New beer fridge: ferment and serve? Help!

[Pilcrow]

So... I stumbled across a Beverage Air direct-draw beer refrigerator on Craigslist at a price I had to jump on. My question is in regards to fermentation. I want to use the extra space inside the cooler to store my carboy(s), however, my kegs will be at refrigeration/serving temps, far too low for my brewed ales. Is there a way I can still ferment ales inside? As of now, I can think of four options:

1) Use a temp control unit to control a FermWrap or similar device, possibly in conjunction with a carboy bag/parka and hood thermowell. (How effective will this method be when trying to raise the fermenting beer +20°F?)
2) Create a partition within the refrigerator to create two temp zones. The partition could have a fan to draw in cold air, again, controlled by a Johnson or Ranco.
3) Build a separate, insulated cabinet for fermentation and fashion a vented duct connecting it to the refrigerator. (This option would be least desirable)
4) Only brew lagers....

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[krizwit]

I use reflectix and a fermwrap and ferment in a fridge. You will have no problems fermenting in it. The more insulation you use the better....

[BeerPal]

I had no problems fermenting in, and dispensing from, a single chest freezer. The freezer would be set at my dispensing temps while each individual carboy wore a digitally controlled fermwrap (with sensor in a thermowell) covered by a neoprene carboy jacket. Worked great.

[Pilcrow]

Thank you both! Over in two!

[Thirsty Boy]

i do it by submersing aquarium heaters in the fermenter, insulating and putting it in a fridge at dispensing temperatures.

The nice thing about the aquarium heaters is that they come with their own temperature controller built in - so no extra cost. Set to your desired ferm temp, sanitise the snot out of it, drop it into the wort and wrap the fermenter up.

a word of warning - insulating the fermenter too well can mean that even inside a fridge, its not actually able to shed heat fast enough at peak fermentation and the beer can heat up too much. I wrap 1 layer of camping/yoga mat around the fermenter and leave the top and bottom "open" to teh fridge temps. You burn a little more power and the fridge works a little bit harder - but you get better temp control.

100W aquarium heaters are more than sufficient for a 5-6 gallon fermenting volume.

[GloridazeBrewing]

I had no problems fermenting in, and dispensing from, a single chest freezer. The freezer would be set at my dispensing temps while each individual carboy wore a digitally controlled fermwrap (with sensor in a thermowell) covered by a neoprene carboy jacket. Worked great.

How has this worked out for you? I want to do the exact same thing. Have you had any problems maintaining ale temps? Do the parkas insulate well enough that the freezer and fermwrap don't fight each other?

[GloridazeBrewing]

I tried this setup with the parka and fermwrap in my fridge. This batch was an Oktoberfest so it worked well, but I had trouble getting above 62 degrees for my diacytal rest so I'm worried about getting to 68 for ales. Any suggestions other than raising my fridge temp, which would be ng for the food?

[snowcapt]

I tried this setup with the parka and fermwrap in my fridge. This batch was an Oktoberfest so it worked well, but I had trouble getting above 62 degrees for my diacytal rest so I'm worried about getting to 68 for ales. Any suggestions other than raising my fridge temp, which would be ng for the food?

Um, take it out of the fridge?