Keeping it cool

[Talheedin]

I've been spending the last couple of months (my entire brewing carrier) trying to keep my beer up to temperature. I've now got a fish tank heater. But, reading a couple of other posts, it's occured to me that summer is on it's way and so how do you keep the beer temperature down? Preferably without spending loads of money! I'd thought of finding a cheap second hand fridge and bypassing the onboard thermostat in favour of a more acurate one but is this the way to go?

Thanks

Talheedin

[Garth]

Yes that''ll work if you changer the thermostat, a few people on here, me included, bought a thermostat from RS or similar and changed it for the original fridge one, most fridges won't go any higher than about 10/11degrees C without switching off, so this thermostat makes the fridge into a fermentation cupboard (18-20degreesC) when it's hot outside and a conditioning cupboard later on (13-15degreesC)

heres the link to the RS site

http://rswww.com/cgi-bin/bv/rswww/searc ... t=250-6112

[Talheedin]

Cheers for that Garth I'll start looking for a fridge soon.

I couldn't stop brewing over summer DaaB especially with it being my first year of brewing. If I check my enthusiasm now then I run the risk of it becoming a passing fad rather than an ingrained dogma. Besides I'll need a cooling device for brewing lagers anyway.

Thanks

Talheedin

[Talheedin]

For anyone who uses a fridge as a brew cupboard do you also put a heater in there to keep the temperature in a set range? If so how well do fridges cope with this?

Talheedin

[Orfy]

I've been using a brew heat belt on primaries just to help stop it dropping to much over night. I thought I'd lost one batch last year when we had a week of 30+ put it just needed to be left in primary for a good while to age and mellow.

This year if that happens and I have a brew going I'll put in a water bath and put a towel over it with a fan. I have a spare fridge but I'm thinking I'd like to mod that for serving.

[Frothy]

PID's are very versatile as they allow you to digitally control the temp anywhere between 0 & 100oc.
I use one on my keggerator
http://www.willmottw.fsnet.co.uk/brew/keggerator/
Here's one being used with a Coffee machine - http://www.thedomesticbarista.com/content/view/17/27/
EskimoBob has a good page on wiring a PID up.

[moorsd]

I've got one of these for my fridge

http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16667

Hop and grape do the same one for around £55 now. I find it very useful as I can lager as well as ferment successfully in the summer months!

Its really easy to set up and use as well!

[Manx Guy]

Hi!

Any one got any ideas on where the thermostat on a late 1990's Hotpoint (undercounter larder) fridge would be?

Is it in the light box or behind the back plate on the inside of the fridge?

The fridge I use to store and chill my finished beer in has crapped out.. the compressor works but the thermostat doesnt....

Any help grately appraciated!

Slainte!

Guy

[Garth]

Most of them are in the lightbox, the rotary knob is part of the thermostat, then usually a copper temperature sender goes inside the insulation to the back of the fridge. Just rip all of this out and insert the new one, you lose the light but it's no problem really.

[Manx Guy]

Thanks Garth!

I have some beer to bottle/keg tonight and if I have time I'll tackle the fridge issue...

I rigged up power directly to the compressor to test it and use that to run it for 30 mins to chill the air/contents of the fridge right down then leave the door shut- this keeps things cold (below8c) for about 8 hours

So at least I can enjoy a cold beer while I bottle my Pils...

Result!

When I do get round to tackling the fridge I'll take some photos incase they are usefull to anyone else/for future reference...

The long term plan is this fridge will get replaced (B&Q have a nice fridge freezer for £179- I'll use it for ice and freezing glasses for summer/BBQ's etc) and this one will be used as a brewing cupboard with a remprature controller and heater etc.

Slainte!

[howard]

Getting a free fridge is not that hard, either have a chat to the local "recycling centre" staff, or try freecycle - it took me a week to get one.

The hard bit is controlling the temperature. When I got mine I looked at PID but they were not really that flexible, so I made one(Brewcomputer 2) - I will post the details soon but they are not that hard to make.



I turn the thermostat to max cool and poped a halogen 50W light in the fridge (I had one left over from doing my kichen). The box at the top does the work