Best use for a spare small refrigerator

Discussion in 'Cellaring / Aging Beer' started by comfortablynirm, Jul 15, 2014.

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  1. comfortablynirm

    comfortablynirm Initiate (0) Aug 19, 2008 Pennsylvania

    Hello all,
    I recently received a small beverage refrigerator that I plan to use for my beer hobby. I originally thought that I would set the fridge to low (hopefully around 55 degrees) and use it for long term aging of beers and possibly some wine. Currently my beers are out of the light but in a steady 66-68 degree environment.
    I had second thoughts on this after reading about refrigerator temperature fluctuations and compressor vibrations and wondered if my aging collection is better off where it is. I could instead use the fridge to keep hoppy and low abv beers chilled and fresh. Does anyone have a strong opinion, preferably mechanically/scientifically based, on the optimal usage of this fridge?
    Thanks,
    Neil
     
    #1 comfortablynirm, Jul 15, 2014
  2. Dactrius

    Dactrius Pooh-Bah (2,523) Apr 23, 2012 Caribbean Netherlands
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    If you don't have another appropriate cellar I'd use it as a cellar and keep an eye on the temperature. If the temperature fluctuates too much (it certainly does in a lot of lower end refrigerators like mine) buy an external temperature controller such as the Ranco ETC-111000 (about $50, make sure you get one that's pre-wired if you don't want to splice the existing cord) and use that to keep the temperature however constant you want. Practically all old wine fridges are compressor based and those have been used for cellaring for a long time without people freaking out too much about vibrations. I have a totally full small fridge and the compressor almost never runs due to the huge thermal mass in there.
     
    #2 Dactrius, Jul 16, 2014
    comfortablynirm and tx_beer_man like this.
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