Best cooling setup for a Fermzilla 13.2 gal conical?

[SanPancho]

going to get some 10gal fermzillas to ferm and carb but having a bit of tough luck finding the best way to cool for fermentation. specs say about 16" diameter and 43.5 inches tall with airlock.

an upright freezer would be best, but with everyone staying home and hoarding food they seemed to have dropped off craigslist /letgo/offerup and now everyone thinks their 30 year old Sears unit is worth like $500 bucks. crazy.

what about a regular fridge? anyone know if this would fit in the bottom of a typical fridge (top freezer model) ?

or maybe a side by side type and it would fit on the bigger fridge side?

i could try doing a glycol wrap around the fermzilla with the blue discharge hose but then i've gotta insulate the thing, it still sweats, the plastic to plastic might not be good for heat conduction, etc. etc. so i'd prefer to stick with fridge/freezer options as it seems easier/simpler.

anybody out there have good solution?

 

[Dland]

If it will fit inside, a regular 'fridge should be fine in my opinion. Even though it might not reach optimal pitch temp right away, if you use a chiller out of the BK, it will get there soon enough.

I have a DYI chiller now, and use the external discharge hose, it works well for me w stainless fermentors, not sure about the heat transfer w plastic. I don't bother to insulate much unless temp differential is greater than 10F between cellar and fermentation temp. In that case, I insulate w taped on strips of bubble wrap that come w my beer supplies. Not pretty, but cheap, easy and flexible.

Before I made chiller, I had good results pitching 5-10 degrees F above target yeast temp, with both lager and ale yeast, and letting it cool down to fermentaion temp overnight in cold/cool cellar. I know there are some that say that is not best practice, but did not notice any off flavors in beers that made it down to optimal temp in 10-12 hours after pitching. I never liked the idea of leaving unpitched wort for long.

 

[SanPancho]

im mostly concerned with one thing besides size - which is the obvious question here--

and that is crashing. is the fridge going to get cold enough to really drop everything? i like getting down low, say 33 degrees for a good hard crash. never had a fridge run that low to my knowledge. that's my hesitation on just going with a fridge unit. if a fridge could get that low then i'd have a hell of a lot easier time finding one vs a freezer.

 

[Dland]

Probably depends on the 'fridge, I've had fridges that froze the produce when turned up too high(low). A freezer would be better of course, but free and cheep refrigerators are more common than freezers.

 

[SanPancho]

Yeah, thats the issue. I need to be able to get that height, which im a bit skeptical of for anything but the biggest fridges.

 

[Dland]

As to the dimensions, I guess you'd have to measure or read specs before buying. If you get a cheap fridge that it fits in, that's the least investment up front.

I considered using a 'fridge or freezer for fermentation chamber, then considered building a cold box and running it with a window unit w a coolbot. I went with the glycol chiller, and it is by far the most space and energy efficient option, and DYI, the cheapest too, with free window unit, unless you can score a suitable fermentation fridge/freezer for less than $300.