Converting an upright freezer

[johnc66]

Hello all!

I am a new brewer and really enjoy this site. All kinds of good information. I recently acquired an older up right freezer. It is not a frost free version, so each shelf has the cooling coils running through them. I would like to use it for fermenting, though I have a small problem. My fermenting bucket is too tall when the airlock is placed on it. One way that I have conceived to get around the height problem is to remove some of the support wire in the shelf above to create a hole that the airlock can fit through. This will work for a while, but if I ever go to a conical fermenter it won't fit until several shelves are removed.

The coolant tubes are aluminum, not copper. I checked this by using a bit of sandpaper to see if it was copper underneath the aluminum. Any ideas are welcome. BTW the freezer was free.

Cheers,

John

[DannyW]

so don't use an airlock! I just leave the lid on loose on my buckets.

Ok, if it makes you sleep better at night, then poke a tube in the hole for the airlock and put the other end of the tube in a bucket or cup of sanitizer. If you do this, I recommend you put the end of the tube just barely under the surface of the liquid. That way, if you get rapid cooling and suck-back, the sanitizer won't go all the way to the beer.

Ask Justin how HE knows that is not a good thing!

[Speyedr]

I was typing up the whole blow-off tube thing too when I noticed Danny's post. I second his nomination..

[Push Eject]

If you're REALLY nice to it and cuddle afterward you can actually get those shelves to bend up and out of the way.

Push Eject

[johnc66]

Thanks for the information folks!!

[johnc66]

If you're REALLY nice to it and cuddle afterward you can actually get those shelves to bend up and out of the way.

Push Eject

I was able to bend the shelf up and out of the way, with no kinked lines. I may try a little more "creative"bending to move it a bit more. But I can now fit the fermenter in with the airlock.

Would it be best to put some thin material (wood sheeting) between the fermenter and the shelf, so the fermenter isn't setting directly on the shelf with the cooling tubes?

[bub]

shouldn't matter
BUB

[Push Eject]

I concur with Boob. It shouldn't matter.

Push Eject