Should I tackle this?

[Grond]

I am tired of switching my kegs from my Keezer to my fridge when I want to brew some tasty beverages...so I'm in the early planning stages of making a fermenting chamber. I usually only make 5.5 gallons of beer at a time (I like both cider and beer), so the chamber only has to fit one carboy at a time. I ran across this interesting little item and want to get everyones take on tackling this unit and turning it into a cool-looking fermenting chamber. Think it would be worth the hassle? It currently does NOT run, and I know very little about repairing things like this (but I'm learning fast). What is everyone's thoughts?

 

[Barbarossa]

I would tackle it to the curb.

 

[Grond]

I would tackle it to the curb.

Alrighty...not a lot of ambiguity in that answer. LOL

 

[IslandLizard]

It's a small, "antique" freezer.
From what I can see, and what was customary in those days, the evaporator coils/tubing are in the shelves, you can't remove them. So there's no space to put a bucket or other fermenter inside.

It currently does NOT run, and I know very little about repairing things like this

Could make a nice conversation piece... if you're into those.

 

[Golddiggie]

Personally, I wouldn't want to try to get it into working condition. Even if you can get the motor/compressor working, and make sure all the refrigerant lines are 100%, it would need to be charged up with new refrigerant. I don't know if aged units, like that, can accept the stuff you can get these days. Besides how expensive I've heard that is.

IF the dimensions work, you might be better off simply using it for an insulated box and run lines from a glycol chiller into it that then go into the fermenter (internal coil or even jacket).

I got rid of my fermentation chamber a little while ago since I was shifting to conical fermenters with chill coils in them. Not needing to do ANY lifting (I got the caster wheels for the conicals) moving forward to control temperatures (both fermentation and for cold crashing) makes things a LOT easier on me. Yes, it costs more to do it this way, but since I need to be setup to do everything alone, it made a lot of sense.

If you can get new refrigeration hardware to fit inside the spaces allowed for that model, it MIGHT be worth going that route. I just see a ton of frustration in going that way.

 

[Grond]

It's a small, "antique" freezer.
From what I can see, and what was customary in those days, the evaporator coils/tubing are in the shelves, you can't remove them. So there's no space to put a bucket or other fermenter inside.



Could make a nice conversation piece... if you're into those.

Crap…didn’t notice that. You’re correct about the shelves. Ok…back to the drawing board.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Sell it as an antique and use the proceeds to build/buy a suitable unit.

 

[apache_brew]

I'd take all that ambition you were planning on throwing at that, and focus it on making better beer. Working fridges and freezers are often given away for free on Craigslist and the like. Pick up a $30 inkbird controller and you have instant temperature control.

 

[IslandLizard]

I'd take all that ambition you were planning on throwing at that, and focus it on making better beer. Working fridges and freezers are often given away for free on Craigslist and the like. Pick up a $30 inkbird controller and you have instant temperature control.

I bought a fairly recent model upright freezer, in excellent shape, off CL for $100 to replace my broken fermentation fridge that had slowly lost its cooling power.

 

[T Murph]

I have taken small commercial refrigeration units to my local trade school for repair. They only charge for parts and I've had very good luck with their work. If you have a good technical trade school nearby, that may be a source to get you antique repaired with modern components to work properly for you.