Another brew fridge question

[shuesmek]

Hey all!
I recently got my hands on another brew fridge, as the first would not cool lower the 20 degrees (hunk of junk)
My problem now is that it is a bar fridge which has a top freezer compartment. Someone told me on here to make sure I get either all freezer or all fridge, I was unaware of this before I picked it up,
Will it still be ok to use with my stc-1000 for fermenting and cold crashing my brews?
Here are some pics

 

[Drewgong]

yeah it won't matter mate so long as your fermenter fits in and you keep the probe in the fridge section

 

[Drewgong]

Here's a pic of mine obviously the freezer doesn't freeze . I can fit two 30l fermenters in there.

 

[shuesmek]

Here's a pic of mine obviously the freezer doesn't freeze . I can fit two 30l fermenters in there.View attachment 112445

If I had a van I'd pick up a bigger freezer but I only have my mates wagon that fits the bar fridges, I'll give this new fridge a go. Might start having two going at one time [emoji38][emoji38]

 

[Drewgong]

I got this fridge for free it has a faulty defrost timer which makes it freeze up. so when I want to cold crash I plug it into a simple timer which turns it off for 15 minutes every six hours that let's it get down to 3 degrees without freezing up

 

[garage_life]

Turn the thermostat all the way up if not overriding the internal thermostat controller, you should be right (assuming information it is working).

Last fridge I did was a cheapo and even though it had a seperate freezer compartment the fridge section was mechanically controlled by a thermostat that would open / close a flap allowing cold freezer air into the fridge compartment. I just physically removed it and allowed the stc1000 to do the control.
Better / newer fridges are electronically controlled usually with electronics controlling the compressor and air distribution.
That being said if you remove all the smarts out they just make cold air from a compressor so you can usually wire a controller in and use it to control the compressor as needed eliminating all the crap and usually making it more reliable as a ferm fridge.
Your little fridge is pretty basic and should be fine, just turn the temp to min and let the stc buck.

 

[shuesmek]

Your little fridge is pretty basic and should be fine, just turn the temp to min and let the stc buck.

Hey mate,
I've got it hooked up with a Inkbird plug and play.
Fridge works I just put my fermenter in to cold crash my ale (first time doing so)
Not sure if this will be a problem but I noticed that the freezer section (which is ontop of fermenter) is cold as ice/frozen) I've set the thermostat to 5 degrees thinking that the coolness from the freezer will make it even colder then that.
Hope the cold crash goes well in this thing as it's my first attempt

 

[mashmaniac]

Hey mate,
I've got it hooked up with a Inkbird plug and play.
Fridge works I just put my fermenter in to cold crash my ale (first time doing so)
Not sure if this will be a problem but I noticed that the freezer section (which is ontop of fermenter) is cold as ice/frozen) I've set the thermostat to 5 degrees thinking that the coolness from the freezer will make it even colder then that.
Hope the cold crash goes well in this thing as it's my first attempt

I used a few of these over the years. I usually go all out and bend the crap outa the freezer cooling plate so it sits against the back wall, then add a fan or two.
At this point add a fan or two, it will circulate the air over the cooling plates. try and insulate the inkbird probe up against the fermenter, so it's taking the temp of the beer not the air around. (also do this when controlling ferment temps especially in summer).

 

[garage_life]

Hey mate,
I've got it hooked up with a Inkbird plug and play.
Fridge works I just put my fermenter in to cold crash my ale (first time doing so)
Not sure if this will be a problem but I noticed that the freezer section (which is ontop of fermenter) is cold as ice/frozen) I've set the thermostat to 5 degrees thinking that the coolness from the freezer will make it even colder then that.
Hope the cold crash goes well in this thing as it's my first attempt

I generally throw some "mass" in the freezer to help with maintaining temp and reducing fluctuations. Usually I'll tape the temp problem to the fermenter, plus some alfoil and then some scrap foam to try and get the problem to read the fermenter and no the fridge air temp.
Anyhoo, don't worry about the freezer, keep the probe as close to the fermenter temp as possible (read above) and check the controller temp reading with a calibrated thermometer and adjust the calibration as necessary. Usually I've found they're within +-1 so shouldn't be a huge concern. Placement does make a difference so at minimum tape it to the fermenter. Clean off the goop from the tape with metho as reqd.
Cheers.

PS I've also setup 2 small fans on a 30sec on 10min off loop and found no drastic improvement in fermentation femp. Remember the top dead space of the fermenter is just gas, close proximity the the freezer element won't cause a huge heat soak. Tape up the probe in the middle of the beer and at least you'll have a live readout of the situation.

 

[garage_life]

Also a tip for cold crashing is to set to 5deg then lower more as required to prevent any temperature undershoot.

 

[Rocker1986]

Not sure why temperature undershoot would be an issue with cold crashing. The lower the temperature, the better - as long as the beer doesn't start to freeze, of course.

I set the fridge thermostat to its coldest setting regardless of whether it's fermenting or cold crashing. When I do the cold crash, the temp controller is set to 0C and it has no trouble getting there. Just set the fridge to the coldest setting - if it can't get as low as the temp controller is set, then it won't. It'll just stop at its lowest point and remain there just like if it was plugged straight into the wall. The external temp controllers do not and cannot override the internal fridge thermostat and force it to chill further than it is designed to.