# First time brew fridge



## shuesmek (27/4/18)

Hey all

Fairly new to brewing and loving every moment of it (besides washing and sterilising bottles)
I managed to get my hands on a second hand bar/brew fridge, it fits just one 24L vessel inside, hooked up with a src-1000 , temp set to 19.5 and just put in a batch of coopers real ale, the problem I'm having is that the fridge was reaching 19.5 and turning off and keeping the temp (without the fermenter)
Now the fermenter inside the fridge cut has been 24 hours and the fridge has not shut off since, temp has been sitting on 23-24 degrees, everything was properly calibrated , just abit worried maybe the fridge is just a dud and is on its way? Anyone has any problems like this? Maybe I should keep a look out for another fridge and give this one a diss,
The previous owner told me that it was perfect for brewing as it only reaches a temp of 15 degrees and no lower.


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## pnorkle (27/4/18)

Hi shuesmek - the fact that the fridge only reaches a temp of 15 deg says that it's not working properly - if it's running for 24 hrs, and only now reaching 23-24 deg.. I'd get rid of it & spend 50 - $100 on a replacement from Gumtree or somewhere.

Cheers.


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## shuesmek (27/4/18)

[QUOTE="pnorkle, post: 1508090, if it's running for 24 hrs, and only now reaching 23-24 deg.

Cheers.[/QUOTE]

Hey pnorkle,
I really only got it to keep the brew from reaching my room temp of about 26-30 as the three previous brews I made went ok until we hit on of those 30deg days which makes my rooms reach 40+ . Not sure if I could get abit of life out of this fridge just till next summer comes


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## pnorkle (27/4/18)

No problem then - except that if your fridge is running 24 hrs a day, your power bills are going to sky-rocket


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## shuesmek (27/4/18)

Yeah the mrs will not be happy about that at all! I have a large freezer in the garage which is constantly running! Bills jumped from 400-600 [emoji15]


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## pnorkle (27/4/18)

*ouch*


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## mongey (27/4/18)

for one you really want it to get lower than 15 so you can cold crash . I set mine to 3 for that 

owner gave you a bit of a bum steer there


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## Kev R (27/4/18)

Sorry for stating the obvious, but the temp probe is inside the fridge?
Fridge shouldn't run 24/7 their made to keep food cold at about 4deg c fermentation temps should be a walk in the park for it.


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## shuesmek (27/4/18)

I've went and changed the stc-1000 f1 function from 19.5 to 22.5 to keep the fridge from running 24-7 in regards to what you said pnorkle haha! 

@mongey I'm fairly new to brewing I'm only on my 5th batch now and have not considered cold crashing or no much about it, I did get the fridge for free and the guy told me that it's only good to use for kit beers which is what I'm doing at the moment


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## mongey (27/4/18)

shuesmek said:


> I've went and changed the stc-1000 f1 function from 19.5 to 22.5 to keep the fridge from running 24-7 in regards to what you said pnorkle haha!
> 
> @mongey I'm fairly new to brewing I'm only on my 5th batch now and have not considered cold crashing or no much about it, I did get the fridge for free and the guy told me that it's only good to use for kit beers which is what I'm doing at the moment



I got my fridge about the same time in my journey

Once your beer is done, if you drop it to 3 degrees or so for 5 days allot of the yeast will drop out.and your beers will get allot clearer .and you will waste less when bottling .its a really easy way to improve your beer


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## shuesmek (27/4/18)

@mongey that sounds good, does it make any difference in taste? Or just makes it a more clear beer?
How about if I ferment at 20-23deg and after 4-5 days move the fermenter into my large fridge as I can take 3 shelves out and fit it on the bottom which is set at 5 deg, you recon that could work


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## mongey (27/4/18)

shuesmek said:


> @mongey that sounds good, does it make any difference in taste? Or just makes it a more clear beer?
> How about if I ferment at 20-23deg and after 4-5 days move the fermenter into my large fridge as I can take 3 shelves out and fit it on the bottom which is set at 5 deg, you recon that could work



better is subjective. it tastes cleaner 

some beers I don't crash , like Belgians or Saisons , cause I want allot of the yeast character 

right now it seems NEIPA and unfiltered beers are all the rage so its probably more on trend not to CC


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## Drewgong (27/4/18)

keep watching gumtree freebies section there's always fridges on there for free that still work


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## shuesmek (27/4/18)

Kev R said:


> Sorry for stating the obvious, but the temp probe is inside the fridge?
> Fridge shouldn't run 24/7 their made to keep food cold at about 4deg c fermentation temps should be a walk in the park for it.



