Lets talk Fermentation Fridges, Freezers and Storage.

[olllllo]

What are you using and what does it hold?

I started a thread about deciding between 2 commercial fridges but failed to drop the dime on either.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=31329

I currently have a 70's era fridge in the garage that serves as fermentation chamber/lagerator or longer term storage. I' m looking to upgrade, but I want the solution that has the best storage.

It currently holds either 3 Primaries (if I bungee the door) or 5 cornies.

To keep things apples to apples lets report it this way.

Type:
Upright Commercial Fridge
Upright Home Fridge
Upright Home Freezer
Upright Compact Fridge

Chest Freezer
Chest Commercial
What have you

# of Cornies:
# of Primaries:

Dimensions: only if ya got 'em handy.
Pic: always nice

 

[olllllo]

Upright Home Fridge
3 Primaries
5 Cornies

Dimesions unknown

 

[Alamo_Beer]

Upright Home Fridge
Primaries-not sure yet...

Demensions- also unknown

BUT it's orange (rattle can) and it was free! (freecycle)...also the interior is a cool 50's blue

I'll post a pic when I get home...

Also, I guess it's a hybrid of sorts..

I've got a 1.5ft by 1.5ft dorm fridge that I built a box around to ferment in. It holds 1 carboy and is badly in need of insulation.

Again...pic when I get home...

 

[ebeer]

OK here's my setup:
2 x Kenmore Elite Compact Fridge 4.9cuft
1 x Upright Freezerless Fridge

I use the two compact fridges for fermentation. While my brew equipment allows for 10 gallon brews, I prefer to brew 5 gallons so I brew often. The compact fridges with digital temperature controllers allow for consistent fermentation temps and precise control.

I use an upright, freezerless refrigerator for storage, lagering and overflow serving (I have a three tap kegerator in the house, but usually serve a few "on reserve" from the garage fridge).

The upright fridge with shelves in allows for: 6 cornies and 5 cases of bottles. If I remove the shelves and stack cornies (very carefully) I can get 12 in there. I really love the cold storage fridge. After primary I transfer to a corny for cold crash, aging, lagering, or carbonation. I have two gas lines going through the side wall so I can force carb and serve at the same time. All lines off the homemade manifold have check valves and QD's. The QD's are nice because I remove the CO2 lines when not in use to keep things less cluttered.

As a side note...all of the refrigerators are pretty new. The compact models had an energy star sticker that said $17 per year. The large one is also energy star....so I don't think I'm getting *too* hosed on electricity.

 

[olllllo]

^^ Hey ebeer. How many gallons does the conical hold? ^^

 

[EdWort]

My setup in the garage is...

10 cu. ft. Chest Freezer with a Love Digital controller for fermenting & crash cooling. It holds two 5 gallon bucket fermenters just fine.

20 cu. ft. Chest Freezer with a Johnson controller for carbing and storing kegged beer & Apfelwein. Holds 12 five gallon cornies & two 3 or 2.5 gallon cornies for a max capacity of 67 gallons

21 cu. ft. Top mount Fridge/Freezer. The freezer holds my hops and the fridge has room for 6 kegs, plus a couple cases of bottled beer.

 

[Vermicous]

My fermentation chamber is a broken 27 cu ft. chest freezer. It can hold four primaries (6 1/2 gallon) and two secondary fermentors (5 gallon). It is kept outside and heated with an aquarium heater to keep it even during the season ( 50 degrees winter, 60 degrees spring/fall, 70+ degrees summer). Inside is a working 14 cu ft. chest freezer for lagering/serving. I haven't figured out how many cornies it holds, it currently is holding one 1/2 barrel keg and 5 cornies. Base grain is kept outside, unmilled and double bagged in a rubbermaid container. Hops and specialty grains are ordered per batch, the wife gets extra pissy if I use any of her freezer space for very long.

 

[Monster Mash]

Two door sliding glass fridge, it will hold 32 kegs if I stack...

 

[olllllo]

Two door sliding glass fridge, it will hold 32 kegs if I stack...

Is that comparable to this or is yours much larger?

Beverage Air Reach in Cooler 60" H X 36" W X 26" D
Internal dimensions: 46" x 33" X 19

 

[John Beere]

Walk-in cooler - roughly 170 cu ft, held at 36 degrees. I don't even have a clue how many cornies it would hold - more than I'll ever own I'm sure. heh

Phase 2 of my garage brewery is taking place now. I will be building a smaller fermentation cooler for mutiple conicals.

 

[EdWort]

Walk-in cooler - roughly 170 cu ft, held at 36 degrees. I don't even have a clue how many cornies it would hold - more than I'll ever own I'm sure. heh

Phase 2 of my garage brewery is taking place now. I will be building a smaller fermentation cooler for mutiple conicals.

DROOOOOOOL!!! Some day..when I build my brew hut.

 

[ebeer]

^^ Hey ebeer. How many gallons does the conical hold? ^^

It's a 7 gallon conical from Morebeer.