Supporting fermentors in a fridge

[mondestrunken]

I'm the lucky owner of a new-secondhand fridge and I'm just wondering what is the best way to support 20-25kg (hopefully more) of weight in a fridge, what with the unfortunate and inconvienent ledge at the back?

Obviously the racks are insufficient to handle any serious weight.

What do you people use to support the racks and fermetors?

 

[Stouter]

Kinda depends on the fridge racks. I've got one that's quite old and the rack supports a 30L fv no problem. The other has an fv sitting on the bottom glass rack no problem.
You could make up a shelf type frame which supports from the bottom of the fridge to the right height out of ply. Moisture doesn't seem a problem with MDF even I've found as long as the fridge is running right and sealing properly. I had to go quite ghetto low cost previously, but it all comes down to the existing racks.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I sit a 300x400 floor tile on the fridge rack. Holds the weight of a full 7gal Brewbucket and really easy to clean.

I also just grabbed a few of these plastic trays to sit the fermenter on to contain the mess when there's a krausenover.

Haven't used them yet, but they'll come in handy when I do.

 

[TwoCrows]

I use two shelves one above each other and with a few bits of foam board in between to help spread the load.

 

[quadbox]

I've usually cut a sheet of marine plywood to fit the existing (bottom) rails, then cut a suitable central support (often from the same sheet of plywood) to carry the central weight on the floor in front of the compressor hump. Have been successful over the years with even 2x 60L fermenters with that approach. Just make sure it's marine ply, because normal plywood the glue bonding the layers will fall apart from the moisture. Either that, or paint the bejeezus out of it

 

[timmi9191]

I used a solid base and it caused freezing presumably from lack of air circulation and reducing the colling area. Id recommend an open base that is supported. I just brace the stock rack with a small piece of pine.

 

[mondestrunken]

Thanks peeps I will take this on board!