not much more than 5.0. If the 7.1 suits your needs without modification, I would opt for that and save myself the effort.

I already have the 5, so I'll give the DIY project a go thanks guys

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I have been thinking of doing this. I picked up a used freezer, and the well is not even wide enough to fit my 6.5 gal carboy (I can fit a bucket or my 5 gal carboy in there, and I can fit a 3 gal fermenter on the hump). The biggest downside is probably getting a fermenter up over the collar and into/out of the well portion.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

I have a 7 or 7.1 cu ft for use as a lagering chamber, but it will only fit 3 kegs, or 3 full size and 1 shorty.
I'm thinking about building a collar to make it fit 4 full-size kegs. It may even fit 5.

 

[mongoose33]

There's only one minus to this; when you add a collar, you increase the height over which you must lift the fermenter. If that's not an issue, then go for it.

BTW, if you look at the link in my signature (Easy/Peasy), it shows how to add a collar without using glue to glue it down to the freezer. That allows you to return the freezer to its normal function if you desire to do that. Plus, you can move the collar/lid separately from the bottom section of the freezer. And finally, should you desire to alter it at some point (to make a keezer, say), you can easily replace the collar.

It probably is a decent design consideration; sooner or later, as you lift a fermenter into the freezer, you'll come up short and wham it into the front of the collar; you want something to prevent it from breaking loose, and that design in my link shows how to do that.

You probably don't care much how it looks, so all the "nice" finish stuff isn't likely to be important.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

There's only one minus to this; when you add a collar, you increase the height over which you must lift the fermenter. If that's not an issue, then go for it.

Good point!
In my case, it would only be full kegs for lagering, not fermenters, but it is something I had not considered. Thanks for the tip!

 

[El Nino]

There's only one minus to this; when you add a collar, you increase the height over which you must lift the fermenter. If that's not an issue, then go for it.

BTW, if you look at the link in my signature (Easy/Peasy), it shows how to add a collar without using glue to glue it down to the freezer. That allows you to return the freezer to its normal function if you desire to do that. Plus, you can move the collar/lid separately from the bottom section of the freezer. And finally, should you desire to alter it at some point (to make a keezer, say), you can easily replace the collar.

It probably is a decent design consideration; sooner or later, as you lift a fermenter into the freezer, you'll come up short and wham it into the front of the collar; you want something to prevent it from breaking loose, and that design in my link shows how to do that.

You probably don't care much how it looks, so all the "nice" finish stuff isn't likely to be important.

Ok cool thanks! I'll give that link a look. I was thinking about the lifting part, but that should be no problem for me if I can lift something by the handles. I'd probably pick up brew buckets since lifting something glass at that height would make me nervous.

 

[mongoose33]

Ok cool thanks! I'll give that link a look. I was thinking about the lifting part, but that should be no problem for me if I can lift something by the handles. I'd probably pick up brew buckets since lifting something glass at that height would make me nervous.

You can actually make a collar that has a hinge on the mouth of the freezer, so you could tilt up the whole collar. If lifting over the collar is an issue, that's a way to lower the height to something you can reach more readily. I pay attention to these things as I've had two back surgeries and it's a concern that is...well, on my mind from time to time. Here's a link to an article that has a picture showing that approach:

https://homebrewtalk.tumblr.com/post/145009056777/want-build-keezer

And yeah, glass to me is a no-no. About the only time I'd ever want to use it is if I had a very long aging process to go through. Otherwise, to me, plastic is the preferred material.

****

There are other ways to handle this. Someone here--can't remember who, maybe @seatazzz ?--has a pulley system to lift kegs into a keezer. Another way that can make this lifting thing easier is either a scissor lift or just lifting it a foot at a time onto some platforms and then once it's at the mouth of the collar, then it's easier to pick it up and set it down.

You'll figure out what works for you.

 

[seatazzz]

You can actually make a collar that has a hinge on the mouth of the freezer, so you could tilt up the whole collar. If lifting over the collar is an issue, that's a way to lower the height to something you can reach more readily. I pay attention to these things as I've had two back surgeries and it's a concern that is...well, on my mind from time to time. Here's a link to an article that has a picture showing that approach:

https://homebrewtalk.tumblr.com/post/145009056777/want-build-keezer

And yeah, glass to me is a no-no. About the only time I'd ever want to use it is if I had a very long aging process to go through. Otherwise, to me, plastic is the preferred material.

****

There are other ways to handle this. Someone here--can't remember who, maybe @seatazzz ?--has a pulley system to lift kegs into a keezer. Another way that can make this lifting thing easier is either a scissor lift or just lifting it a foot at a time onto some platforms and then once it's at the mouth of the collar, then it's easier to pick it up and set it down.

You'll figure out what works for you.

Not me on the pulley system, I've got a standup kegerator so it's just lift and shove.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

You can actually make a collar that has a hinge on the mouth of the freezer, so you could tilt up the whole collar.

I am not sure I like this design when I see it on kegerators where it means that you have to lift up all the taps pulling along the beer lines...but for a fermentation chamber this does seem like a pretty solid idea. I might think about that route with mine.

 

[mongoose33]

I am not sure I like this design when I see it on kegerators where it means that you have to lift up all the taps pulling along the beer lines...but for a fermentation chamber this does seem like a pretty solid idea. I might think about that route with mine.

I was close to doing something like this but realized that it meant I either had to set the keezer a certain distance away from the wall to accommodate the hinged section, or put it on wheels so I could pull it out. Neither was optimal for me.

 

[Miller4]

You could also do a second set of hinges to open either just the freezer lid or the collar and freezer lid. I thought about this on my first keezer but went with the whole collar opening which worked out well as a ferm chamber later.