fermenting steps using fridge (& yeast) in hot weather.

[Yob]

There are instructions on here but be warned they are not all good, I wired mine up from instructions on here, blew the safety....
tried another lot and all is good. Don't know how the first fella hasn't killed himself.

The poor and dangerous instructions sometimes posted here should be removed from the site for these very reasons IMO... as should the images of the units without enclosures just sitting on the fridge/freezer IMO.

 

[Gregos]

I have a STC 1000 plugged into a large chest freezer, it holds 4 x 30 fermenters ,when required I'll place heat pads inside, (in Qld so not very often). this setup works well, especially for cold crashing when fermentation is finished , STC 1000 work brilliant.

 

[Newts]

Yeah, I'm with Yob on this one. I went down the road of an STC1000 because of all the talk about how cheap they are etc. In the end I decided I didn't want to wire it as I'm not an electrician. Ended up costing me around $80 for the STC. Then decided you can get a Keg King one for $70 and you can take back if you have a problem with it. For ease of use they're pretty much the same.

On the rest of the thread, yeah, the fermentation fridge I think is probably the best investment a brewer will make. I have 2 now and wouldn't brew without one in our climate. Full length fridge is the best but I have a fridge freezer and don't have a problem with it as a fermentation fridge either. Just the freezer compartment is wasted whilst fermenting is all.

 

[indica86]

I bought an ebay shitter, binned it and went the Kegking one.
I have kids, my own house - insurance will be void if home wiring burns down house.

 

[Drewski]

The Keg KIng temp monitors are great, i have two. Not sure why people bother with wiring up the STC unless it works out a lot cheaper i don't know.

 

[pcmfisher]

Wasn't there questions about whether the Keg King ones comply with Aust Standards?

 

[RobboMC]

Last week when it was forecast to be 40 deg C here I chose NOT to bottle a finished brew and keep it in the fermenting fridge another week. The reason is that while I can fit a full fermenter in my fridge, I can't fit a full batch of bottles. If you are fermenting in a fridge don't forget that you can undo some of that good work by not conditioning at a similar temperature. Remember that the part of conditioning that creates carbonation is still a fermentation.

This is where two fridges comes in handy ( or 3, or 4 or 5 ) to store the bottled product at 20 deg C or thereabouts for at least a week after bottling.
Some of my most cherished bottles have never been above 20 deg C in their life.

So if you do manage to find a better fridge don't despair as the old one will still be very useful( and since they only run for about 30 min a day to hold the 20 deg C temp they don't kill the power bill too much. This summer my family actually demanded that I remove my beer from the camping fridge - they wanted to use it for camping!

 

[Yob]

The Keg KIng temp monitors are great, i have two. Not sure why people bother with wiring up the STC unless it works out a lot cheaper i don't know.

can work out cheaper depending on the products you use, my old man is a sparky so I grew up with wiring stuff up and he was able to check the photo's... had a go at me for not soldering the ends but the wiring itself is pretty easy.

Wasn't there questions about whether the Keg King ones comply with Aust Standards?

They have to comply and from what I understand are tagged so do comply.

 

[Kumamoto_Ken]

Last week when it was forecast to be 40 deg C here I chose NOT to bottle a finished brew and keep it in the fermenting fridge another week. The reason is that while I can fit a full fermenter in my fridge, I can't fit a full batch of bottles. If you are fermenting in a fridge don't forget that you can undo some of that good work by not conditioning at a similar temperature. Remember that the part of conditioning that creates carbonation is still a fermentation.

I'm hitting this myself. I got a fermentation fridge earlier this summer and have been keeping it busy with a variety of brews. Unfortunately, once bottled it's all just stored in the garage (apart from bottles in the fridge ready to drink), and the temps out there have been pretty bloody hot, and it continues with today meant to be 36, and then 39, 38, 39, 38 before a cool change down to 30. Not good storage conditions, although those temps also mean that turnover of stored bottles is pretty extremely high as well.

 

[acrow]

I'm hitting this myself. I got a fermentation fridge earlier this summer and have been keeping it busy with a variety of brews. Unfortunately, once bottled it's all just stored in the garage (apart from bottles in the fridge ready to drink), and the temps out there have been pretty bloody hot, and it continues with today meant to be 36, and then 39, 38, 39, 38 before a cool change down to 30. Not good storage conditions, although those temps also mean that turnover of stored bottles is pretty extremely high as well.

After bottling my beer I used to kept bottles in the garage as well, but in foam lidded boxes and never an explosion or what seemed off flavours - so may be try and source some foam containers with lids to try and help your situation. I never tested temperature inside the container and it still was not ideal, but better in the foam insulation than not.

 

[indica86]

They have to comply and from what I understand are tagged so do comply.

Indeed they do have to comply. Electrical Appliances need an approval number or the company selling them can risk a fine of up to $24,000.
My Keg King does not have such a number nor was it tagged.

Electrical appliances and equipment

What to look for when buying an electrical appliance

Approved electrical appliances
All electrical appliances and equipment must be approved prior to being made available for public use. Approved electrical appliances display a regulatory compliance mark or unique approval number.
Approval markings can vary between states. Typically they are an alphanumeric code, comprising the first letter of the state that issued the approval followed by between one and six digits. Two examples are shown below.

To find out if an appliance is approved for use, ask the store manager / sales person or search the Australian Certification Database for approved electrical appliances.
It is illegal to sell unapproved electrical products. Outlets selling them may be fined $5,000 for individuals and $24,000 for companies.

 

[pcmfisher]

can work out cheaper depending on the products you use, my old man is a sparky so I grew up with wiring stuff up and he was able to check the photo's... had a go at me for not soldering the ends but the wiring itself is pretty easy.

I think you will find you should not solder the ends for screw terminals.

 

[Kumamoto_Ken]

After bottling my beer I used to kept bottles in the garage as well, but in foam lidded boxes and never an explosion or what seemed off flavours - so may be try and source some foam containers with lids to try and help your situation. I never tested temperature inside the container and it still was not ideal, but better in the foam insulation than not.

Not a bad suggestion, thanks acrow. I have 100's of bottles though, and crates to store them so I'll probably stick with my method for the time being.
I'm not actually noticing any off flavours to be honest, but I imagine the bottles will go stale more rapidly in the heat (kept dark though). As I mentioned in my earlier post I am drinking quite a bit of it fresh at the moment anyway. In a few months it'll never get above 10C out there and I'll be able to drink 'cellar temp' beers without the fridge at all, haha. At the moment it's a bit of an oven though...more incentive towards a move to kegging I suppose.

 

[jkhlt1210]

G'day guys I live in Townsville so I know all about heat and humidity. My brewery is my garage so it's gets ridiculously hot in there. I used to just let it be and the brew would be god knows what temp as the stick on thermometer stops at 40c. Now I have both fermenters in a 70l esky with ice bottle in there and cardboard box over the top as I can't close the lid. It stays at 20c now!!!! When I'm mixing up a brew I cook down the wort with a bag of ice! Simple !

 

[jkhlt1210]

Cool down the wort not cook down !

 

[vfavictory]

I live in Darwin, so I use an old chest freezer that plugs into an external temp controller to maintain fermenting temps. I can't brew good beers without it. I also bring the wort temp down to fermenting temp before pitching rehydrated yeast that is at the same temp as the wort. These steps have escalated my beers from ok to excellent.