Fridge Fermentor Idea

[McFeast]

G'day everyone,

Just getting back into brewing after a ten year break. Have just racked the following:

Morgans Queensland Bitter
Coopers Malt Extract 1kg
Dextrose 500gm
Cluster

Its bloody hot up here in Mackay, so I've been brewing it submerged (almost) in the bath tub. the water temp is ~ 23degC. Took four days for primary fermentation, and now as said above, i've racked it to a secondary fermentor (@1015) and added finings (just one packet). Will hopefully be kegging it this weekend!

I've read about guys using thermostat regulated fridges, and I was thinking this is definitely the way to go, however I reckon it would be better to get an old Wine cooler fridge, and put the fermentor in one of these where I can set the temp (e.g.18degC). I'd just pull the racks out and place the fermentor in there.
Anyone using one of these?
Is using one of these a good idea? or do you think it wont regulate the temperature correctly? you can pick them up for varying (usually cheap) prices.

looking forward to your thoughts on the fridge and my first attempt this century.

Cheers guys!

Simon

 

[raven19]

That is an option for sure, but why not grab an old fridge and get a fridgemate from the sponsors above or a digital thermostat of evilbay.

I have a few of each and they work a treat.

 

[mwd]

I use a 24 bottle wine cooler peltier fridge as a fermentation fridge up here in Cairns it takes a Coopers old style fermenter and airlock as if they were made for each other. Mine runs at 18C no problem at all but takes quite a while to cool down hot wort fresh from the boiler. I add ice bottles at first until the temp gets down. They are not designed to go really cold so might be a bit of work to do lager in the Tropics. Good news is they only consume about 40W or so I believe after reading up on them. Got mine at Sam's warehouse but seen the same at Big W. If you can get a good secondhand one should be all good to go and no compressor hump stealing half the free space.

 

[dr_pepper]

check the temp range on it... some don't have much temp range, some have up to 3deg-18deg
try and get one with a motor, they have a bit more guts and will handle the big load a lot better

it's slow moving with temp changes, but holds a temp well

first day or two of fermenting can be a bit iffy, so keep a close eye on it. just turn the fridge off / on until you've got the temp right, then check once or twice a day how the temp is sitting, and adjust accordingly, the weather has a huge difference on it too

for example, im in sydney and even if im brewing an ale at 18deg, if the weather is really hot i'll have the fridge on almost constantly, only off for a few hours at night...if its cold weather, sometimes i can have the fridge off for days and it will sit perfectly at 18deg.

im lucky mine gets down pretty cold and i can brew lagers at 9-12deg quite easily too

you can even set it on a power outlet timer for a weekend away or something (takes a bit of experimenting to get this right, but its possible)

other option besides a wine fridge is of course a bar fridge and then install a temp control...however i struggled to find any bar fridges with enough size for my fermenter and didn't want to mess around with wiring things up. if you have space for a big fridge and can wire up a temp control, i'd go the fridge option over wine cooler...but if you're like me, wine cooler is a decent option.

 

[poppa joe]

I use a Wine cooler. ( $40.00 New in the Box at Garage sale )...And Gladwrap...
Seemsk O.K. for me..
Cheers
PJ

 

[STEVENALI]

mate I live in River Heads way south of you but it is still too hot to brew under 30c so like you I asked questions on this site and finally took the advice offered and am now making the best home brew I ever had, out of plain old coopers cans
safale04 yeast all brewed in the fridge til done,when it stops bubbling I whack the fridge down to 4c let it sit for a week and then keg it. crystal clear and no cidery taste every time,

 

[booyablack]

Your setup with that nice shiny conical fermenter is pure home-brewer PORN STEVENALI!

Nice.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Too hot even in Bris-vegas.

My last two brews suffered from a sudden post-flood sunshine jump in temp.

Not happy Jan.

It sold me on a fridge fermenter though.

Goomba

 

[McFeast]

Good stuff! thanks guys. reckon that brew will come out alright? i'll probably keg it tomorrow evening or saturday morning.

I especially like STEVENALI's setup - where'd you get that fermentor? fantastic way to reduce sediment and empty remaining spoils. well done.

 

[bignath]

Howdy McFeast, glad to hear you're getting back into it!

Those wine fridges (as opposed to bar fridges) would make a good fermentation fridge, but for me, i'd go for the second hand/cheap/handmedown fridge and a separate controller. And only for one reason..

Either way you go will be good for fermentation. BUT, and it' a big one for me, i like to put my beers in secondary and drop the temp to 3 or 4 degrees to condition. A wine fridge won't do that. Cheap fridge with a separate controller - too easy. Drop the set point for the controller to whatever temp you want to condition at, and walk away.

I love my big fermentation fridge which also doubles as a conditioning fridge. I brew back to back beers and ferment multiple batches at once. this allows me to condition multiple at once too, as my stock on hand of drinkable beer is built up enough to allow the fridge to be below fermentation temps for a week or two until the next batch is good to ferment.

Best of luck mate,

BigNath