Buying A Brew Fridge

[Silo Ted]

and I have a commodore station wagon, so I can easily pick up a smallish fridge with a second set of hands to load it at each end.

 

[Gout]

Where are you Silo (i dont have a fridge to give away but might help others)

ebay, trading post, gum tree, sports clubs, garage sales and begging has worked for me

Also regarding your worry about temp loss in a seal on a used fridge - remember your sitting at say 18deg if brewing ale and hence the losses will be far smaller than a "normal" fridge if it was sitting at 4deg so its not such a problem.

I did measure the power used on my brewing fridge and a normal food fridge and it used such little power i chilled out and had a home brew

 

[MarkBastard]

Mate if you get a second hand one that's only 1-2 years old you won't have problems with leaks or seals or anything like that.

 

[bignath]

As mentioned by everyone else, second hand the way to go.

Got my (huge) fridge from the in-laws. they were downgrading to a smaller fridge due to moving house, i scored the 450lt, easy fits two fermenters and probably a box or two of stubbies. fridgemate on top, run the probe through the door, all is right with the world!
and the fridge was free!

Keep an ear to the ground. Sometimes people just want to "get rid of stuff" to make way for newer purchases...

 

[rendo]

Fcuk that is AWESOME...I am so jealous...you SUCK....well you dont really...you rock, I am just jealous....did I tell u I am jealous. What is your address again...i need to come and cough borrow your REAL fermenter...

Where did u get it? How much??? One day I might buy a conical
EDIT: I just realised you answered this already...CHEERS

I bought a frost free huge fridge which was somewhat new for about $100 if i recall..... it fits 2 fermenters or one "real fermenter"

 

[Gout]

Guys i will start a new thread tomorrow as to not take this one off topic. (i will also included prices and where i bought parts) as well as credit people on this fine board that gave me the idea

Rendo i am not telling you where i live - as it sounds like i might have a missing fermenter in the morning

 

[brente1982]

Thanks to everyone. It sounds like I should really look at the second hand market, and save my money for other toys. I am very concerned about leakage though. I dont even want to muck around with sourcing replacement rubbers, fitting them etc. Just want a fridge that I can plug ini without too many mods.

My next question should be does anyone have a second hand fridge they want to sell me. For under a hundred bucks. I should check Ebay.

Yeh i got one on ebay, actually a really lucky purchase, 390 litre fridge for $10, bargain, nor alot wrong with it, slight damage to seal down the bottom, but for around $40-$50 you can get replacement ones from doorseal.com.au so its not that bad.

Now im just waiting for CB to get more TempMates in so i can order one and then fit it to my box, all other components needed already purchased.

Cant wait to have the controlability of my fermenting that ive been lacking.

 

[Pollux]

Guys i will start a new thread tomorrow as to not take this one off topic. (i will also included prices and where i bought parts) as well as credit people on this fine board that gave me the idea

Rendo i am not telling you where i live - as it sounds like i might have a missing fermenter in the morning

I'll be waiting eagerly for that...I have a fermenting fridge that is a large too tight for 2 * any 25L vessels, but has a heap of headspace above the fermenter.


As for fridges, I have bought two cheaply since I started brewing, one as a keg fridge/hop storage, it's a HUGE bastard of a fridge freezer, heavy as all hell and holds 4 kegs + 6.8kg gas bottle plus a huge freezer above. That was from gumtree, cost of $50.

Second one in the fermenting fridge, spotted it at reverse garbage (a recycling place), cost of $30 and it came home laying down in the back seat of our Magna sedan....

 

[Silo Ted]

Looked at a suitable fridge at the good guys, could stand two fermenters up in it, the cheapest one reduced to $450. A fool and his money, well not me. Thanks to all the advice, I hit ebay instead and won a 390 litre fridge for $20, which I pick up tomorrow or Sunday. Its going to cost me $27 to hire a bloody stairclimber trolley to move it, but still a pretty good deal all up. Just hope it fits in the wagon.

 

[rendo]

Well I am not that mean. Your conical might be missing but I promise I would leave a normal fermenter or two and a few bottles of HBrew.....its the least I can do.

So where abouts are you again ? I have the gps ready...in my car....engine warm.....brooom brooooom....

Rendo i am not telling you where i live - as it sounds like i might have a missing fermenter in the morning