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Making a brew fridge

  • Pebbbles
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10 years 9 months ago #800 by Pebbbles
Making a brew fridge was created by Pebbbles
I have an old fridge that is no longer suitable for using as a refrigerator. Could someone give me step by step instructions on making n efficient brew fridge for fermenting please?

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  • camstans
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10 years 9 months ago #801 by camstans
Replied by camstans on topic Making a brew fridge
Hi Pebs

I recently just picked up a chest freezer off gumtree for $51 to make a ferment fridge.

I bought a temp controller, the STC-1000 off ebay and built a housing and plugged it in and it works great.
Well its not hot enough up here in Sydney Australia to kick in the freezer at the moment but I have set it for 19 degrees with a half degree variation so when it hits 18.4 my heat belts kick in until it 19 and then turn off.

I don’t see any difference by using a fridge rather than a freezer (apart from fitting 2 fomenters in! ) . you don’t need to change the wiring of the actual fridge just set and forget !

I got the idea for the controller build from AHB forums. But you don’t even need to bling it like I did. You could get away with it for about $40.


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  • Gash
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10 years 9 months ago #805 by Gash
Replied by Gash on topic Making a brew fridge
Nice job mate! Mine is in a lunch box! :cheer:

Pebbles, the the fridge can be used during winter using a light bulb, heat belt or heat pad to heat the fermenter. If the fridge is beyond repair and summers are warm the fridge will help to keep constant temperatures but will eventually get too hot.

No real modifications are necessary. If you like you can just run the leads in through the door, otherwise the only thing you would need to do is drill a hole through the side of the fridge or the fridge seal and run the temperature probe and power cord for whatever heating device you use through that, but that means removing the power plug and reattaching which can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. Before any drilling you should try and find out if your particular fridge has any refrigeration lines are running where you want to drill, because you don't want to drill through one!

The heating device is plugged into the temperature controller, and the fridge as well (if its working). The thermostat of the temperature controller can then be attached (I use sticky tape) to the side of the fermenter. I also cover my thermostat with a piece of old stubby cooler so it is more likely to read the beer temperature rather than the ambient fridge temperature.

All my cameras are flat.... Will load some pics when charged!

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  • Gash
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10 years 9 months ago - 10 years 9 months ago #811 by Gash
Replied by Gash on topic Making a brew fridge
STC-1000
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Probe on side of fermenter
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This is another style of controller that I built from a Jaycar kit years ago, it heats and cools but can only be set to do one at a time.
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Last edit: 10 years 9 months ago by Gash.

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  • Dullahan Brewing
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10 years 9 months ago #812 by Dullahan Brewing
Replied by Dullahan Brewing on topic Making a brew fridge
If you do this what happens with the thermostat in the fridge? Do you need to disconnect it first so that both are not running at the same time? I have a decent size chest freezer i want to turn into a keezer for my cornie and co2 tank,everything inside freezer. Would it be the same process as here? Cheers.

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  • Gash
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10 years 9 months ago #813 by Gash
Replied by Gash on topic Making a brew fridge
Most people ferment between 10c and 20c so most fridges wont get low enough for the built in thermostat to take over and turn the fridge/freezer off, sometimes the fridges/freezers may go into defrost mode but thats usually only a few minutes and causes no problems. If you are technically savvy you can wire in and use the fridges thermostat but most people dont.

Yes, you can do it exactly the same for a freezer, freezers are even better because most have better insulation than fridges and because most freezers are top loading you don't lose so much temperature when opening it (cooling wise).

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  • camstans
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10 years 9 months ago #814 by camstans
Replied by camstans on topic Making a brew fridge
whats your insulation on the probe? im just using folded up bubble wrap

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  • Gash
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10 years 9 months ago #815 by Gash
Replied by Gash on topic Making a brew fridge
Its the bottom of can/stubby cooler, wetsuit type material

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  • MrRahneM
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10 years 9 months ago #816 by MrRahneM
Replied by MrRahneM on topic Making a brew fridge
I use one of these works well and is cheap www.ebay.com.au/itm/THERMOSTAT-Reptile-S...tem20ce110735&_uhb=1

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