Worth buying a freezer/temperature control system

I bought one new. I wish I spent a little more money for a name brand that is a little quieter. I think there are just as many people who are happy spending $50 on CL.

 

I endorse taking the plunge and controlling your ferm temps.

Just about any type fridge/freezer can work, but I offer these tidbits:
Decide if you are going to ferment a single 5-gallon batch or more (or less),
Will you use a bucket, carboy, keg, or combination?
Once you now this, focus on the interior size of what you are buying:
A seller won't have the foggiest idea of the interior size and doesn't even know there is a compressor hump in there. I found it easiest to make cut outs of my kegs/buckets and carry them with me and see what fits. Measure the vertical height and don't forget about your airlock. In addition to fermentation you may want to use your unit for cold crashing or aging.

The most common controllers are Johnson, Ranco, and STC and they don't care what they control. They merely send a signal to a switch based on the input from their temp probe.

 

I recommend buying Energystar chest freezer with external thermostat regulator. The advice you got was correct. Or you could brew Saisons and ferment them at house temp 72-76 F or something.

 

If you're trying to lager something at 45 degrees or something, freezer and temp control is one of few options. If, however, you're just trying to get a basic handle on out-of-control temps, a water bath for your fermenter with frozen water bottles that you can swap out can work fine. I've kept brews in the high 50s/low 60s doing this (though you have to keep on top of switching out your frozen bottles periodically). It's a cheaper alternative if you don't need low, low temps.

 

I just got my chest freezer ferm chamber up and running controlled by an stc-1000. It's only been up for a week and I consider it one of my best home brew investments. If the freezer is going to sit in your basement or garage I'd say go cheap on c-list. If it's going to be in your living area you may want to shell out more for a quieter fridge.

 

My first fermentation/lagering freezer was a behemoth chest freezer I got for $20 at a garage sale. It worked great for a few years, then died. Now I use a much smaller one that I bought new. I would have gone with another garage sale freezer, but instead I decided to buy the exact model I was already using for my serving keezer. That way, if the serving keezer eventually dies, I can swap the collar onto the fermentation freezer and have a new serving keezer up and running in a half hour or so.

But yes, if you go the freezer route, any of the standard contollers will work with it. All the controller does is measure temperature and turn the attached device (freezer or whatever) on/off according to your settings.

 

I used a swamp cooler and wet t-shirts around my fermenters for most of my 1st year of brewing and it worked ok. If I didn't change out the water and t-shirts regularly I would get some mold. I have found no down sides to the chest freezer and controller compared to the swamp cooler. Less upkeep and better control of temp. In my basement the freezer only seems to cycle on and off a lot during the beginning of fermentation. After 5 days as long as I keep it closed it holds a steady temp with out turning on much at all. If you have some extra money it is a no-brainer.

 

You need to look ahead and decide if you will ever brew lagers, get into kegging your beers, or if you might eventually accumulate a number of beers that you'll want to cellar in cool conditions. A temp controller is the only way to manage the temps that affect these ventures.

An upright freezer or an old fridge will work better if you are going to cellar some beers because they have shelves, and either of them can be used for kegging and lagering by removing shelves. A chest freezer can also be used for everything (although I've never seen a chest freezer with shelves), so it probably comes down to whatever you find that fits your budget.

 

Right now I have two systems. About 8 months ago during winter I was having a lot of problems with beers not fermenting all the way. I figured that it was because I was fermenting in the basement and the temperature over night would drop to low for the yeast, especially since my carboy was sitting directly on the cold concrete floor slab. I bought a 75 watt aquarium heater, and now I have the carboy sitting in a rubbermaid container full of water with the heater usually set to around 65 degrees. I find that is enough to keep the temperature from dropping at night and making the yeast stop.

Although just recently I picked up a 5 cuft chest freezer and an anycool temperature controller. I am making a beer with the San Francisco lager yeast and it has held the freezer at about 63 degrees F for almost 2 weeks now. Knowing how the temperatures fluctuate in my basement I don't think I will ever have the need to run heating and cooling for the same batch.

 

I've got a 7.2 cu ft chest freezer fitted with Johnson A419 controller. I love it. It holds 2 carboys which is great since I recently graduated to 10 gallon batches. Its in my garage where I can maintain ale (or lager, haven't done that yet) temps during the summer, or cold crash. In the winter I switch to heating mode and connect it to a "brewer's friend" heating mat that I stuck to the inside wall of the freezer. I'm able to make ales in the low 60's even when my garage is 30ish.

 

I think its depends on if you got the room. If you need the control. If you in a hot area like me. its like 99F atm and humid....
sure its 78-80f in the house. I was lucky the wife no longers needed the space I got a chest type freezer and
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/johnson-refrigerator-thermostat.html

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/refrigerator-fermenting-chamber-67376/

joke

 

I would definitely recommend getting a temp controller if you think you'll need it. I live in the desert where it gets to be 115+ in the summers so a temp controller is a necessity for me to keep the temp stable during fermentation. My buddy and I just use a regular refrigerator with the shelves taken out and it has worked just fine.

 

Nice Carboy!

 

Hmmm, I never considered the additional requirement of the freezer needing to store a dead body.

Food for thought!?!

Cheers!

 

I bought a 7.5 cubic ft magic chef chest freezer from Home Depot and a $45 ranco temp control unit from Amazon. Freezer can fit two carboys or buckets. Best $200 in homebrew equipment I've spent.

 

I built my own chamber and used a dorm fridge that I bought off a friend, and used a ranco.

It works great and I eliminated one variable from the brewing aspect, but if I had to do it again, I would go with a freezer.

 

It is SO worth the money. If you live in a hot climate like I do, I really don't see how you can make any serious attempt to brew without it, unless you use nothing but saison yeast (at least in the summer, which lasts about eight months).

I happened to find a new freezer on sale for $170 that will fit two batches (however, because of the hump, one of these must be my shorter 8 gallon fermentation bucket, and it won't fit an airlock, so I use another method). This freezer will also fit my 10 gallon batch plastic bucket on the tall side. A single freezer that would easily fit two batches would be the ideal solution. However, that might not be findable or affordable. In that case, craig's list or other sources of used freezers might be jiffy-er.

I also got a second freezer that I just stumbled upon. It only fits one bucket (it will fit the 10), but it works. Having a second (or multiple) fermentation chamber allows you to have more than one temperature (right now the small one is lagering my first lager attempt, the other is fermenting ales).

I only have the one-way controllers. This has only proven to be an issue once so far, and that was something of an extraordinary set of circumstances. I have plans to assure no freezing during the short winter this year. If you live somewhere like New York, where you might have both hot and cold issues, you may wish to invest in the two way controllers.

I vaguely recall reading here that freezer>>fridge for fermentation control, because blown motors bla bla bla, but not sure. Perhaps someone can elaborate in great detail.

There are many ways to be creative and save money, but particularly in a hot climate, I think spending the money on a controller/freezer setup is pretty much a requirement if you're serious about brewing.

 

lol to summarize: If you want to expand your repertoire, get a temp controlled system.