Side by side refrigerator for fermentation chamber

[Mlawson53015]

While I know this topic has been pretty thoroughly discussed time and time again I'm having a difficult time figuring this out for my personal needs.
I picked up a GE side by side this weekend and much to my dismay have found by searching that I may have made a mistake. It has digital LCD controls for the freezer/refrigerator sides.
I'm attempting to be able to use the refrigerator side for fermentation and also would like to be able to hold all of the beer that I've made or purchased in there at serving temperatures.
All of that being said my initial intentions were to just wire up an stc1000 to control it for fermentation temperatures and leave as is but the wife has requested to keep the freezer side operational. I do not currently keg beer so I'm not overly concerned with turning the freezer side into a keeper although if that's more easily achieved than keeping it as a freezer then I'm open for suggestions. Really need advice on where to even begin with trying to plan this project.

 

[Mlawson53015]

Also I'd like to mention that I do have a kenmore side by side in the kitchen with analog controls for the refrigerator/freezer Temps. Might be difficult to convince the wife to make that switch however unless the refrigerator we just picked up is a newer manufacturers date. Still trying to determine the age of the GE but from what I've found its either 2001 or 2013. Leaning towards it being 2001. Kenmore is 2011 so idk. Lol

 

[Mlawson53015]

No advice folks?

 

[day_trippr]

Look at the bottom of the page...

 

[John Paul Stoddard]

What do you consider Serving Temp?
What style of Beer are you wanting to ferment in there Ales or Lagers.

If you are gonna do Lagers mostly and like your beers around 45 then no problem.....

If you gonna want to do ales (70'ish Temps) and serve at 45 your gonna have a problem.....

Will you be storing and fermenting at same time?

 

[Mlawson53015]

I haven't started making lagers yet so really just ales. I would like to be able to ferment and store beer also so that 5+ gallons of bottles aren't taking up space in the house refrigerator. That being said if it's not possible to keep the freezer functional I won't.
What I'm thinking is just plugging it into the stc1000 to control fermentation in the fridge side. Would that keep the freezer side cool enough to store bottled beers at serving temperatures?
I'm not sure that I want to dive into trying to wire the stc1000 in place of a thermostat especially considering everybody has said to avoid refrigerators with the LCD displays for temp controls.

 

[broadbill]

It would be interesting to see what would happen if you plugged the side-by-side into a temp controller, put the TC probe in the freezer side, set TC it to fridge temps, then measured the temp in the fridge side at the coldest setting on the LCD panel. You might (just might) be able to dial in a ale ferment temp using either the LCD panel alone or maybe use another TC for a heat pad in that space. Kinda clunky, but quick and dirty.

 

[pshankstar]

So a side by side fridge is no good for a fermentation chamber?

I seem to find more of these on Craigslist than the top freezer style. I'm now interested in researching this more and watching this thread too.

 

[broadbill]

So a side by side fridge is no good for a fermentation chamber?

I seem to find more of these on Craigslist than the top freezer style. I'm now interested in researching this more and watching this thread too.

Personally, I think side-by-sides are poor design for both food storage and brewing uses. They should not be sold at all, in my opinion.

That being said, they can be modified for brewing just like any other refrigerator. You may have be open to using some different shaped fermenters in order to effectively utilize the oddly sized chamber (very tall, not deep).

 

[pshankstar]

Personally, I think side-by-sides are poor design for both food storage and brewing uses. They should not be sold at all, in my opinion.

That being said, they can be modified for brewing just like any other refrigerator. You may have be open to using some different shaped fermenters in order to effectively utilize the oddly sized chamber (very tall, not deep).

Good points! I do need to figure out the dimensions of my fermentors that would be used in there. Well just the largest one then I know the smaller ones will fit.

I will have to say, I have a side by side in my kitchen now. It's a new replacement from Fridgidaire since my old one (bought a year ago) was a lemon. I hate that anything on the top shelf near the damper will freeze. It seems to be a common problem from both units. If I could replace it again, I would not buy another side by side. But for now, I will have to deal with it until it dies.

