Recommend a fermentation fridge?

[natmartin]

I've been building up my home brewing equipment to get back into brewing after a break of at least a year.

The last thing I need to get before I can start again is a fermentation chamber (my old house had a nice 60 degree closet, but in my new house I need to ferment in my garage which is uninsulated and has big temperature swings.)

My wife would prefer I buy a new fridge or freezer rather than getting something used, but I'm having trouble finding something affordable (<$400 delivered/picked up) that fits a 6.5 gallon Better Bottle with an airlock.

Almost every fridge I see in that price range has a compressor bump that gets in the way. Basically the only thing I can find are chest freezers. However, I'm concerned about hurting my back while lifting the better bottle in and out of the chest freezer.

I was hoping someone here might know of the model of an affordable fridge or upright freezer that has worked well for fermentation.

I've been going to all the typical stores near me (Lowes, Osh, etc) with my tape measure, but the only ones I can find that work are always $500+.

I've done some searching, but haven't found any specific recommendations of makes/models.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to brewing again!

 

[Nateo]

I was in the same boat as you, and came to the same conclusions. I ended up going with a Holiday 7.1cu chest freezer from Lowes for $189. It fits two buckets or carboys with airlocks, and about 40 bottles if you fit them around the buckets.

 

[user 84304]

Yeah, that's a tough task. It might be worth it to figure out a way to rig up a pulley system in your garage to lift and lower your carboy(s) into a chest freezer. Work smarter, not harder. Definitely keeps you in your price range there.

Fwiw, I have this GE 7.0 cu. ft. Freezer w/a Johnson A419 Controller and it fits 2 Better Bottles(6 gal) and I use a large pickle jar for blowoff on the compressor hump.
http://www.homedepot.com/Appliances...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[natmartin]

How hard do you guys find it to put the carboys into your freezers?

The pulley's not a bad idea.... I've got some beams in the garage it would be easy to hang something from. (opens mcmaster carr....)

 

[user 84304]

How hard do you guys find it to put the carboys into your freezers?

The pulley's not a bad idea.... I've got some beams in the garage it would be easy to hang something from. (opens mcmaster carr....)

I'm fairly young(24) and it's no big deal for me and I have a history of back issues(thanks to a car accident, though not too bad). It's gonna vary from person to person. 45lbs of beer isn't light. I'd definitely look into the pulley system. Pop that question into the DIY board and see if people will do the engineering for you. I'd think it's a simple 1 or 2 pulley system that connects to your carboy handle(i'd def have those if you don't already)

Cheers!

 

[Nateo]

I mostly use buckets with nice big handles, so they're not too big of a deal. I'm a young guy too, fwiw. Water weighs about 8lbs/gal, so you'd be looking at about 40lbs for a full carboy, plus carboy weight. I use better bottles, not glass, but they're kind of a PITA just because there's nothing to grab onto. They make handles for carboys, but you're not supposed to use those when they're full.

Another option, if you have a pump, why bother lifting them at all? Just rack the beer off and lift the empty carboy out.

 

[natmartin]

Yeah, I'm not exactly old (29), or at least I'd like to think so

None-the-less, just thinking about bending over the side of a freezer with a 50 pound thing in my hand makes my back hurt.


I was thinking of using one of those carboy carriers with a pulley system to lift it in and out....

Now I need to talk to some mechanical engineer coworkers!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OF8V5W/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

I went a different route, and found a used top-fridge/freezer-bottom fridge on Craiglist. $200 later (and borrowed my neighbor's pick up truck in exchange for homebrew), I came home with this gem:

(I removed all the shelving)

It fits 4x 6.0-gallon carboys with a little extra room to spare. I recently had 4x corny's in there along with 1x 6-gallon carboy.

M_C