Up till now I've always used my KegCo kegerator as a fermentation chamber during the warmer months when, at my old residence, I would use an unheated hallway that did great for keeping cellar temps and managing to keep fermentation temps in the 60's naturally. Since my divorce and move to an apartment I have been using my KegCo kegerator to keep temps cool during the main primary fermentation time (say the first week or so) at which point I can relocated the fermenter to my music room where it can stay at 69-70 degrees for the rest of it's time and I can put another SS Brew Bucket in the kegerator.
The problem is once the first beer is on tap I can't brew until both beers in my 2-tap system are fully done drinking. So, I want to go with fermentation chambers. I had placed an order for a Magic Chef 28-bottle thermoelectric wine cooler yesterday and just cancelled the order today as I realized the width/depth might be 1" too narrow for the brew bucket lid dimensions.
1. I thought about a keezer with temp controller but I really need to be able to control temps independently.
2. I don't really care for the idea of the temp coils in the fermenter as if a leak were to start and I'm not home it's going to be a disaster. I also don't want to run several pumps pulling from a cooler with all the tubing.... just seems to be much more a hassle (plus the coil cleaning) than I want to deal with.
3. I much prefer individual fermentation dedicated wine cooler/fridges. The wine coolers seem the best option as they are meant for temps more suited to fermentation where fridges need a controller to turn them off as they are more designed to refrigerate close to freezing temps.
Now, what are you all using? What were your solutions? I'm interested in hearing all responses, even cooling with the immersion coil/pump system if that's what you decided on. Please share the make/model of the units you went with!
Rev.
The problem is once the first beer is on tap I can't brew until both beers in my 2-tap system are fully done drinking. So, I want to go with fermentation chambers. I had placed an order for a Magic Chef 28-bottle thermoelectric wine cooler yesterday and just cancelled the order today as I realized the width/depth might be 1" too narrow for the brew bucket lid dimensions.
1. I thought about a keezer with temp controller but I really need to be able to control temps independently.
2. I don't really care for the idea of the temp coils in the fermenter as if a leak were to start and I'm not home it's going to be a disaster. I also don't want to run several pumps pulling from a cooler with all the tubing.... just seems to be much more a hassle (plus the coil cleaning) than I want to deal with.
3. I much prefer individual fermentation dedicated wine cooler/fridges. The wine coolers seem the best option as they are meant for temps more suited to fermentation where fridges need a controller to turn them off as they are more designed to refrigerate close to freezing temps.
Now, what are you all using? What were your solutions? I'm interested in hearing all responses, even cooling with the immersion coil/pump system if that's what you decided on. Please share the make/model of the units you went with!
Rev.