First time brew fridge

[shuesmek]

Hey all

Fairly new to brewing and loving every moment of it (besides washing and sterilising bottles)
I managed to get my hands on a second hand bar/brew fridge, it fits just one 24L vessel inside, hooked up with a src-1000 , temp set to 19.5 and just put in a batch of coopers real ale, the problem I'm having is that the fridge was reaching 19.5 and turning off and keeping the temp (without the fermenter)
Now the fermenter inside the fridge cut has been 24 hours and the fridge has not shut off since, temp has been sitting on 23-24 degrees, everything was properly calibrated , just abit worried maybe the fridge is just a dud and is on its way? Anyone has any problems like this? Maybe I should keep a look out for another fridge and give this one a diss,
The previous owner told me that it was perfect for brewing as it only reaches a temp of 15 degrees and no lower.

 

[pnorkle]

Hi shuesmek - the fact that the fridge only reaches a temp of 15 deg says that it's not working properly - if it's running for 24 hrs, and only now reaching 23-24 deg.. I'd get rid of it & spend 50 - $100 on a replacement from Gumtree or somewhere.

Cheers.

 

[shuesmek]

[QUOTE="pnorkle, post: 1508090, if it's running for 24 hrs, and only now reaching 23-24 deg.

Cheers.[/QUOTE]

Hey pnorkle,
I really only got it to keep the brew from reaching my room temp of about 26-30 as the three previous brews I made went ok until we hit on of those 30deg days which makes my rooms reach 40+ . Not sure if I could get abit of life out of this fridge just till next summer comes

 

[pnorkle]

No problem then - except that if your fridge is running 24 hrs a day, your power bills are going to sky-rocket

 

[shuesmek]

Yeah the mrs will not be happy about that at all! I have a large freezer in the garage which is constantly running! Bills jumped from 400-600 [emoji15]

 

[pnorkle]

*ouch*

 

[mongey]

for one you really want it to get lower than 15 so you can cold crash . I set mine to 3 for that

owner gave you a bit of a bum steer there

 

[Kev R]

Sorry for stating the obvious, but the temp probe is inside the fridge?
Fridge shouldn't run 24/7 their made to keep food cold at about 4deg c fermentation temps should be a walk in the park for it.

 

[shuesmek]

I've went and changed the stc-1000 f1 function from 19.5 to 22.5 to keep the fridge from running 24-7 in regards to what you said pnorkle haha!

@mongey I'm fairly new to brewing I'm only on my 5th batch now and have not considered cold crashing or no much about it, I did get the fridge for free and the guy told me that it's only good to use for kit beers which is what I'm doing at the moment

 

[mongey]

I've went and changed the stc-1000 f1 function from 19.5 to 22.5 to keep the fridge from running 24-7 in regards to what you said pnorkle haha!

@mongey I'm fairly new to brewing I'm only on my 5th batch now and have not considered cold crashing or no much about it, I did get the fridge for free and the guy told me that it's only good to use for kit beers which is what I'm doing at the moment

I got my fridge about the same time in my journey

Once your beer is done, if you drop it to 3 degrees or so for 5 days allot of the yeast will drop out.and your beers will get allot clearer .and you will waste less when bottling .its a really easy way to improve your beer

 

[shuesmek]

@mongey that sounds good, does it make any difference in taste? Or just makes it a more clear beer?
How about if I ferment at 20-23deg and after 4-5 days move the fermenter into my large fridge as I can take 3 shelves out and fit it on the bottom which is set at 5 deg, you recon that could work

 

[mongey]

@mongey that sounds good, does it make any difference in taste? Or just makes it a more clear beer?
How about if I ferment at 20-23deg and after 4-5 days move the fermenter into my large fridge as I can take 3 shelves out and fit it on the bottom which is set at 5 deg, you recon that could work

better is subjective. it tastes cleaner

some beers I don't crash , like Belgians or Saisons , cause I want allot of the yeast character

right now it seems NEIPA and unfiltered beers are all the rage so its probably more on trend not to CC

 

[Drewgong]

keep watching gumtree freebies section there's always fridges on there for free that still work

 

[shuesmek]

Sorry for stating the obvious, but the temp probe is inside the fridge?
Fridge shouldn't run 24/7 their made to keep food cold at about 4deg c fermentation temps should be a walk in the park for it.

Ahah yes the probe is inside, the fridge was given to me for free and told that it only cools to 15 deg, but now with the fermenter inside it does struggle to get down to that but I'm fine with it cooling to 22 deg as a set temp

 

[Garagebrew]

What sort of condenser does it have and is there enough clearance around the fridge for airflow?
Most likely it will have the condenser at the back against the wall but i have seen smaller forced draft units so if you have one of these make sure the fan is running and the condenser isn't full of dust, newer fridges often use one of the side walls as the condenser so if you can't find it that could be the case.

This is only one of many causes of high temp issues but its a good starting point.

 

[Kev R]

Like Drewgong said, get on to gum tree. If not free you can pick one up for around $100.
You will want to be able to crash chill (drops out a lot of solids making nice clear beer)
You want one that is all fridge or all freezer. Beware, if there is no black coil at the back, then the heat exchange coils are laminated to the outside walls of the fridge so be careful drilling holes.
Old fridges make good vermin proof grain storage so it's not a total loss.
I asked about the temp probe because, been there done that and froze a brew.

 

[brewgasm]

Sound like your fridge might be on the fritz. Good news is freebies are not hard to come by. Both my brew fridge and keg fridge were free side note regarding your probe I'm not so sure if your fermentor has a thermal well if not are you shielding the probe?

 

[shuesmek]

Hey guys here are some photos of the set up I am using, the fridge has been on for 3 full days now and it's managed to get down to 21.5 and stabilise on that, I'm currently brewing a coopers kit. "Real ale" with coppers enhance NO.2

 

[shuesmek]

I have located a bar fridge which is working great but has a top freezer compartment in the same section, do you think it's still ok to use for home brew?

 

[Kev R]

I think most of the fridge / freezer combos draw cold air from the freezer into the fridge compartment. Your STC or whatever turns the power on or off to the whole appliance probably making the freezer part ineffective. So to keep it simple i stick to all fridge or all freezer.
Sure you could make it work if the price right.