Cold crashing / secondary fridge advice

[Tomp]

I'm after some advice. I want to build a beer fridge to be multi function. I want it to act as a heater / cooling chamber for secondary conditioning and then to allow me to cold crash. Also to primary ferment during the summer months. So with the cooling on the unit and then a tube heater all tied up to an ink bird, what would folk suggest.

Ideally a beer fridge or wine cooler, but as 3c is my target I can't seem to find anything that gets that low..... They seem to stop at about 8c.

A undercounter fridge might suit, but would a freezer be better?

Is there a nice economical chiller unit I can fit in a fermentor that works consistently?

Love to get your thoughts.

[jaroporter]

whatever you can get free/cheap. if you want economical stay away from old units. with a bit of tweaking the thermostats on most units can effectively be bypassed allowing them to get down to whatever temp you want. most fridges/freezers don't need that. can you fit an FV in a wine cooler then, sounds small?

[big yogi]

it's whatever suits you mate, i have 2 under counter fridges and both go under 1 degree without a problem.
i can only get 1 23ltr fermenting bucket in 1 and 2 cornies in the other.
the larder fridge freezer would be better i would of thought.
If you know a joiner , ask him if he does a kitchen have a look for a fridge/freezer for you.

[North Wales Brewer]

Freezer is bigger, allows for expansion in the future tec.

[Wonkydonkey]

I'll link this link, and in the link you can see my posts and the link I linked to. That was a mouth full

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=80249

Cheers

[MashTim]

Larder fridge is good I have two, both purchased used, £50 was the most i paid a few years ago. One will go to zero the other won’t get much below 4.

Shelves can be height positioned to accommodate 30 litre and 60 litre speidel HDPE fermentors. I have cut plywood shelves to use rather than the glass that came with them.

Brew belts and tube heaters attached to temp controllers maintain heat but I haven’t drilled holes for cables so need to ensure door stays shut with a bit of gaffa and keg wedged against door. Fridge temp is always set to max as controller does all the temp work.

Simple as simple gets.

[mickstanger]

get a larder fridge. I got one off freecycle, so didn't cost me anything - there's often an undercounter fridge going spare if you ask about. then get an inkbird and stick a 40W tube heater in the bottom. I managed to run the lead for the heater out through the drain hole on the back of the fridge so I didn't even have to drill any holes.

[gr_baker]

Hi,

I've been having exactly the same thoughts as you for a while. I bought one of these last week https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household ... 2-pdt.html, I'm controlling it with an Inkbird 308 and my first proper lager is sitting in it right now

I went for the freezer as it's capable of hitting the right temperatures without modification and was readily available. I'm using a couple of heating belts on the fermentation bin as the heat source and it's all working really well at the moment.

R

[Meatymc]

get a larder fridge. I got one off freecycle, so didn't cost me anything - there's often an undercounter fridge going spare if you ask about. then get an inkbird and stick a 40W tube heater in the bottom. I managed to run the lead for the heater out through the drain hole on the back of the fridge so I didn't even have to drill any holes.

As Mick says - no need to drill anything - just run your cables (heater cable and sensor) through the drain point.

I've a 12 year old free standing BEKO fridge, STC controller and 40W greenhouse heater - quite happily sat at 2C with a Kolsch in there at the moment having dropped from an 18C DR overnight. You don't need anything fancy and wiring it all up is simple - just search on here for step-by-step instructions!

[orlando]

As Mick says - no need to drill anything - just run your cables (heater cable and sensor) through the drain point.

You can even run them through the door seal just jamming them against the case, lose nothing in temperature, done it for years.

[McMullan]

I don't recommend feeding an electrical cable through the drain, unless the cable is water proof and there is no risk of blocking the drain. The drain is required when cooling, when moisture can build up. A small hole (lined with tubing to protect the cable) in the side opposite any light, at fermenter height is my preferred option.

[Meatymc]

Fair point Mc but I made sure there was still some 'breathing space' in the drain hole after pushing the cables through - the hole was actually blocked with crap so wasn't 'venting' in any case.

Had also checked the sheathing on the cable and of course the drain hole itself is the cables lowest point so no risk of any moisture getting to the electrics.