Lager Fridge

[jimmyjack]

does anyone use a wine cooler or chiller to lager in, I have seen their price come down to 150 for 29 bottle cooler and their temps range between 7 and 18 deg c.

 

[nonicman]

Where? Whenever I've seen them they have had a large price tag, but they appear ideal for fermenting. A couple of these (possible at 150 with a little saving) would be great.

 

[jimmyjack]

Target had dome 29 bottle in their last catalogue for 149 I missed it and then i just ran across a misteral at big w for 168, I think a plastic fermentor will fit in it with plenty of room

 

[T.D.]

Yeah, I use a RankArena wine fridge for my lagers (and will do for ales too in summer). It fits a 30L fermenter perfectly - its almost like it was made for brewing!

The only downfall is that it is not a very strong fridge. By that I mean the temps it can hold depend A LOT on ambient temperatures. I bought it in the middle of winter and at that time it sat at 6 degrees C at the coldest setting. In the current climate the lowest setting holds 13 degrees. Perfect for fermenting lagers but not good enough for lagering. The other thing is that the heat that the yeast activity give off really makes the fridge struggle to get the temp down. I have done two lagers in the fridge so far and both have not gone much below 20 degrees during the first few days of fermentation. The lagers taste very much like lagers (no estery or fruity flavours to be seen) so I am not too worried about the highish fermentation temp. Once the yeast activity subsides it happily goes down to 13 degrees. I imagine it will be much more effective in the winter.

I am not trying to put you off - I am very happy with my purchase. I can easily hold a stable 20 degrees in summer and probably 10-12 degrees in winter for primary fermentation. Really helps to stabalise temps. I guess if you want to drive the temp down to genuine lager brewing temps in the middle of summer you should go for a proper fridge with a controller. But I wouldn't give my little wine fridge back in a million years!

 

[nonicman]

Thanks TD and Jimmyjack, one would free up a chest freezer for lagers We're on green power so that isn't a big concern, at the moment.

 

[jimmyjack]

thx TD went and got the last rank and arena at big w Kawana. Called around everywhere and that was the only place to have it left after a catalogue special. Is yours a 28 bottle model RAWC28?

 

[peas_and_corn]

T.D.- yeah, its problem with ambient temps has a lot to do with its glass door- easy to transfer heat... it is a problem...

 

[Screwtop]

I have the Lemair wine fridge. For some reason it suffers from thermo wander. Have it set at 13 but for no reason it will wander up in temp. Walked past the other day and the temp setting display showed 18. The thermometer inside read 16. Reseting the temp control seems to wake it up again. Ambient temp does not seem to be as much of a problem for me but that may be due to its location but you really have to keep an eye on it. My old ferm fridge with Adloheat never varies more than 2 deg.

 

[T.D.]

thx TD went and got the last rank and arena at big w Kawana. Called around everywhere and that was the only place to have it left after a catalogue special. Is yours a 28 bottle model RAWC28?

[post="91278"][/post]​

Yeah, I think that's the one (can't remember the actual model number). The best thing about it is the motor is tacked onto the back so it doesn't take up room inside the fridge at the bottom. That means the inside of the fridge is all usable. A 30L carboy fits in beautifully (only thing is that you need a two-piece airlock - the S-shaped one is a bit too tall).

Hope it works well for you mate! :beer:

 

[T.D.]

T.D.- yeah, its problem with ambient temps has a lot to do with its glass door- easy to transfer heat... it is a problem...

[post="91308"][/post]​

That makes sense. I just figured it had a weak motor. They did say in the manual that the fridge is highly reliant on ambient temps.

For $180 (I think that's what I paid) you can hardly go past it - even if it is a little variable in temperature. As I said, it can keep ale temps down to reasonable levels in the summer and get you real lager brewing (and lagering) temps in the winter. I have brewed two lagers in warmer weather and although the temp readings suggested it was too warm, I could not be happier with the results.

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

Glass doors can be insulated with those camping mats $5 @ crazy someones and a bit of contact adhesive...

Mates big 2 door was running flat out last summer we glued on mats and she coold right down and the moter now gets to rest ...

Cheers fnqbunyip

 

[jimmyjack]

Glass doors can be insulated with those camping mats $5 @ crazy someones and a bit of contact adhesive...

Yeah, I think that's the one (can't remember the actual model number). The best thing about it is the motor is tacked onto the back so it doesn't take up room inside the fridge at the bottom. That means the inside of the fridge is all usable. A 30L carboy fits in beautifully (only thing is that you need a two-piece airlock - the S-shaped one is a bit too tall).

I just put it in and it fits perfect, other models have a step shelf on the bottom where the arena doesnt. The two piece fits perfect!!! I cant wait to do a lager

 

[yard glass]

hi guys,

i saw this here a while back.
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/Free...dges-t4434.html

i recently got a 200lt freezer with an Adlo up and running.

cheers
yard

 

[jimmyjack]

does anyone use a wine cooler or chiller to lager in, I have seen their price come down to 150 for 29 bottle cooler and their temps range between 7 and 18 deg c.

Happy to report that the little fridge is keeping my APA around the 20c mark and it is 28 degrees today in sunny QLD, and probably 30 in my garage. I dont think it would do a lager with these ambient temps unless I used San Fran lager yeast. For 168 bones it is well worth it to keep stable fermenting temps all year round!!

 

[T.D.]

does anyone use a wine cooler or chiller to lager in, I have seen their price come down to 150 for 29 bottle cooler and their temps range between 7 and 18 deg c.

Happy to report that the little fridge is keeping my APA around the 20c mark and it is 28 degrees today in sunny QLD, and probably 30 in my garage. I dont think it would do a lager with these ambient temps unless I used San Fran lager yeast. For 168 bones it is well worth it to keep stable fermenting temps all year round!!

[post="91863"][/post]​

Is your APA in its active bubbling stage? Also, is the fridge on its lowest setting? As we were discussing earlier, the heat given off during the agressive part of fermentation pushes the temp up 5-7 degrees (from my experience anyway). 20 degrees is obviously perfect for ale brewing but just keep an eye on the temp as fermentation subsides, because it will drop down below ale brewing temps and your fermentation might crap out. When there's no bubbling, my fridge goes back down to around 13 degrees, but it holds a perfect 20degrees while its bubbling (on the lowest thermostat setting). Anyway, I'm sure you already know this, but I thought I should mention it again anyway.

And regarding the lagering, I have done two lagers so far, both with saflager S-23 and they have come out really well. Both fermented during the first few days at 20 degrees, and were "lagered" at 13 degrees. Certainly not ideal temps but if I tried one of these blind and was asked what temp it was fermented at, I would DEFINITELY say proper lager temps. Anyway, as much as it will not hold true lager temps in summer, it still makes very good lager beer.

Next year, in about April of May I reckon, I'm going to get some of that San Francisco Lager yeast for my winter brewing (in ambient temps). Maybe I'll try WLP800 pilsner yeast as a nice specialist yeast for when I brew in the fridge. In Winter I am almost certain this little fridge will hold temps from 6-15degrees pretty happily.

 

[jimmyjack]

Thanx for that TD I have been eye ballin the temp continually just to see when it will drop, last night it started to go a little below 20 and i bumped up the nob a notch.I bought a glass thermometer that sits in the cooler to monitor temps which seems to be pretty acurate. It is bubbling along nicely. I will watch it very closely in the next day or so to see how the temps are. i am hooked on ales at the moment and dont plan on doing a lager but i cant wait to try it using your methodology.

cheers
jj