Ahah yes the probe is inside, the fridge was given to me for free and told that it only cools to 15 deg, but now with the fermenter inside it does struggle to get down to that but I'm fine with it cooling to 22 deg as a set temp


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## Garagebrew (27/4/18)

What sort of condenser does it have and is there enough clearance around the fridge for airflow?
Most likely it will have the condenser at the back against the wall but i have seen smaller forced draft units so if you have one of these make sure the fan is running and the condenser isn't full of dust, newer fridges often use one of the side walls as the condenser so if you can't find it that could be the case. 

This is only one of many causes of high temp issues but its a good starting point.


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## Kev R (27/4/18)

Like Drewgong said, get on to gum tree. If not free you can pick one up for around $100.
You will want to be able to crash chill (drops out a lot of solids making nice clear beer)
You want one that is all fridge or all freezer. Beware, if there is no black coil at the back, then the heat exchange coils are laminated to the outside walls of the fridge so be careful drilling holes. 
Old fridges make good vermin proof grain storage so it's not a total loss.
I asked about the temp probe because, been there done that and froze a brew.


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## brewgasm (28/4/18)

Sound like your fridge might be on the fritz. Good news is freebies are not hard to come by. Both my brew fridge and keg fridge were free  side note regarding your probe I'm not so sure if your fermentor has a thermal well if not are you shielding the probe?


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## shuesmek (28/4/18)

Hey guys here are some photos of the set up I am using, the fridge has been on for 3 full days now and it's managed to get down to 21.5 and stabilise on that, I'm currently brewing a coopers kit. "Real ale" with coppers enhance NO.2


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## shuesmek (30/4/18)

You want one that is all fridge or all freezer[/QUOTE said:


> I have located a bar fridge which is working great but has a top freezer compartment in the same section, do you think it's still ok to use for home brew?


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## Kev R (30/4/18)

I think most of the fridge / freezer combos draw cold air from the freezer into the fridge compartment. Your STC or whatever turns the power on or off to the whole appliance probably making the freezer part ineffective. So to keep it simple i stick to all fridge or all freezer.
Sure you could make it work if the price right.


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## shuesmek (30/4/18)

It was free [emoji38][emoji38]
I only got the second fridge as the first fridge was a dud and after some reading I think I want to move on to cold crashing my brews


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## jackgym (1/5/18)

shuesmek said:


> Hey guys here are some photos of the set up I am using, the fridge has been on for 3 full days now and it's managed to get down to 21.5 and stabilise on that, I'm currently brewing a coopers kit. "Real ale" with coppers enhance NO.2
> 
> View attachment 112399
> View attachment 112400
> View attachment 112401


It would be better if you had the probe taped to the fermenter under a piece of stubby cooler material.
That way you're controlling the temp. of the wort, not the ambient temp. of the fridge.


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## wheat and hops (6/5/18)

I blue-tac the probe to the side of the fermenter, seems to work quite well.


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## wheat and hops (6/5/18)

mongey said:


> I got my fridge about the same time in my journey
> 
> Once your beer is done, if you drop it to 3 degrees or so for 5 days allot of the yeast will drop out.and your beers will get allot clearer .and you will waste less when bottling .its a really easy way to improve your beer



I'm bottling, would cold crashing provide any benefit to those of us that bottle ?


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## brewgasm (6/5/18)

wheat and hops said:


> I'm bottling, would cold crashing provide any benefit to those of us that bottle ?


Absolutely, will help clarify the beer some and reduce sediment in the bottle.


