Turning An Old Upright Freezer Into A Fermentation Fridge

[Coxy]

I picked up an old, large, upright freezer which was sitting on the side of the road without a plug yesterday as I thought it may go OK as a fermentation fridge. Even if it didn't work, could always use it by throwing in some ice bricks each day and keep the temperature fairly well regulated (it's gotta beat using wet towels and ice bricks around the fermenter which is what I'm currently doing).

After putting a new plug on it and switching it on, it turns out the thing works perfectly, and has just been thrown out probably because it looks like crap, was frosting up, or any number of reasons which don't concern me.

I want to put a new controller/thermostat on it and control the temperature at 18 (ales) or cooler for lagers, etc. Now I know a number of people on the forum have already done this with fridges, but I'm concerned that the 'thermostat' that people buy are simply controllers which run the fridge for a certain amount of time each day, as I'm not entirely sure how they work. If this were the case, then it would not work for a freezer, I would need one which actually has a thermostat determining the temperature, and turning the motor on/off accordingly.

Could someone please point me in the right direction here as to which thermostat/controller might do the job here and where I could pick one up from?

 

[Gretschem]

Chest freezers as fermenters,

 

[argon]

Good work on picking up the fridge, your beers will love you for it. I have an upright freezer and IMO it's better than a fridge, as it's better insulated and is an all in one volume.

I use a tempmate as sourced from craftbrewers and works really well, keeping good steady temps for both ales and lagers. Silkworm drop temps for cold crashing/conditioning. Added bonus you have now that you have a freezer is you can do eisbocks too.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Hi mate.
I am using an old rusting retired fridge with a temp controller.

I bought one of these for $28 delivered. I believe its known as a stc-1000 model? I was daunted at the start about wiring it up. I teed up sparky mate but he was a bit busy and I found a great tutorial here. I followed it and mine is happily running right now.

Cheap and easy. I also bought a jiffy box from craftbrewer for $5 put it into there as recommended.

Have a look and ask away any questions you have. B)

 

[mika]

Usually cutting the plug off the lead is code for 'Don't plug this in, severe electrical fault'
Looks like it's worked out in your case, but I'd be pretty cagey about it.

 

[white.grant]

I have a rank arena upright freezer that I use as a fermentation fridge. I hook it up to a fridgemate and it works wonderfully. I can also use it as a fridge, just set the fridgemate to 4 degrees and it works nicely.

cheers

grant

 

[Coxy]

Cheers for the replies and ideas everyone, although Gretschem's reply seems to be really handy if I'm looking to lift fermenters into chest freezers, which I will keep in mind if I get a bad back and a chest freezer, neither of which I currently have

Mika: I believe that it is more often a sign of someone who collects copper to sell to the metal recyclers, as that stuff is actually worth a bit. During council cleanup times you see people going around cutting cords off everything.

Argon, craftbrewer actually sell them, or they just found one for you? I'm in Brisbane so that would be an easy solution for me.

 

[sydneyhappyhour]

Usually cutting the plug off the lead is code for 'Don't plug this in, severe electrical fault'
Looks like it's worked out in your case, but I'd be pretty cagey about it.

In most Sydney local council areas I have lived during the garbage throw out periods people are told to do this to all electric stuff they throw out due to some policy or another. The majority of the stuff still works okay though.