New or Used Fridge for a Fermentation Chamber?

[ZmannR2]

They're smaller than standard fridges but I bought a wine fridge. Holds my SS brew bucket perfectly and when paired up with my stc-1000 it works great

 

[UndeadFred]

If you are going to go with a chest freezer for a Keezer, I would recommend a NEW one. Because, unless you are a complete klutz, you need to really build a collar for it. You can carefully make the collar so if the freezer breaks under warranty you can reverse all of the modifications fairly easily. In the PRO section you can put *MUCH* greater efficiency with newer units as well. The CON... maybe 2-3X the price of a good enough used one. But when you are talking $150 for a new one versus $60-70 for used that is five years old, you will make that up in electricity within two years or less.
Now if you are looking for a huge one, or an upright fridge, that cost equation might change.. but even so, waiting until you see new scratch and dents or closeouts will get you much closer to the cost of used anyway. You very likely will make up the cost difference in longevity.
If you get an old one "nearly free" that is different too. I got disillusioned very fast with Craigslist listings locally when I told the people I'd give them asking plus $10 if they would freeze a gallon of water in the freezer overnight and not a single one would do it. Caveat Emptor...

 

[pshankstar]

Can you provide a link to the article you referenced by Edwort?

 

[edroberts]

I think that one of the considerations should be the ability for your chamber to crash cool. Properly insulated, a mini-fridge may be okay for maintaining enough of a cool environment to keep temps in check during fermentation. However it will struggle to get temps down to crash cool temperature.
That said, I had a free small chest freezer I got for free that I used for a chamber and it was AWESOME. Then it died after a year. I hesitate to brew until I replace it because it makes such a huge difference in the quality of your beer.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

This is a contentious topic and not really for this article. That said, start with buckets and if you really feel you need to, do the research on the forums of glass carboys verses plastic carboys or the myriad of other fermenters. I have used plastic buckets now for about 20 years though I started with a glass carboy.

 

[Pumbapoindexter]

Do you have more info on how you built this fermentation chamber? This is exactly what I was thinking of doing!!! Do you keep it indoors or outdoors? How does it keep up in the heat?

 

[rainmanak44]

I can't do chest freezers anymore because of my back so it's an upright for me along with dryZair

 

[trojan]

Here is the link.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=75449
Here is another great one as well.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=377518

 

[Grayson]

Its not in MS, but the WineSmith is a great little shop on the NW side of Mobile.

 

[emcfarden]

I scored an upright "over - under" with the fridge on bottom for free on craigslist. The seller said is wasn't cooling so I went to pick it up so I could take it home and have a look for myself. It turned out to be a busted relay, so 2 days and $5 later I had a working fridge. I realized that a lot of people who own appliances that "go out" simply assume that the whole thing is just broken, but they don't think about looking into what may have been the failure mode.
If you don't mind the inconvenience of picking up and hauling a refrigerator back home then I would definitely look into a free refrigerator. Like me you may find that you can get it working for dirt cheap. One risk, however, is that if you cant get it working then you're stuck with a defective hunk of appliance taking up precious brewing space.
As an addition to the temperature controller section, I would also recommend using a water proof thermocouple (or thermowell). The thermocouple should be placed in a jug of water (I use a one gallon size) to keep the compressor from cycling too often. If the thermocouple is placed in the open air in the fridge then you'll just be cooling the ambient air, which will cause the compressor to turn on/off more frequently (remember you're cooling 5 gallons of beer or more). There are thermowells that can be inserted into carboys to take actual readings of the beer, but I find the "jug of water" method to be more convenient. Plus if you have more than one batch fermenting then your unnecessarily added precision is probably going to be useless.
Just my 2 cents

 

[ericmark]

I am using an old fridge/freezer, I start the brew in the freezer first 5 ~ 10 days, then move to fridge for next 5 ~ 10 days. I find the fridge gets no cooling but in North Wales after the first 5 ~ 10 days it does not need cooling. The freezer is frost free, it has to be, or it will have the evaporator as shelves within the unit so can't get a fermentor in. Since frost free there is a built in fan, and the evaporator is behind a panel at the back, so once power is removed cooling stops straight away, there is no mass of stuff causing the cooling to continue. With the sensor on the fermentor under a sponge so not reading air temperature the unit will run when first switched on with a fermentor at 23.8°C for around 40 minutes before switching off as fermentor hits 19°C. At this point air in freezer at around 8°C. It will warm up again quickly and start a second time before settling down as the plastic wall of fermentor not that good at radiating heat even with a fan running. After this it will likely run twice a day.
Without the fan it would clearly take longer to cool down, and with a chest freezer you also have walls made of aluminum not plastic with the evaporator in contact with the aluminum so after the motor switches off it is still cooling the brew.
Since I don't use a chest freezer I don't know how that changes how it works? Heat side I just use an 8W bulb, even in the heart of winter in my garage that is enough. Now here I in early days made a mistake, I used a demo under floor heating tile 18W which the fermentor sat on nicely. However mass matters, so when it turned off, it was still heating the brew, also 18W was too big so the tile got too hot, the net result was the temperature would over shoot. Ambient temperature in garage 2 ~ 26°C winter to summer. I am sure in USA the swing is much greater? But still learn from my error heater needs to be light and small unless using a fish tank heater in the brew.

 

[Anderbrau]

The advantage of using plastic fermenting buckets is that they are lighter, cheaper, and won't shatter if you drop them. The advantage of glass carboys is that they are more scratch-resistant, so there's less chance of bacteria lurking in scratches after you clean them, and they are pretty To each his own.

 

[Anderbrau]

"but I must disclose that our Pastor asked my wife that following Sunday if she had been drinking."
Awesome. I am fortunate to have a wife that appreciates the fruits of my brewing labor. But then again, we have a spacious basement

 

[Lance Manion]

The fridge doesn't know what temperature it is at. There is a controller and a compressor. That's about it. If you set it up such that the compressor is being turned on and off every 30 seconds, sure it is going to die because it has a life cycle. But to say that operating a fridge at 60F is going to kill it in 6 months is simply wrong.

 

[Lance Manion]

Yep, and my glass carboy was great until it slipped and only fell a few inches but onto concrete was enough to break it (luckily it was empty at the time). I've never understood the websites that say a plastic bucket should only be used 4-5 times.

 

[MT2sum]

I went the used route, it was given to me by the local cafe - my wife told me that we couldn't afford the electric to run it, so it sat for a couple of months, while I'm getting an Electric Brew System built - Guess what?? She has decided to take over the refrigerator we couldn't afford to use and now it is full of veggies, ice cubes and other 'necessities.' Now, when I get my EBS finished, I've got to go out and find another freebie fridge!

 

[Alex]

I’m looking to buy a chest freezer to use for my fermentation, what size fits a 6.5L or 5L glass carboy???