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## peterlonz (7/5/18)

Selecting suitable low cost fridges is not dead simple as you might suppose.
Things that need careful checking:
* Internal size need to be capable of holding a Cornelius keg, so that you have a choice: keg, fermentor or maybe both. My fridge accepts 3 kegs with a squeeze. I control fermentation by alternative means.
* Construction: as a general rule older units will have the radiator "coil" at the rear of the unit. Newer designs almost always use radiator cooling fitted closely inside the side walls. In this latter case you will very likely penetrate & destroy the coil if you attempt to drill to fit a beer tap. So in this case use a dispensing tap that you can coil up & leave inside the fridge. To dispense open the door. This is not ideal & an alternative is to fit the tap in the door which has the disadvantage that it gets in the damned way!
* Older fridges tend to have deteriorated seals which can typically cost about $80 to replace. So check the seals for splits & areas where continuous contact does not exist.
* Corrosion: from personal experience I can say that typically older units will likely show corrosion pitting on most of the exterior. Rarely does this present a problem except in appearance & if desired that is fixable with a rub down & repaint. In my case also I discovered more pronounced corrosion at the top door hinge. This was so bad that a substantial repair was necessary & I considered scrapping the unit.


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## Kev R (7/5/18)

peterlonz said:


> In this latter case you will very likely penetrate & destroy the coil if you attempt to drill to fit a beer tap.


Door is safe to drill holes.
If you need to go through the side, remove a piece of the inside plastic shell (make sure the blade used does not penetrate more than 1 to 2mm ), remove the insulation with a chop stick exposing the coils and drill from the inside.


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## mongey (7/5/18)

wheat and hops said:


> I'm bottling, would cold crashing provide any benefit to those of us that bottle ?


yeah for sure. I bottle


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## brewgasm (8/5/18)

peterlonz said:


> Selecting suitable low cost fridges is not dead simple as you might suppose.
> Things that need careful checking:
> * Internal size need to be capable of holding a Cornelius keg, so that you have a choice: keg, fermentor or maybe both. My fridge accepts 3 kegs with a squeeze. I control fermentation by alternative means.
> * Construction: as a general rule older units will have the radiator "coil" at the rear of the unit. Newer designs almost always use radiator cooling fitted closely inside the side walls. In this latter case you will very likely penetrate & destroy the coil if you attempt to drill to fit a beer tap. So in this case use a dispensing tap that you can coil up & leave inside the fridge. To dispense open the door. This is not ideal & an alternative is to fit the tap in the door which has the disadvantage that it gets in the damned way!
> ...


Generally most people put the taps on the door so the coil a virtually a non issue. If you are unsure where to drill just go through the door. I got both my brew fridge and keg fridge for free. I was lucky that they both were perfect size. That said I built my keg fridge set up to suit the fridge. Fits 2 19l kegs side by side, three taps on the door because depending on the keg configuration I can fit 5 kegs in there. My 10l kegs have a tall collar so they stack with disconnects on.

Point is it can be very simple to set up a fridge, I worked with what I had and it works great for me and I will likely use it until the fridge packs it in or something better comes along 

I use the freezer part of the fridge so it's a non issue not being a dedicated unit.


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## wynnum1 (8/5/18)

wheat and hops said:


> I'm bottling, would cold crashing provide any benefit to those of us that bottle ?


If you bottle cold can change the priming sugar quantity that is needed the other problem is drinking the beer before it hits the bottle if its a hot day and left with empty clean bottles.


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## brewgasm (8/5/18)

wynnum1 said:


> If you bottle cold can change the priming sugar quantity that is needed the other problem is drinking the beer before it hits the bottle if its a hot day and left with empty clean bottles.


I don't think that it will change the priming sugar quantity. You will have to let the bottles warm up again so that secondary fermentation can happen


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## wheat and hops (8/5/18)

thank you. New brew fridge here, second brew in it and readings have stabilised so I'll have a go at cold crashing and see how it goes before I bottle.

I have discovered an issue here. I need to wait for the cold crash to finish before I can add in another brew.

Sounds like I need a second fridge already.


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