Wine chiller

[redrocker652002]

So, my accountant (wife) has given me the go ahead to look for a fermentation chamber. Me being frugal (cheap), I am looking for possible ways to do this in a less costly fashion. I have thought about a used wine chiller. I have been searching Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and found some 100 bucks or less. My question to the experts, do any of you use one for your beer and if so, make and model that will fit a 5 gallon bucket fermenter. Thanks in advance. RR

 

[3 Dawg Night]

I followed the instructions on this thread by @lashack, and I couldn't be happier! I'm considering building a second chamber as well.

 

[AZ Maverick]

I do.
But mine are a bit pricy.
Back in the day I was making a lot of homemade wine (I don't anymore).
I had two 75 bottle wine refrigerators.

After I stopped making homemade wine I decided to convert them for lagering.
The chillers had a low temp of 47°F, but I wanted them to go to freezing so I had to modify the compressor control circuitry (which was easy for me).
I now use both of them as fermentation chambers and they have been working great for the last couple of years now.
I wired the compressor to be ON all the time and I use an Inkbird temp controller to maintain temps from 80°F to 30°F.

 

[Biggz1313]

Honestly unless looks are a factor, I would bet a small 5 or 7 cubic foot chest freezer will be way cheaper and probably a better choice. That's what I use and it works fantastic. I use an Inkbird Wifi temp controller with it so I can easily ramp the temp up for diacetyl rests and then ramp down to 32*F to cold crash via my phone. I'm to show you my setup and discuss it with you if you're interested. Happy to jump on discord or something and do a video call to describe my setup.

Edit: Totally missed that you've seen a couple on craigslist for $100 so I can't say a NEW chest freezer would be cheaper at this point. I would still recommend it over the wine cooler though as it's ability to cool is probably greater and it's more insulated so it will maintain temps longer without having to run the compressor as often. I have a wine cooler that I use for fine and I swear that things compressor is running constantly.

 

[redrocker652002]

Honestly unless looks are a factor, I would bet a small 5 or 7 cubic foot chest freezer will be way cheaper and probably a better choice. That's what I use and it works fantastic. I use an Inkbird Wifi temp controller with it so I can easily ramp the temp up for diacetyl rests and then ramp down to 32*F to cold crash via my phone. I'm to show you my setup and discuss it with you if you're interested. Happy to jump on discord or something and do a video call to describe my setup.

Edit: Totally missed that you've seen a couple on craigslist for $100 so I can't say a NEW chest freezer would be cheaper at this point. I would still recommend it over the wine cooler though as it's ability to cool is probably greater and it's more insulated so it will maintain temps longer without having to run the compressor as often. I have a wine cooler that I use for fine and I swear that things compressor is running constantly.

I think the chest freezer is where I am looking more at now. I can use it as a fermenting chamber and run multiple taps when they are done. Or, just keep one or two in there at the ready and have me kegerator always full. LOL. Gotta get it by the accountant first. Maybe next year when we get out from under some bills we have come up on Thanks for the replies all

 

[3 Dawg Night]

I think the chest freezer is where I am looking more at now. I can use it as a fermenting chamber and run multiple taps when they are done. Or, just keep one or two in there at the ready and have me kegerator always full. LOL. Gotta get it by the accountant first. Maybe next year when we get out from under some bills we have come up on Thanks for the replies all

I didn't like the idea of lifting a full fermenter up, over, and into a chest freezer. It's much easier to go into a mini-fridge.