 

[Mlawson53015]

That's an interesting idea broadbill. I hadn't considered running the freezer side at refrigerator Temps and just seeing what the refrigerator side would be at. I was stuck in the mindset that the freezer side is colder so it would be closer to serving Temps while controlling fermentation in the refrigerator side. Going to have to get the stc1000 and do some testing. Great idea!

 

[Mlawson53015]

I'm not too concerned with getting too cold in most situations. Here in arizona it's more of a struggle to get down to decent ale Temps. Not sure how cold it would really get in the refrigerator in the garage even in the winter...

 

[jeremy2027]

I use a SXS to ferment and store beer in. My suggestion is to keep it simple and not over think the situation. Basically you will use a temperature controller to control the freezer site do what ever your desired temp will be, I keep mine around 40*F. You will use another temperature controller to control your fermentation (fridge side). This controller will be hooked up to a 120MM AC muffin fan that will be installed in the center wall to blow air from the freezer side to the fridge side. I use a dryer vent flapper thingy to keep the sides separated when the fan is not spinning.

I also use a fermwrap to go around my carboy connected to the heat side of the fridge stc1000. Everything is controlled on the fridge side by having the stc1000 probe in a thermowell inside the carboy. I can keep whatever temp I like to 1*F difference.

 

[broadbill]

I use a SXS to ferment and store beer in. My suggestion is to keep it simple and not over think the situation. Basically you will use a temperature controller to control the freezer site do what ever your desired temp will be, I keep mine around 40*F. You will use another temperature controller to control your fermentation (fridge side). This controller will be hooked up to a 120MM AC muffin fan that will be installed in the center wall to blow air from the freezer side to the fridge side. I use a dryer vent flapper thingy to keep the sides separated when the fan is not spinning.

I also use a fermwrap to go around my carboy connected to the heat side of the fridge stc1000. Everything is controlled on the fridge side by having the stc1000 probe in a thermowell inside the carboy. I can keep whatever temp I like to 1*F difference.

If I understand this correctly, isn't the refrigerator side vent always open as the thermostat tries to drive the temp down to its fridge pre-set? Also, since its always open why would your second fan? What am I missing?

 

[Mlawson53015]

So what you're saying is you wire up the first temperature controller and plug the whole appliance into it but put the temp probe in the freezer side to keep it at 40 degrees or desired serving temp. Then you wire up the second controller to control the fan and fermwrap with the probe in the thermowell in the fermenting carboy? Sorry just trying to clarify. Sounds like a great way of taking care of my problem.

 

[brewbama]

I use a side by side to lager/condition in the freezer side and use the fridge side to serve from. I control the freezer side only at 33*F and the fridge side stays 40ish. If you want to use the fridge side to ferment from you could control it only and see what the result is on the freezer side.

 

[broadbill]

So what you're saying is you wire up the first temperature controller and plug the whole appliance into it but put the temp probe in the freezer side to keep it at 40 degrees or desired serving temp. Then you wire up the second controller to control the fan and fermwrap with the probe in the thermowell in the fermenting carboy? Sorry just trying to clarify. Sounds like a great way of taking care of my problem.

That is what I think he is saying too. However, I predict that unless the the on-board refrigerator thermostat is inactivated, it will just be blowing full time to bring it down to its pre-set (i.e. trying to get to 40F, the same temp as the freezer now). Therefore the second fan will be essentially useless. Maybe this only works if the heating pad is there to counteract the always on fridge fan. In that case, you could just let the on-board fan run and put a single-stage control the heating pad.

 

[jeremy2027]

So what you're saying is you wire up the first temperature controller and plug the whole appliance into it but put the temp probe in the freezer side to keep it at 40 degrees or desired serving temp. Then you wire up the second controller to control the fan and fermwrap with the probe in the thermowell in the fermenting carboy? Sorry just trying to clarify. Sounds like a great way of taking care of my problem.

Yes this is how I do it. With the freezer set to 40*F the ambient temp in the fridge side is in the low 60s until the fan kicks on and cools it down when needed.

Sorry for the late response I have been feeling like crap.