Fridge for fermentation chamber

[HomeBrewMasterRace]

Hi all,

I'm interested in getting a fridge for fermentating, I'm limited on space and I've been looking at a 4.4cu ft fridge to convert.

The problem it seems is that you have to build it out with wood, and my girlfriend isn't keen at all on that idea because the fridge would be in the dining room hidden in the corner by our table

I was hoping someone may have a suggestion on a fridge that would work for a 6.5 gallon bucket without needing the wood buildout.

Any ideas or model recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mongoose33]

Are you sure you'll need to build it out? I have 4.4 cu foot refrigerator and my 6.5-gallon fermenter fits in there just fine--and I didn't even take the shelving off the door.

Here:

 

[HomeBrewMasterRace]

Are you sure you'll need to build it out? I have 4.4 cu foot refrigerator and my 6.5-gallon fermenter fits in there just fine--and I didn't even take the shelving off the door.

Here:

View attachment 574596

Thanks for the reply mongoose! I'll check one out and worst case, return it.

That reinstills my confidence in going for a fridge

 

[mongoose33]

Take your fermenter along and see if it fits. Also, check craigslist--that's where I bought mine for $60.

Couple of other things: How this all fits depends on the refrigerator. On mine, you can see the shelf supports in the door are offset--so I push my fermenter over to the left, and it clears them. There also is a....flange, whatever you want to call it, on the bottom of the door. It hits the fermenter and prevents the door closing so I put a piece of wood in there to raise the fermenter just enough that it clears that flange when the door is shut.

My son has a 4.4 cu ft fridge to use as a ferm chamber. He just cut the plastic stuff off the door and covered the exposed insulation with cardboard and duct tape. I didn't do that because if I want to return this to use as a fridge, I'll want those door shelves back. But if it still had gotten in the way, I'd have cut that plastic off the door.

You also may find the fermenter, with airlock, is too tall. You can solve this by bending down the freezer, as many have done, but if you kink or puncture the cooling lines you'll render the fridge useless. I didn't want to risk this, so instead I use a drilled stopper in the top of the fermenter and some tubing to run to a blowoff jar. Sometimes I just have that jar in the fridge (there's room), but more often I send that fermentation gas outside the fridge to purge a keg or just run it through a jar so i can see the progress from the bubbles.

You can see this on the pic above, the blowoff tubing goes through a hole I drilled in the very front top of the fridge, and into a blowoff jar.

I also ran the wiring for the heat mat and the temp controller through another hole lined with rubber grommets. You don't have to do this--the lines can be run between the door gasket and frame on the side with the hinges, and the door will close over them. I just liked what I felt was a cleaner design, so I did this.

 

[HomeBrewMasterRace]

Take your fermenter along and see if it fits. Also, check craigslist--that's where I bought mine for $60.

Couple of other things: How this all fits depends on the refrigerator. On mine, you can see the shelf supports in the door are offset--so I push my fermenter over to the left, and it clears them. There also is a....flange, whatever you want to call it, on the bottom of the door. It hits the fermenter and prevents the door closing so I put a piece of wood in there to raise the fermenter just enough that it clears that flange when the door is shut.

My son has a 4.4 cu ft fridge to use as a ferm chamber. He just cut the plastic stuff off the door and covered the exposed insulation with cardboard and duct tape. I didn't do that because if I want to return this to use as a fridge, I'll want those door shelves back. But if it still had gotten in the way, I'd have cut that plastic off the door.

You also may find the fermenter, with airlock, is too tall. You can solve this by bending down the freezer, as many have done, but if you kink or puncture the cooling lines you'll render the fridge useless. I didn't want to risk this, so instead I use a drilled stopper in the top of the fermenter and some tubing to run to a blowoff jar. Sometimes I just have that jar in the fridge (there's room), but more often I send that fermentation gas outside the fridge to purge a keg or just run it through a jar so i can see the progress from the bubbles.

You can see this on the pic above, the blowoff tubing goes through a hole I drilled in the very front top of the fridge, and into a blowoff jar.

I also ran the wiring for the heat mat and the temp controller through another hole lined with rubber grommets. You don't have to do this--the lines can be run between the door gasket and frame on the side with the hinges, and the door will close over them. I just liked what I felt was a cleaner design, so I did this.

View attachment 574633

I want to give this a try and will post results. I'll also try to take my bucket into a store and see if everything fits.

Should I worry about the CO2 released from fermentation? I figure if i did a blowoff inside of the fridge it wouldn't effect anything would it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mongoose33]

I want to give this a try and will post results. I'll also try to take my bucket into a store and see if everything fits.

Should I worry about the CO2 released from fermentation? I figure if i did a blowoff inside of the fridge it wouldn't effect anything would it?

Thanks in advance.

Don't worry about CO2 released from fermentation....and a blowoff jar inside the refrigerator just keeps the bubbling inside.