How cold will a chest freezer go?

[Dave70]

This is an excerpt from a page where I was digging up a bit of info on applejack freeze distillation.

The following will give you an idea of how concentrated the alcohol can become at a given temperature: at zero degrees ice will form until the liquid reaches 14% alcohol by volume. At 10 below ice will form until it reaches 20%. At 20 below 27% can be made. And, at 30 below 33% alcohol can be obtained.

I think the fridgemate will control down to about -70c, so well within the range. But the question is, will the average chesty even go down to -30? I don't really want to lunch the motor on what is currently a perfectly serviceable keezer / freezer finding out.

 

[labels]

Most frozen food has a recommended storage temperature of -18°C and domestic freezers are usually built to this recommended temperature. Allowing for a bit of safety margin and ambient temperatures in wintertime, you may get down to -25°C or thereabouts. I think lab freezers go down to around -70°C if you got spare cash to throw around

 

[GalBrew]

If you want to get to -80 it will cost you around $12K. A normal freezer is designed to run at -20. Even the 'blast chillers' they use on Masterchef only go down to -30.

 

[Dave70]

Might just step it down 5 deg per day, check with the lazer and see how it goes. -20 is good enough for now.

 

[fraser_john]

Does the freezer have external coils? If so, put a fan on them, this makes the coolant more efficient as it is cooler when it goes back to the compressor and also helps save the compressor. I noted on my old chest freezer that it got down to lower temperatures as well as the differential between coolant and chest temperature allowed the coolant to take up more heat.

Just add a power strip on the outlet of the STC and the fan will come on whenever the compressor runs.

 

[Dave70]

Not a bad idea. Wedged into the corner of the garage as it is, airflow isn't exactly optional at the best of times.
Heat is a killer.

 

[Dave70]

Well in my case apparently, -21.

Low tech, but made a good seal on the top of the fermenter.

First runnings.
After about 6 hours of drip, drip, dripping I was left with pretty much clear ice and 5L of run off from the initial 8. Chucked it back in Saturday arvo and was pretty much frozen through this morning.
Pretty much the limit of what I can do with -21.
Tastes as you might expect, like hot apple juice, but surprisingly 'apple-ish'.
Give it one more go then perhaps run it through a sock for more clarity. May get my hands on one of those little barrels with the tap on if it shows promise and get some age under its belt.