Fridge Usage

[reviled]

Hey guys,

Ive got a broken fridge freezer at home at the mo, fridge department keeps freezing over so thermostat is prolly shot... We were looking at throwing it out, but ive been reading that a few of you guys are using fridges for insulation etc. what I was wondering, what is the best way for me to make use of this broken fridge? I was thinking of putting a fermenter in there and trying to control the temp just so I can keep a stable temprature??? Would this be easy without power?

Also been reading about something called a fridge mate, whats this? Would the thermostat on the fridge need to be working for me to use one?

Interested in your thoughts...

Cheers

 

[Cocko]

Hi reviled,

I have just done exactly that check it: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...c=24410&hl=

Fridgemate is a great product, strongly recommended. You can have it run a heater inside the fridge to keep a constant temp or you can get the NTC probe which goes into your wort and run a heatbelt/pad or any combo's of that. If you keep your fermenter in the fridge it will maintain a lot of heat off its own ambient temp anyway so less running of the heat source = less expense. If you ever move to a lagering [working] fridge, your fridgemate can be set to turn the fridge on and off to keep it cool too!!

I am running a fridgemate + NTC Probe controlling 2x heatbelts on a 60L fermenter and it only ever varies 2 deg. !! Money well spent IMO.
:icon_cheers:

Cocko

 

[A3k]

Hey,
A fridge mate is basically a thermostat. You plug your fridge power into it and it switches on and off depending on the temperature.

As your current thermostat doesn't turn off, it causes the fridge to get too cold. You can set the fridge mate to turn the fridge off when it gets below a selected temperature. This is what the fridge thermostat should do.

I've got a fridge at home that someone threw out with the same problem of frezing everything. I have an external thermostat i made, pretty similar to a fridgemate but not as flexible. You can select the tempreature by using the dial on the external thermostat, so you can use it as a normal fridge or set the temp to 10 deg to brew lagers or what ever.

If you want a fermentor fridge, that'll be perfect, as you'll need a fridge mate or something anyway.

 

[wyatt_girth]

Hey guys,

Ive got a broken fridge freezer at home at the mo, fridge department keeps freezing over so thermostat is prolly shot... We were looking at throwing it out, but ive been reading that a few of you guys are using fridges for insulation etc. what I was wondering, what is the best way for me to make use of this broken fridge? I was thinking of putting a fermenter in there and trying to control the temp just so I can keep a stable temprature??? Would this be easy without power?

Also been reading about something called a fridge mate, whats this? Would the thermostat on the fridge need to be working for me to use one?

Interested in your thoughts...

Cheers

I have a broken-down upright freezer that I used for fermenting as it is obviously well insulated and keeps a stable temp. It is better used when the temps are closer to your ideal brewing temps and so I now use a fridgemate with either my barfridge to get down to lager temps, 10-12 deg. and with a brew belt for ales.

A fridgemate is a cheap, simple to use temperature controller that can be used with either a cooling device (fridge) or heating device (brew belt etc.) It is available from some of the site sponsors (above) See it here
Hope this helps
wyatt

 

[A3k]

For a big party i had we removed the guts from an old fridge, tipped it on it's side and used it as a massive esky.

 

[reviled]

Hey,
A fridge mate is basically a thermostat. You plug your fridge power into it and it switches on and off depending on the temperature.

As your current thermostat doesn't turn off, it causes the fridge to get too cold. You can set the fridge mate to turn the fridge off when it gets below a selected temperature. This is what the fridge thermostat should do.

I've got a fridge at home that someone threw out with the same problem of frezing everything. I have an external thermostat i made, pretty similar to a fridgemate but not as flexible. You can select the tempreature by using the dial on the external thermostat, so you can use it as a normal fridge or set the temp to 10 deg to brew lagers or what ever.

If you want a fermentor fridge, that'll be perfect, as you'll need a fridge mate or something anyway.

Maybe I wont throw it out :lol: haha Witha fridgemate could I control the freezer department as well?

This fridgemate thing sounds like it could be the go, how much do they go for? Anyone know a good place to get one in NZ? Or maybe mail order?

So it seems that if im making ales, keeping the temp averagely warm shouldnt be too hard... Cheers guys

 

[clean brewer]

Maybe I wont throw it out :lol: haha Witha fridgemate could I control the freezer department as well?

This fridgemate thing sounds like it could be the go, how much do they go for? Anyone know a good place to get one in NZ? Or maybe mail order?

So it seems that if im making ales, keeping the temp averagely warm shouldnt be too hard... Cheers guys

Checkout the Craftbrewer site(sponsor at the top of page), ross sells them, they need some wiring up though(best done by electrician but easy enough by yourself)..

Here is a link with intructions on how to do it....

http://helms-deep.cable.nu/~rwh/blog/?p=29

 

[jimi]

Maybe I wont throw it out :lol: haha Witha fridgemate could I control the freezer department as well?

This fridgemate thing sounds like it could be the go, how much do they go for? Anyone know a good place to get one in NZ? Or maybe mail order?

So it seems that if im making ales, keeping the temp averagely warm shouldnt be too hard... Cheers guys

I've got a fridgemate running my kegerator after it's thermostat died.

To answer your Q on controlling your freezer - Yes it can control your freezer (part of the fridge) BUT NOT seperately from the fridge. Meaning you cant set the freezer for freezing and the fridge for cool (6C). Most fridge freezers work by moving the freezer air into the fridge to cool the fridge so the fridge and freezer aren't seperately regulated.
In my fridge/freezer / kegerator the fridgemate probe goes into the fridge part where the kegs are which I have set to 5C. The freezer compartment is kept cold as a consequence but it doesn't freeze anything - its a good spot to keep classes cold (if you like that) and stuff but it doesn't freeze