Upright freezer or standard refrigerator for fermentation

[BeerPal]

the footprint is much smaller than an equal capacity chest freezer.

That would be the only advantage an upright has over a chest-style, IMHO.

[TheDarkSide]

Still go with chests???

Always go with chests...the bigger the better.

I use better bottles (my clumsiness and glass do not mix well), so chest freezers aren't as dangerous for me. I put them in milk crates to make moving them around easier.

[bcmaui]

the footprint is much smaller than an equal capacity chest freezer.

That would be the only advantage an upright has over a chest-style, IMHO.

Refrigerators also have better internal moisture control than chest freezers. I use an upright referigerator for ferment and a chest freezer for keg storage. I often have to wipe up condensation in the chest freezer, but never in the refrigerator. I am thinking about putting the ferment fridge up onto a counter soon so I can rack directly to a keg via gravity and not have to move the carboy out of the refer and wait for everything to settle again before transferring.

[atomicpunk]

A chest freezer does not spill cold air when it is opened the way an upright does. In addition, the use of space is much more efficient. For example, how many carboys and/or kegs can you fit in a 17 c.f. upright? I can easily fit 10 kegs or 2 carboys and 6 kegs in my 17 c.f. chest freezer.

Here is how I can ferment and dispense from a single freezer:

Sweet setup! Very impressive. How many temp control units do you need? One for the freezer which I assume is set at dispensing temps? And one for each carboy, set at fermentation temps?

[drunkrhino]

Here is how I can ferment and dispense from a single freezer:

what kind of fermentation temps can you achieve with that setup? i read the fermwrap can increase temp by up to 15 degrees. so what do you set your chest freezer temp at?

[Quin]

Looking over craigslist for something to use to control fermentation temps.

If you were to buy one today would you go with a standard refrigerator or an upright freezer?
By standard refrigerator I mean the kind with a freezer compartment on top.

I was thinking the preferred buy would be the upright freezer because it would seem like a better use of space. But they are hard to find used at reasonable prices compared to the abundance of used refrigerators one can find.

Are there pros and cons to each?
Is there a future use I should consider?

Thanks

I have one standard refrigerator for fermentation and one for dispensing. They are much easier to find than upright freezers. I have 11 gal of Octoberfest cold crashing at 29° right now in the fermentation fridge and have no problem maintaining those temps.

There is also the issue of condensation inside the freezer on manual defrost models. I think if you found a frost free freezer the moisture problems would be much less of a problem (if at all). I ferment 11 gallons at a time in sanke kegs. There is no way I would want to lift that into a chest freezer (but you could pump it into the fermenter).

[BeerPal]

Here is how I can ferment and dispense from a single freezer:

what kind of fermentation temps can you achieve with that setup? i read the fermwrap can increase temp by up to 15 degrees. so what do you set your chest freezer temp at?

I keep the freezer in the low 40's for dispensing and I can ferment at any temp I choose and stay within a degree of my target temp. Of course, each carboy requires its own temp controller, heater and neoprene parka, so this is not a particularly cheap way to go, but it works great.

[TheDarkSide]

Can the Fermwrap heaters be used on a Better Bottle? or would just strapping it to the fridge/freezer wall work ( assuming only fermenting one at a time, or two at the same temp )?