Vissani mini fridge - replacing temp control

[hlmbrwng]

Hi everyone,

I am planning my most ambitious brew to date and really want to be able to control the fermentation temp. It's an imperial stout. Going to use US-05 and plan to hold the temperature at 68 degrees F.

I came across a couple of these on craigslist. They are Vissani beverage coolers. They seem like they would be perfect, as they don't have the compressor bulge in the back and don't have door shelves. Plus I can see what's going on.

http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/app/5377014543.html

The above is an example. There is a cheaper one I found, but it's easier to see everything in this picture.

The issue is that the maximum temp setting is 64 degrees F. I chatted with a rep from the company to verify this. Do you think it is possible to just replace the digital controller with another thermostat? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Kent88]

I would assume that if you could find out what parts make up the Electronic Thermostat you might get lucky and find it can be reprogrammed by a hobbyist that tinkers with electronics. I wouldn't count on that being the case, though.

If it was me doing this, and I absolutely had to have it at 68F, I'd grab an arduino, ds18b20 temp sensor, and a relay, wire them together so the arduino controls the relay while the sensor is in the fridge and connected to the arduino, and splice the relay into the wire that controls the compressor. But then, I'm comfortable doing these things and have the spare parts (this is how I built a lager fridge), I have no idea if you have any experience hacking a fridge this way.

There are cleaner-looking ways to do something like this.

If I had a fridge like that I think I'd be selecting yeasts based on the temps the fridge could achieve. For an imperial stout, something like Wyeast London Ale should be able to work at 64F. Or *maybe* White Labs WLP007, but I would wait until there were signs of active fermentation before I'd put it in the fridge, then I would monitor it to make sure it krausened, and then after a week I would probably just take it out and use the t-shirt method.

Double checking US-05, it works well within the 60 degree range, as does S-04.

 

[iijakii]

Dont dick with rewiring it at all. Spend $30 and get a temp controller. It has a probe that will cycle the fridge on/off to keep it in a set range. There's an Inkbird ITC308 or something always popping up on here, seems great for the price.

 

[Gavin C]

Dont dick with rewiring it at all. Spend $30 and get a temp controller. It has a probe that will cycle the fridge on/off to keep it in a set range. There's an Inkbird ITC308 or something always popping up on here, seems great for the price.

This^^

The fermenting beer is the thermostat.

Monitor and control it precisely.

Set the fridge to maximum power, place the thermometer probe on the fermenting vessel measuring beer temp and insulate it from ambient. Set it to where you want it and forget about it.

Simple and works great.

 

[orangehero]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=511086

 

[sixwinds]

I just picked up an Inkbird controller myself, easy to use and works perfectly! Cannot recommend it enough!

 

[Tknishi]

I have a similar vissani, that I just picked up and have yet to use. I did read that the highest temp was about 65. But I figured that would be perfect, since that is ambient temperature, and read in another thread that the actual beer temp would be 3-5 degrees higher.

 

[WrQth]

By adding a temp controller (i.e. Inkbird LTC-308) the fridge will only get as cold as the built in thermostat of the fridge is programmed to regardless of what you've set the temp controller at if it is set below that temperature. As for the highest it can reach that is only limited by the heat source if needed.

 

[hlmbrwng]

Thank you all for the suggestions, links, and advice.

Kent88: You are right about the US-05. I think it will be fine at a lower temp. My concern though is that I am hoping to start around 1.125 OG, with a final around 1.030-1.035 (hopefully it will end up around there so it's as sweet as I like it). I wonder if at 65 degrees it could stall out before it gets there. Also, I'm not sure how it will affect the flavor.

however…as Tknishi said, it will be a few degrees higher than ambient temperature. So maybe it's exactly what I should be shooting for.

Orangehero, thank you for the link. I may try that. I found one of those fridges for 40 bucks…so why not? It looks like its the perfect size. Hopefully I can follow the build and not screw it up.

 

[hlmbrwng]

I wonder how well this would work.
A magic chef wine cooler.

http://ftp.mcappliance.com/productdetailpage.aspx?ModelName=MCWC52B

The manual says the temperature range is from 41.9 to 66.2 F.
Maybe keeping this at the highest temperature will be perfect. Avoiding having to add a dual stage thermostat.