Re: Upright freezer or standard refrigerator for fermentation

Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:10 am

TheDarkSide wrote:Can the Fermwrap heaters be used on a Better Bottle?

I dunno, but I don't see why they wouldn't work on plastic. They don't generate much heat.
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Re: Upright freezer or standard refrigerator for fermentation

Wed Jul 15, 2009 10:40 am

I use a chest freezer AND a standard fridge. Both have JC A419's of course.

I HAD a standup freezer but keep in mind that most of those have refrigerant coils in the shelving and cannot be removed. Hard to find these that will accommodate carboys.
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Re: Upright freezer or standard refrigerator for fermentation

Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:37 am

I picked up this little guy on CL for $25. With a little modification it fits a 6.5 gal carboy pretty easily. There's not enough head room for a proper airlock, so I've been using a blowoff tube or a little vinyl goose neck. Been considering drilling a hole in the top and running an airlock through that. My beer is sitting at 68, and the fridge hardly ever runs. I only wish I could have two fermenting at the same time.
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Re: Upright freezer or standard refrigerator for fermentation

Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:47 am

atomicpunk wrote: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?

You are correct, sir! I use an analog controller for the freezer and digital units for the carboy heaters.

Or I did, until I went to this:

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"Make beer not war"

Currently fermenting: Firestone Walker Pale 31 clone
Conditioning: Nothing
On draught: Nothing

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Re: Upright freezer or standard refrigerator for fermentation

Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:09 am

Nice! Is that a Sanyo? What are the internal dimensions? And did you move the thermostat and dial? Thats making me horny for a conical.
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Re: Upright freezer or standard refrigerator for fermentation

Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:14 am

I bought into the small 5.5CUFT Oster for keg and lagering. placed them in the garage, and have found out that they only offer about a 40F drop (DeltaT) compared to ambient. hard to lager when the garage gets to 100F in the summer. I would prefer a standing freezer now. HD has them for $300, and they are dedicated freezers, not refer/freezer. Next time I guess.
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Re: Upright freezer or standard refrigerator for fermentation

Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:46 am

TunaCan wrote:Nice! Is that a Sanyo? What are the internal dimensions? And did you move the thermostat and dial? Thats making me horny for a conical.

It is a Sanyo 4912. The only modification I made was to remove the door shelf panel and replace it with whiteboard, necessary to fit the conical and great for making notes with a dry erase marker. I put a Fermwrap heater inside and run it and the fridge with a two-stage Ranco digital temp controller.

The interior dimensions are 12.5"D X 18.75"W X 29.25"H (measured at the compressor hump). Above the hump the depth is 16.5".
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Currently fermenting: Firestone Walker Pale 31 clone
Conditioning: Nothing
On draught: Nothing

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