Fermentation Vessel/fridge Fit

[Yob]

damn Kev.. thats a hell of a trub level on that top FV... you gunna siphon that one out?

 

[mikec]

Hi mate, have got hold of one of these 130 litre jobbies as a fermentation fridge. Still inner city so space is at a premium...Did you remove the plastic door shelving to fit a FV. If so how did you go about it?

Yep, the shelves just pop out, easy.
I've actually got two of these fridges now, chucked out the old freezer as I found it accumulated a lot of moisture and thus mold.

 

[QldKev]

damn Kev.. thats a hell of a trub level on that top FV... you gunna siphon that one out?

Nope, I'll just cool it down to under 4c for a couple of days so it compacts fairly hard, then dump the first bit until it runs clear. Not sure why there is soo much cold break material? but the brew smells really nice. It's a "Twisted QldKev" and looking at the recipe I would actually think it would have a lot less break than this.

QldKev

 

[lael]

I was doing a bunch of reading on this before I got mine - apparently a frost free freezer stays dry. I managed to get an upright westinghouse frost free off gumtree. I've just run my first brew in it and the inside of the freezer has stayed dry the entire time. It's in the garage, but it seems to hold temps very nicely (the compressor doesn't start up that often). Supposedly freezers are more efficient for power as well. It's a 300L

I can fit two 'normal' round fermenters (is that a word? / spelling?) in bottom / top configuration, or one 50L fermenter. - the big one has to go on the shelf above the compressor/basket section as the floorspace isn't large enough with the compressor indent thing. Can't put it halfway up as it bumps into the fan/air outlet thing (would the shelves hold that much weight?)

 

[mikec]

I reinforced my bottom shelf with blocks of wood.
I wasn't sure about putting 40L on it and Westinghouse would not give any numbers on the weight it would hold.
Yes frost free is the way to go. My old one was the regular type (old and cheap) and so was always freezing then thawing, leaving moisture everywhere.

 

[Newts]

Just having a look at the pics on this one - does anyone ever worry that the fermenter is going to break the shelf in their fridge? I can fit a second fermenter in one of my fridges but I worry about the 25+kgs on the shelf so to date haven't done it. Might head into bunnings and see if they have any of those square cube type fermenters. Look like they were made to fit in a fridge.

 

[Yob]

Kev has his strengthened with a couple of wire shelves to spread the load. You can make it out in the photos.

In my old fridge I built a little bracket to strengthen the shelf but at the end of the day I think I neednt have bothered... made me feel better though.

My current Fermenting fridges have toughened glass shelves, if they bend far enough to pop out of the guides Im in all sorts of bother anyway.

 

[QldKev]

As Yob mentioned, I've use the double shelf idea in my old fermenting fridge and did the same in the newer one. I've never had an issue. On the bottom shelf of the newer one, since it is carrying two good sized batches totaling about 60kg I have also put in center legs. If you have a look at that prior pic you can see a stainless drip tray on it's side that happened to be a good fit.

In the other half of the pigeon pair I have 5 kegs on the top shelf, so about 100kg. I've needed to do a lot more bracing to support the weight. I ended up using wood to carry the weight to the lower shelves. Doesn't look as pretty, but it does the job.