What to do with standard upright fridge/freezer

[javaking]

Hi all, I recently purchased a new fridge for my home and am trying to figure out the best use for the old one. The old one is a 2017 model and works perfectly fine. I already have a kegerator that I have been using for fermentation/serving purposes (along with a STC-1000 for controlling fermentation temps) and I'm thinking of using it for serving purposes only now that I have the newer fridge.

Basically, I'm thinking about using the fridge/freezer solely for fermentation, but I'm also wondering if it would just be better to sell it and use that money for a chest freezer. Does anyone have any fun ideas or have any experience using an upright fridge setup?

Thanks!

 

[Beer Viking]

You could use it to lager your beer if you are not already doing that. I'm going to be getting a chest freezer eventually to do that, but a fridge hooked up to an inkbird would allow you to lager in it, or ferment at cool temperatures!

 

[Surly]

I converted a refrigerator into a fermentation chamber years ago. I added a stand of roughly 15 inches or so. Upon that secured stand sits my conical.

Once I am ready to package my finished beer that extra height allows me to bottle and fill kegs via gravity. I have a computer fan that sits on the floor of the chamber. It circulates air 24/7 even when not in use.

 

[day_trippr]

I have a pair of 17cf top-freezer units set up for both fermentation and cold conditioning. Removed all the plastic shelving bits and laid in plywood platforms, stirring fans and 40W reptile bulb heaters, ran CO2 in via mfl bulkheads to 4-way manifolds, and brought power and temp sensors in through the back wall. I have a 22cf top-freezer across the aisle fitted the same, though I've only used that one for cold-conditioning...

Cheers!

 

[grampamark]

I have 2 upright fridges, one for serving, one for fermenting. They’re much easier to load/unload than a chest freezer.

 

[javaking]

Wow, thanks for the quick response everyone! It was tough to gauge how many people are doing it since the chest freezer appears to be more popular. Out of curiosity, do you use the freezer portion for anything? I'm also wondering if it's possible to bypass the built in thermostat for the fridge and just connect your own with the desired temperature this way the freezer works the way it normally would and you have control just over the fridge? Any resources would be appreciated!

 

[bkboiler]

I use a side by side for fermenting and serving. It's very space and energy efficient to do it this way. The top to bottom and side by side designs are generally very similar.

I took a Johnson one stage controller and an inkbird two stage to make it work (fridge side can go from 35F to 100F) and freezer side can go from 45 down to 35 roughly (I don't go above 41 so the lines don't get funky.
Only extra stuff to accomplish that was a low watt density heating mat I taped to back of fridge section and plugged to the inkbird heat plug. The inkbird cool plug I attached a 120mm fan to AC 110V (can get on amazon) and directed from freezer area into fridge area, adding a gravity damper (like one has in a ventilation duct to prevent backflow).
no rewiring required, but a little cutting and glueing to install the damper.
Plug the fridge itself into the Johnson. This will set your serving temp and the coldest your ferm area can get.
Maybe for your installation you could fit like 3 x 2.5 gal kegs at 10 degree angle in freezer section?? You'd need to modify the diptubes' length and angle and ensure that the "out" post was always at bottom deadcenter.
Some guys do it where the kegs are tilting "downward" (posts are on the low side of the tilt) for English style "cask" and they cut the liquid diptube very short...
I was thinking a tilt upward and a 3" cut and bend in the diptube so it picks up from the corner of the keg. Not sure that's in your wheelhouse, as bending SS takes a specialty tool. I'm sure if you planned to buy a few, there's guys who post here that make custom SS things for a price : )

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Out of curiosity, do you use the freezer portion for anything? I'm also wondering if it's possible to bypass the built in thermostat for the fridge and just connect your own with the desired temperature this way the freezer works the way it normally would and you have control just over the fridge?[...]

I can only use the freezer on the 22cf unit, as the 17s are almost always doing fermentations which causes their freezer compartments to be far too warm to be of any use...

Cheers!

 

[grampamark]

I use the freezer in my kegerator fridge to store hops. The fermentation fridge is a real antique, with a smaller-than-a-breadbox freezer which is the evaporator coil to cool the fridge. If I’m not fermenting anything I’ll use that fridge to store commercial beers, or whatever, but most of the time there’s something fermenting in there.