Buying A Fridge

[evanroser]

G'day Brewers,
I want to buy a frdige, initially to laager my beers but with an eye to later using it as a kegging set-up. I'm after suggestions on what style of fridge to buy(does it matter?) and wether or not to get a reconditioned one? Also if you know of anyone selling one cheap in the Newcastle area, could you let me know.

Thanks

Pointy

 

[Coodgee]

I got a chest freezer. cost me about $450 in vgc. the advantage of this is I can fit 3 fermenters and 2 kegs and a gas bottle, plus room to store hops and yeasts etc. much better value in my opinion. every fridge sparky you talk to will tell you that freezers work differently to fridges and it won't work, but alot of home brewers including myself seem to prove them wrong. them n there books...

 

[crozdog]

pointy ,

1st off, welcome to the forum. you'll find lots of great advice here based on much experience.

Coodgee's suggestion of a chest freezer is popular - it depends on what you like / can get. Ask around (work/sport/family/mates etc) & you will often find someone who is upgrading or just offloading a working fridge. I picked up both of mine for nothing apart from having to go & collect em. i recall some posts re retailers like harvey norman often have them awaiting disposal in their loading dock & they are there for the taking.

You will find that once you start, 1 fridge just won't cut it. you really need 1 for controlling fermetning temps & another for lagering & or serving.

Don't forget to aquaint yourself intimately with the search feature as chances are your query has been asked or discussed in detail many times before. Fridge choice is up to you, have a look for the thread on keg fridges & you'll get ideas from what many others have done.

Beers

Crozdog

 

[stephen]

Point

Come and see at work next week. Am off until Tuesday.

Cheers

Stephen (Brownie)

 

[goatherder]

I've had great success buying fridges on ebay. Do the search where you restrict the results to X km within your area. I bought 2 old but perfectly working fermenting fridges this way for about 30 bucks each. You just have to be a little patient for them to come up.

 

[timmy]

I got a chest freezer. cost me about $450 in vgc. the advantage of this is I can fit 3 fermenters and 2 kegs and a gas bottle, plus room to store hops and yeasts etc. much better value in my opinion. every fridge sparky you talk to will tell you that freezers work differently to fridges and it won't work, but alot of home brewers including myself seem to prove them wrong. them n there books...

I'm a fridgey and i believe it won't shorten the life. If really anal you can top up the charge with extra refrigerant but with such a short compressor duty cycle, who would really bother?

Before anyone disputes my statement yes i know superheat, subcooling, backpressure, compressor and discharge temps are all affected.

So , yes, a chest freezer is the go in my opinion.

 

[peas_and_corn]

I have three fridges.

The first one I bought was a new bar fridge, got it for $300. I keep yeast cultures and some bottled beer in it. Quite good.

My other two I got with my tax return last year. I got a chest freezer for $300, and I use it as a fermentation fridge (with a temp controller, of course). Quite useful. I also have an upside down fridge, got it for $350. I have two kegs sitting inside it with another gas disconnect hanging free so I have the option of going for a third in the future (I'll do it, but just not now). I keep hops in the freezer section. They're both reconditioned fridges, and they're really good- I have the fridge set to the warmest setting!