Refridgerator, Chest Feezer, or Walk-in Cooler

[Agnebrew]

I've been brewing now for about a year, and the whole time I have been bottling. I don't mind bottling, but it is a time consumming entreprise. In the near future, I would like to upgrade to kegs.

Here's my debate: which to get/build refridgerator, chest freezer, or walk-in cooler?

I would like to be able to use it for kegs, fermentation, and aging.

I love the idea of a walk-in cooler, but it is an expensive project. I also live in Northeast Ohio, so I wouldn't want an A/C unit out all winter.

I know that a lot of you have kegerators of one form or another. If you had to buy again, what would you get? Why?

Thanks!

Cheers!

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

I would love a walk in cooler, but will never have it. But you can build a freestanding room inside your garage, insulate, and put an air conditioner in it with the back sticking into the garage. Naturally, you would lose parking space. But you would lose that with a fridge or freezer.

[Agnebrew]

The garage isn't an option for me. One, it's not connected to the house, so would have to go outside to get beer in the winter. Two, it's in bad shape, and I would rather tear it down and rebuild, but I don't own the house. So everything's got to be in the basement. I do have permissions from the landlord, my wife's great aunt, to do what ever I want.

I'm looking for some pro and cons of each. Also, if someone got one thing and in hind sight, thinks they should have gotten the other. What are things that people would change about there set up? What are the things that you can't live without in the set up? Was there anything that you got later that you wish you had gotten the first time?

[TimC]

I am planning a walk-in for my barn soon. I live in central Ohio, so I'm dealing with pretty much the same weather you are. There are various ideas for dealing with winter temperatures, but the best if you are planning on building in your basement is to install the A/C entirely inside the house. If your cooler is well insulated the A/C shouldn't be running very often, so the amount of warm air and moisture pushed into your basement should be minor. For me, since the barn isn't heated, I am looking at an electronically controlled system of a wall A/C with heat, and vents to let in outside air when ambient is near the temp I want to maintain. This is all just in my head right now though.

As far as other options go, I currently have a standard over/under fridge/freezer which only holds one carboy for fermenting, or probably 4 kegs for serving. It wasn't purchased with brewing in mind, it's just what I happened to have. If I were buying something now, I would definitely go with a medium to large chest freezer - there are some ideas/plans floating around for separating it into compartments for serving and fermenting at the same time - or a used soda cooler or something similar.

[HomoBrewer]

As the owner of a refrigerator-style kegerator I would much prefer a nice chest freezer. You might not be able to have everything in it at the optimal temperature (warmer for doing lagers, colder for lagering, etc).

A walk-in with multiple "rooms", each with their own thermostat and blowers (to move cold air from the room with the ac), would be ideal... one of these days...

[HomoBrewer]

Oh yeah, you really can't fit much in a refrigerator, either. Two cornies and a 5# CO2 bottle is about it for me. I can squeeze three kegs in but have to be careful that everything doesn't come tumbling out.

[Agnebrew]

I'm leaning towards a chest freezer. I love the idea of having a walkin cooler. But we don't own our house, and we not sure that we are going to stay in Cleveland. The walk in wouldn't be able to move.

What size chest freezers to most people have? How much can you fit in it?

Thanks eveybody for your responses.

[Agnebrew]

I am planning a walk-in for my barn soon. I live in central Ohio, so I'm dealing with pretty much the same weather you are. There are various ideas for dealing with winter temperatures, but the best if you are planning on building in your basement is to install the A/C entirely inside the house. If your cooler is well insulated the A/C shouldn't be running very often, so the amount of warm air and moisture pushed into your basement should be minor. For me, since the barn isn't heated, I am looking at an electronically controlled system of a wall A/C with heat, and vents to let in outside air when ambient is near the temp I want to maintain. This is all just in my head right now though.

As far as other options go, I currently have a standard over/under fridge/freezer which only holds one carboy for fermenting, or probably 4 kegs for serving. It wasn't purchased with brewing in mind, it's just what I happened to have. If I were buying something now, I would definitely go with a medium to large chest freezer - there are some ideas/plans floating around for separating it into compartments for serving and fermenting at the same time - or a used soda cooler or something similar.

TimC thanks for the info about the walk-in cooler. Glad to know that I could put the A/C in the basement. Would love to check out your walk-in when completed. Please keep us inform on your progress. Next time you're up in Cleveland, let's raise a pint or three. Cheers