I see tons of builds where a mini fridge is built in combo with an insulated box for a fermentation chamber but its almost impossible to see the same setup with a full size fridge. Am i missing something.
I have a standard fridge with freezer on top and separate doors. I plan on building a well insulated platform and box. The box would be open on one end allowing for the fridge to just slide a bit inside. (just enough to be able to get a good seal). I would remove both doors before doing this. I would either build a door or reuse the fridge door on the side of the box for access. I would guess the box would increase the size of the cool space by about 2.5 times. I would use fans to move air and a small ceramic heater during the half of the year when i heat instead of cool. Temp control would either be stc-1000 like my current smaller chest freezer or maybe raspberry pi.
I see no reason why this wont work, I do mostly ales and cant imagine that the fridge would have any issues getting down to cold crash temps when needed. For the times I lager I would ferment in there and then transfer to kegs and bulk age in my bigger keezer.
I have a standard fridge with freezer on top and separate doors. I plan on building a well insulated platform and box. The box would be open on one end allowing for the fridge to just slide a bit inside. (just enough to be able to get a good seal). I would remove both doors before doing this. I would either build a door or reuse the fridge door on the side of the box for access. I would guess the box would increase the size of the cool space by about 2.5 times. I would use fans to move air and a small ceramic heater during the half of the year when i heat instead of cool. Temp control would either be stc-1000 like my current smaller chest freezer or maybe raspberry pi.
I see no reason why this wont work, I do mostly ales and cant imagine that the fridge would have any issues getting down to cold crash temps when needed. For the times I lager I would ferment in there and then transfer to kegs and bulk age in my bigger keezer.