extra fridge for fermentation chamber?
- Thread starter Gustavo
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treaves
Member
You'd want some ay for the CO2 to escape.
dutchoven
Well-Known Member
The CO2 will work its way out ... no need for an airlock
I use a stand up freezer as my ferm chamber and it works absolutely perfect! Of course i've got it hooked up to a temp controller, but I love the fact that I can rack 90 degree beer from the kettle and turn the freezer down to freezing temps to help chill it before I add my yeast. Beats waiting an hour for the wort chiller to do the same thing.
treaves
Member
CO2 may or may not escape. That is dependent on many things, and no one could know without seeing the unit in question.
As to why, first, pressure has an effect on fermentation, which is why fermenters are never - and should never - be fully sealed. Secondly, a tightly sealing fridge could be popped open by building pressure, leaving you without the control you want.
If you run a probe cable into it, that may leave enough of a gap.
As to why, first, pressure has an effect on fermentation, which is why fermenters are never - and should never - be fully sealed. Secondly, a tightly sealing fridge could be popped open by building pressure, leaving you without the control you want.
If you run a probe cable into it, that may leave enough of a gap.
Yes, and this COULD be all you need: a screwdriver and a good read of the first few posts on this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/gu...mostat-32f-eliminate-external-control-249612/
Worked for me, I can shift my temps in my spare fridge anywhere from 30F to 70F with ease!
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/gu...mostat-32f-eliminate-external-control-249612/
Worked for me, I can shift my temps in my spare fridge anywhere from 30F to 70F with ease!
Heck no, I did this trick on my FRIDGE and it worked fine. Anything with a temperature dial should have a course adjustment screw. Mine happened to be right beside the normal temp adjust knob, after I popped it off. One full turn of that little screw equals about an 8 degree shift.
Mine will shift around, like the air temp in the fridge will move maybe 10 degrees between what it is set to cool to, and when it's set to come on. But that's fine, it's nowhere near long enough to cause any amount of liquid to warm up.
I fermented a batch in there a few weeks ago and the temp was stable for the entire fermentation.
The freezer thing, mine has that too, if you mean it's a normal house-type full freezer on top with it's own door thing. How mine works is the freezer will only actually stay at freezer temps when the fridge is less than 55 or so. At 60-65 in the fridge, the freezer will be NEAR freezing, and maybe sometimes into freezing, but my icepacks in there are all sorta squishy.
Not something I'd leave meat in, for instance...but good enough for hops, ice packs, etc.
The freezer fans just steal the cold air when the fridge compressor kicks in, and the fridge part of mine takes precedence of the fan over the freezer.
I fermented a batch in there a few weeks ago and the temp was stable for the entire fermentation.
The freezer thing, mine has that too, if you mean it's a normal house-type full freezer on top with it's own door thing. How mine works is the freezer will only actually stay at freezer temps when the fridge is less than 55 or so. At 60-65 in the fridge, the freezer will be NEAR freezing, and maybe sometimes into freezing, but my icepacks in there are all sorta squishy.
Not something I'd leave meat in, for instance...but good enough for hops, ice packs, etc.
The freezer fans just steal the cold air when the fridge compressor kicks in, and the fridge part of mine takes precedence of the fan over the freezer.
Except that it will likely take much longer than an one hour to bring the wort down to pitching temps with that method. I do the same, but have found that it takes at least several hours to sufficiently cool the wort to pitching temperatures and even longer for lagers.
